Ultimate Ulmus Smackdown!

[Cadillactaste]

Thanks Darlene! I really like your elms particularly your winged ROR elm! Very nice!

Quite welcome...

Thank ya kindly... elm are just a fun pastime. Would love a chunk of elm to play with like my friends across the pond. With depth in the bark ..and, scars even. As I'm broke there with my love of scars on a deciduous. I wouldn't mind even a raw project. For a cool, ugly trunk that's easy on my back.

Yeah... love that ROR. It's got great fluid movement in the trunk.

 

[Goodbrake]

I agree. The leaves a pretty distinctive from other Chinese elms. And these are true deciduous as opposed to some others that are semi-evergreen.

All in all, I like working on most elms. Cedar elms are also quite nice with some impressive specimens with great character being collected down south.

I'm bummed I didn't get to attend the workshop you led in Austin a couple years back. The cedar elms here will literally grow in the cracks in the concrete and the nooks and crannies in outdoor staircases. I collected a small one last autumn growing in a pocket in a rock with just a pocket knife in one hand and my wily dog on a leash in the other.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Did you know...I always thought they were warty. The Seiju elm... was a huge turn off. I didn't realize that it was premature cork bark. This thread...and Ralph Manning on Instagram ... his comment to me on cork bark...had me mentally placing it on my want list. Picked up a clump today... this is a screenshot of the video shared. I'm hoping my front is in there somewhere. Around 8 inches tall...

 

[jeef16]

Yatsubusa Elm. I got many different elm varities. But I like this one the most.

yatsubusa elm no. 1

This Yatsubusa Elm is roughly 60-100 Years years old from the Japan and is potted into a Byron Myrick ceramic. The tree's form in this iteration is a Harmonious.

bonsaimirai.com

View attachment 584863

I got a yatsubusa young prebonsai material from evergreen gardenworks in the other week! any particular growing tips with this specific cultivar? I know they can be quite brittle sometimes

 

[Cadillactaste]

Soooo.... Seiju isn't a true cork bark... corticosa elm are. So is it wrong to call it cork bark/Seiju that is.

 

[Cadillactaste]

That said...hard to not call it cork bark...

 

[roberthu]

Hokkaido elm is so brittle I've stopped trying to wire and bend. I've had broken branches when a bird perched in the tree. Even very careful movement can snap a branch so exclusively clip and grow for Hokkaido here. It's also a genetic dwarf cultivar so very slow to grow.


Seiju is great for shohin


But even standard Chinese elm or the Corky bark variety can make good shohin. This one grown from root cutting. The root already had the bends so much more natural than I can do with wire and bending.

Do you mind sharing some tips on caring for Hokkaido elm? Soil mix, pot size and depth, watering and sunlight, etc.? I heard they are somewhat difficult to keep alive and can't seem to find much horticulture info for it.

Thanks!

 

[Shibui]

Do you mind sharing some tips on caring for Hokkaido elm? Soil mix, pot size and depth, watering and sunlight, etc.? I heard they are somewhat difficult to keep alive and can't seem to find much horticulture info for it.

All trees here are in the same mix so I assume that nay reasonable potting soil will be OK provided you match watering to suit the tree's needs.
Pot size is as for any plant - not too big, not too small. I move rooted cuttings into 4" squat pots. Those pots are big enough to allow some growth and to insure against drying too quick but small enough to promote drainage and allow roots to colonise the pot.
Hokkaido are slow growing so it can take 3 years or more before the trees are big enough to require larger pots.
Water as for any other bonsai - when the soil begins to dry out and water well when you do water.
My trees grow in full sun until really hot weather then under 50% shade to protect from scorching Summer sun and really low humidity. You may or may not need shade. I'd be guided by your local experience with other Chinese elm cultivars or other elms. Hokkaido may be small but, in the end it is just another Chinese elm.

The only real difficulty I've had is random dieback of some branches. Can't help with a reason for it. First time is frightening and disappointing but turned out the tree soon fills the spaces so no real harm unless you lose a lot at one time.

 

[leatherback]

Cool thread idea. Does anybody have suggestions for good identification tools for elms and the varieties? I have several elms in my gardens and of not a single one I am sure of species and/or cultivar.
I am pretty sure they are recognizable but I just do not know elms. Something about not growing up around Elms (Dutch Elm Disease ring any bells)

 

[oranjeaap]

Cool thread idea. Does anybody have suggestions for good identification tools for elms and the varieties? I have several elms in my gardens and of not a single one I am sure of species and/or cultivar.
I am pretty sure they are recognizable but I just do not know elms. Something about not growing up around Elms (Dutch Elm Disease ring any bells)

I'm in exactly the same spot. I'm doing an airlayer on 2 Elm trees in my garden. They're the only 2 that survived, out of the 12 that were originally planted a long time ago. They are not particularly healthy looking trees so dunno if they actually survived or are just dying even more slowly than the others did. In the past few years I've asked several Gardeners/Landscapers to ID the trees and most of them couldn't even ID them as an Elm to start with. Shows how little Elms they encounter. Starting a Bonsai from a non resistant variety is super risky but as a Dutch person making a Bonsai out of a Dutch Elm is something I simple must try.