which one out of following trees makes the best Bonsai

[dinchigren]

I have a chance to get one of the following trees this coming weekend:

Common hackberry

Golden Raintree

Persian Spire

Zelkova Green Vase

Zelkova Mushashino

Stewartia pseudocamellia

Japanese / Korean Stewartia

Pin Oak

All trees are 4-6 feet tall, they come in 5 Gallon container. Any recommendation on which out of these would be the most suitable for bonsai? I am located in Boston, MA.
Thank you.

 

[Kanorin]

I would go with the tree with the best combination of base and trunk line. Zelkovas, Stewartia, and hackberry are tried and true. The oak is a bit more challenging and the others I don’t know much about.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

All those except the Koelreuteria and Quercus palustris (they have big leaves) have nice potential for bonsai

 

[rockm]

Hackberry, Zelkovas. Skip the pin oak.

Get the stewartia, but plant it in your yard for a decade. A decent trunk (should be bolt upright) that's three or more inches in diameter can be sold for a considerable amount down the road. Large stewartia trunks aren't common...

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

What they all said -

Persian Spire & Quercus are real challenges to make into bonsai, as in difficult and multiple decade projects.

Zelkova - all varieties can become very nice bonsai relatively quickly. They trunk up quick, they develop branch ramification quickly.

Hackberry - common and sugarberry - quickly develop, much like zelkova, but with the unique bark texture common to hackberries.

Stewartia - all species and varieties, are select choice species for bonsai. Real connoisseur plants, they take time to develop, but are well worth the investment. And they are an investment.

 

[PA_Penjing]

I agree with the above facts. if you needed more convincing...

 

[dinchigren]

Thank you All.

I ended up getting Zelkova in the attached photos. I will work on it tomorrow.
My plan is to repot it in the shallow pot with good bonsai soil shown in photo. Water it and put it in shade for about 1-2 weeks. After that I need to reduce trunk, I am thinking to cutting it all the way down to blue arrow. Does this make sense?
I am more worried about cutting trunk back since after cutting it will not have any leaves left. I am located in Boston MA, with current temperatures at night of about 40 F.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Just wondering. When were you thinking of cutting back the trunk?
cheers
DSD sends

 

[August44]

Looks grafted me thinks...like almost all nursery trees!! Don't know if anyone has to you but that is unacceptable in many bonsai minds.

 

[coltranem]

In general I wouldn't put a tree in that size pot until you got it cut down.

What type and size of tree are you trying to make? The cut you indicate would leave a fairly straight untappered section (most of which would be below the graft).

If it were mine I would put it in a larger nursery container or in the ground take an air layer off the top later in the season to start a small broom style. That will trigger more buds to pop below the layer and perhaps you can take another layer next year.

In you go with a nursery pot you will need to stake it down.

Have you been out to Bonsai West or New England Bonsai Gardens?

 

[Crazy Diamond]

Plant it in the ground and make airlayers! then chop it if you want to the base to eliminate the ugly graft

 

[Shogun610]

Well that was underwhelming

 

[discusmike]

I second Rockm’s post

 

[dinchigren]

To clarify I am in Boston MA and I have kept it inside for winter, treating it as house plant. I am planning to take it outside any day now.m

In general I wouldn't put a tree in that size pot until you got it cut down.

What type and size of tree are you trying to make? The cut you indicate would leave a fairly straight untappered section (most of which would be below the graft).

If it were mine I would put it in a larger nursery container or in the ground take an air layer off the top later in the season to start a small broom style. That will trigger more buds to pop below the layer and perhaps you can take another layer next year.

In you go with a nursery pot you will need to stake it down.

Have you been out to Bonsai West or New England Bonsai Gardens?

Thanks coltranem.​

Again that article by Brent Watson is helpful for this as well. I am trying to make relatively small tree say 12-15" total in the end. Trunk at the base is almost 2 " diameter right now. I have almost zero experience with deciduous trees, so if you think I should not waist time on this tree let me know.
Otherwise:
I will do air layering suggestion taken on the top, however it will result in rather small trunk. When taken air layer from top I assume you would put it in ground and let it grow further to develop thicker trunk?

Am I missing something about trunk at bottom? Does the fact that this is grafted tree make it non-usable for Bonsai? What tells you this is grafted tree? Sorry, all of this I am asking to see if it makes sense to do the following:
-Plant tree in nursery pot or ground and wait until next Spring
-At that point trunk should be in 2-2.5" diameter range. I will cut it about 4" from the bottom and let it grow further trying to follow direction from Brent Watson's article.

Thanks again. Yes I have been to both Bonsai West and New England Bonsai Gardens. I am attending a class at Bonsai West next Friday.

 

[penumbra]

To clarify I am in Boston MA and I have kept it inside for winter, treating it as house plant.

Bad idea, It is not a houseplant and it needs a period of dormancy.

 

[coltranem]

@dinchigren
I am not 100% sure it is grafted because you don't have a clean picture of the base. However I guessed based on the trunk looking deformed in that area and thus being named cultivar "musahino". Named cultivars are typically propagated by grafting, cuttings, or layers. In general for landscape trees they tend to be grafted.

So a grafted tree will have different genetics above and below the graft. This could mean different leaf size, leaf shape, bark, growth rates. This could impact our design. There is nothing inherently wrong with this being grated but it could affect how you develop the tree.

For instance if you chop at the blue line you will get buds on both the lower and upper portions. The lower branches may have different characteristics then the upper.

 

[dinchigren]

Bad idea, It is not a houseplant and it needs a period of dormancy.

Sorry this was not related to this tree. I had a separate post about fig tree. Thanks for replying though