Ulmus parvifolia 'Seiju'

[parhamr]

Clip and grow is working well for me! There’s still a lot of development and refinement needed on this tree


This Seiji was field grown by Randy Knight. I’ve had it since 2016.

 

[Shibui]

I grow a few of these down under.
Concentrating more on smaller sized bonsai with them but we do see some larger trees at shows sometimes.


Apologies for the state of the trunk of the 3rd pic. Treated last week to kill moss.
Mostly just clip and grow to develop these trees.
First pic from a root cutting and possibly also the second. Others from stem cuttings.

 

[Davidlpf]

Hi
Here is mine in 2015, when I purchased it on ebay


2018


And right now



It still needs a lot of work. This spring I will air layer it. We'll see how it works!

I wish I can let it grow in the ground, but I haven't a chance, so I must use big pots to reach some caliper.

Greetings from Spain

 

[Paulpash]

Had one.
They can take regular winters here but when the polar vortex rolls in they're done. I had this one for a few years until winter 2015. They don't like -35F.
This one was 24" tall.View attachment 228287

OMG gotta admire your perseverance what with the VC munching on your trees from one direction & the polar vortex from the other.

 

[Johnnyd]

Like Ulmus x hollandica 'Jacqueline Hillier", it might seem to be a great species for bonsai, but it's not that easy. The internodes are very short (a few millimeters), but scale-like, like the bones on a fish.

What's more, if you want to use the "clip and grow" method, the cuts don't heal so well.

Anyway, I bought an Ulmus parvifolia 'Seiju' last year, and got another one for free last Sunday because my friend didn't really know what to do with it.

Ulmus parvifolia 'Seiju' 1 :

View attachment 228274

Ulmus parvifolia 'Seiju' 2 (freebie) :

View attachment 228276

If anyone has an " Ulmus parvifolia 'Seiju' ", this thread is for us to try and make a nice bonsai out of them...

Thanks for creating this thread. I've been working on one for a few years. I noticed that below the soil line there is a reverse taper from the difference the bark thickens when exposed to the elements. I'll post pics soon. I was a bit puzzled by this because I placed it in a 17 inch Anderson flat with the roots spread out to help create root flare.

 

[Anthony]

Doesn't like the Tropics either Gogeerah, died after x years.
same for the Catlin, and some forms of the Chinese elms.

The root cuttings can also change and die down here.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Forsoothe!]

View attachment 228341So one of my pseudo New Years resolutions was to “participate” and post tree pics instead of just reading. So, here’s my spitty seiju under poor lighting conditions.

The tree is OK, but I really love that blue pot...

 

[nrgizerrod]

I gather Seiju is hardy at 5b...? I struggled to find anything definitive on it when I was doing research. It sounds like they are outside of extreme polar vortex level cold temps. I would much rather it be outside all winter next year if it's relatively safe.

 

[Forsoothe!]

RIP.

Brutal MI cold caught up with it or just a hobbyist mystery loss? Sorry to hear.

For no particular reason. Plenty of room in the pot, roots looked fine, smelled OK, no bore holes or dust. Ordinary winter, just didn't leaf out. I lost a smaller one maybe 15 years ago, same, same.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I gather Seiju is hardy at 5b...? I struggled to find anything definitive on it when I was doing research. It sounds like they are outside of extreme polar vortex level cold temps. I would much rather it be outside all winter next year if it's relatively safe.

It's hard (for me) to state categorically one way or the other. Elms here and especially in China cover a wide range of zones. There are probably, but I don't know, races that have adapted to different summer heat/winter depth of cold ranges like some other species. I bought my first Seiju from a vendor in San Diego and so thought it was a tropical. I kept it indoors for ~three winters where it did poorly. I was at a friend's house sitting in the backyard and saw a little tree in the landscape and said, "That looks like a Seiju Elm". He said it was, it was there for ten years or so. I went home and immediately put mine in the landscape where it flourished.

There is no real general medicine for plants. Treatments for what ails them are marginally costly verses putting in something else and they're cheap to replace so there isn't any real pressure to research diseases and pests. When my Dad lost a rose back when I was a kid, he used to say, "This is a shopping opportunity..."

 

[rockm]

I gather Seiju is hardy at 5b...? I struggled to find anything definitive on it when I was doing research. It sounds like they are outside of extreme polar vortex level cold temps. I would much rather it be outside all winter next year if it's relatively safe.

I have found some of the tiny leaved varieties of Chinese Elm can be a bit cold sensitive, even here in 7a N. Va. I had a Catlin die on me after a particularly hard series of winters, as well as a seiju. Those winters had only a couple of days below 0 F, so -35 F would be a huge issue, I'd think

 

[nrgizerrod]

@Forsoothe! & @rockm Thank you both! It gives me something to think about at the end of this grow season.

I'm afraid to lose any of my little sticks but I know it's inevitable. Shopping Opportunity... I need to adopt that attitude!

 

[John P.]

Glad this thread is here. I have some Seiju starter material that I began air layering a couple weeks ago. Thanks for the advice re chops. Also, my material has some significant knobs from cluttered growth, so will look out for that as I proceed with the layer.

For right now, though, I am dealing with “knobby pencils.”

The elm at the bottom on the picture is a Hakkaido.

 

[M. Frary]

Here is one that I believe is Bill Valvanis'.
Looks like hedge pruning is the order of the day.
I used to do it to mine.

 

[AlainK]

Wow, without the first branch on the left, it's a masterpiece.

 

[Maloghurst]

I just found a cork bark seiju at a nursery last week. Bark already looks great. I just repotted and cut it down to size. Clip and grow must be the way because I started wiring and immediately started cracking branches. Very fragile.

 

[John P.]

Nice find, @Maloghurst !

 

[W3rk]

I'll join in on the Seiju, with the least exciting entry in the group, literally a stick in a pot.
But it does seem to have a good start on the root flare. This was a pick up at Meehan's nursery fall sale last year, it had just been trunk chopped.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

Wow, without the first branch on the left, it's a masterpiece.

VERY strongly disagree with this statement. That branch adds a beautiful asymmetry to the tree. Without it, it would just be a ball of foliage.

 

[Shima]

I have had this one for a bit less than a decade

and last fall, I decided that I will start over with it. View attachment 228324

And I have two smaller air layers from it. View attachment 228326 View attachment 228325

Nice old bark, small leaves. Ought to make nice bonsai, but ...

We're a strange lot...never content...for long.