Yaupon (progress over 4 months)

[A Random User]

Bought this Dwarf Yaupon for $50 on August 20th of this year... Sorry didn't get a before picture.
However, 2 days later on the 22nd I did a heavy chop to it, taking off about a foot and a half off the top. It was just a garden shrub that had been pruned as most are to a ball shape.
The following are 2 pics from that time...










When it began to pop new growth, I periodically did some cutting to this new growth over the past 3 and a half months as new shoots shot out... to force even more growth to pop. It responded really well... and even popped quite a bit of new growth further down the trunks, which is really what I was hoping it would do, and pushed the material rather hard over.

So, at the beginning of last month, it looked like this.




And as you can tell... I also started wiring some of it early on as well... do to that once branches harden off, they do not bend.

So, seeing that I now had growth popping lower down on the trunks from where I originally chopped them... I decided to chop down even further.



Now... why not chop lower in the first place??? I cut down to the very lowest point of foliage I could with each, and did not want to risk cutting lower and nothing ever growing lower down. Once stuff did... then I decided to cut.

Since, it has taken off again and tonight I decided to do one more cut on it for the year and to begin to define some of its shape. I also did some further wiring to a couple more branches. So... as of tonight... and 3 and a half months later, it looks like this...



Next summer depending on how it is doing... I might go ahead at that time and do a really hard cut to its roots to see about starting to get it down into an appropriate size pot for it. Currently in regular nursery soil... which would account for it popping back so well. When I go to repot, I will change it over to a Bonsai Soil... which over time will help greatly increase its ramification and reduce its leaf size down by half, if not more. Also... at that time, I might consider making the shape of the tree and its size, even smaller. I would love to bring the sides in tighter, about another inch or more on each side... to really give the tree an awesome sense of power.

On its way to being a really nice little Sumo.

 

[Tieball]

Very nice material you have been developing. It has a lot of terrific character and age. This is the first chunky Yaupon I think I've seen. Well....I don't see that many Yaupon attempts. It will be good to watch your progress. Thanks for sharing the progression. .....I'm trying to imagine the larger bush when you first obtained it....good eye you have to find this tree inside that growth. Mighty fine!

 

[just.wing.it]

Wow, great!
Come so far in no time at all! impressive!
I'm not super familiar with yaupon, it is different than winter berry, correct?
But is it deciduous?
Does it grow berries too?

 

[aml1014]

Wow, great!
Come so far in no time at all! impressive!
I'm not super familiar with yaupon, it is different than winter berry, correct?
But is it deciduous?
Does it grow berries too?

It is a holly, they are generally evergreen except in their coldest range, and the females have berry's that hold late into winter.

Aaron

 

[mattspinniken]

Wow, looks great. That would be record time around here for such a nice turn around. The crown is basically the perfect size for the trunk for my personal taste on these short fat trunks. Very impressive!

 

[dannylightning]

nice. it went from looking like a stump to a looking like a tree pretty fast. looks good.

 

[A Random User]

Thanks everyone for the comments, I appreciate it!

 

[A Random User]

Wow, great!
Come so far in no time at all! impressive!
I'm not super familiar with yaupon, it is different than winter berry, correct?
But is it deciduous?
Does it grow berries too?

Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it!

When I commented on your colander thread this is what I was discussing...

With this material I was wanting the fastest turn around time possible, and keeping the tree in a healthy state was key.

At this stage of the material, I am still in the construction phase... and although it is already prerty far along, i am still in the Pre-Bonsai phase. For I am still growing the tree out... I am chopping the trunks and beginning to establish the main branches as well begging to work out the taper issues of the chopped trunks and healing over these cuts. The fastest way to achieve this is by keeping the tree in a soil that retains more moisture, and disturbing the roots as less as possible .

At this phase of construction, I am not concerned with the introduction of more air into the soil to produce more finer roots. I just need the roots that the tree currently has to continue to grow strong... and I know the tree already has enough roots currently to sustain a much bigger tree, since I quite literally cut it down from one. So, introduction of more finer roots at this stage is not important... and seeing that the soil drains fairly well, and the tree seems to like it... no point moving it into another soil. Moving it, cutting roots, or having roots air pruned, all slow the tree and it's growth down... which is counterproductive to what it is that I an trying to achieve... being that I at this state just want the tree to return back to normal as fast as possible after doing the chops.

Later, as I mentioned. .. when I am ready to begin to try and define the material, to begin to make it into a bonsai... at that state of development, I will purposely want to slow the growth of the tree down. So, why not do work that slows the growth of the tree down, when you actually want to slow the growth of the tree down?

I will want to introduce more air into the soil... more air means more finer roots... more finer roots, means more finer branching, more leaves... more leaves means smaller sized leaves... also, more finer roots means I have more roots coming off of the trunk in order to create a better radiation of the tree's nebari with. I have found that a regular bonsai pot works fine for doing this... but yes you could use a colander, or even a regular nursery "bulb pot ", just filled with bonsai soil.

If you need to let the tree grow further to increase the nebari roots, you could just place the pot on the ground, and let roots that escape out of the bottom run free... yet still mataining finer roots in the pot for which to cut back too.

 

[just.wing.it]

Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it!

When I commented on your colander thread this is what I was discussing...

With this material I was wanting the fastest turn around time possible, and keeping the tree in a healthy state was key.

At this stage of the material, I am still in the construction phase... and although it is already prerty far along, i am still in the Pre-Bonsai phase. For I am still growing the tree out... I am chopping the trunks and beginning to establish the main branches as well begging to work out the taper issues of the chopped trunks and healing over these cuts. The fastest way to achieve this is by keeping the tree in a soil that retains more moisture, and disturbing the roots as less as possible .

At this phase of construction, I am not concerned with the introduction of more air into the soil to produce more finer roots. I just need the roots that the tree currently has to continue to grow strong... and I know the tree already has enough roots currently to sustain a much bigger tree, since I quite literally cut it down from one. So, introduction of more finer roots at this stage is not important... and seeing that the soil drains fairly well, and the tree seems to like it... no point moving it into another soil. Moving it, cutting roots, or having roots air pruned, all slow the tree and it's growth down... which is counterproductive to what it is that I an trying to achieve... being that I at this state just want the tree to return back to normal as fast as possible after doing the chops.

Later, as I mentioned. .. when I am ready to begin to try and define the material, to begin to make it into a bonsai... at that state of development, I will purposely want to slow the growth of the tree down. So, why not do work that slows the growth of the tree down, when you actually want to slow the growth of the tree down?

I will want to introduce more air into the soil... more air means more finer roots... more finer roots, means more finer branching, more leaves... more leaves means smaller sized leaves... also, more finer roots means I have more roots coming off of the trunk in order to create a better radiation of the tree's nebari with. I have found that a regular bonsai pot works fine for doing this... but yes you could use a colander, or even a regular nursery "bulb pot ", just filled with bonsai soil.

If you need to let the tree grow further to increase the nebari roots, you could just place the pot on the ground, and let roots that escape out of the bottom run free... yet still mataining finer roots in the pot for which to cut back too.

Awesome! Thanks sir!
As much as I'd love to keep trees on the ground, anywhere I put them, they're sure to get messed with by animals...I even have this problem on my deck...

 

[A Random User]

Awesome! Thanks sir!
As much as I'd love to keep trees on the ground, anywhere I put them, they're sure to get messed with by animals...I even have this problem on my deck...

You can then place them on top of a larger pot filled with soil, and let the roots run into this.

Anthony and others are doing this exact thing wire Placing a colander on top of of another colander or the ground. It defeats the purpose of using a colander, which is to air prune... so I wouldn't use it... Also, by using a bonsai pot of the size you want the tree to end up in... you are still maintain these finer roots in the size container you want to end up using. .. so no worries about trying to scale down the pot size later.

I often will place very vigorous growing shohin or mames on top of a larger pot, to help keep them maintain health, so I am not always cutting roots, or repotting as much.

 

[just.wing.it]

I often will place very vigorous growing shohin or mames on top of a larger pot, to help keep them maintain health, so I am not always cutting roots, or repotting as much

Not to be pesky....but...just curious, and I like the idea...
When you do this, do you remove drainage screens?

 

[A Random User]

Not to be pesky....but...just curious, and I like the idea...
When you do this, do you remove drainage screens?

No, you just leave them...

It goes back to the whole air pruning feature. .. Roots, on most plants once they begin to pop out the bottom don't grow any more due to no more soil and air drying them out... if you set a pot on the ground or on top of another pot of soil... you have more soil for the roots to keep growing into. Because our pots often have feet... just sink them down till the bottom of the pot touches the soil.

This is the same thing as putting a colander on top of another colander, or on top of the ground... when you do this... you stop the air pruning.

Years ago... I worked for sometime at a landscaping nursery. We use to put our larger material, trees etc... in the ground still in their pots. This would allow for them to continue to grow... and come time to sell... you would just dig around the pot... cut all roots extending out of it and just lift the tree out... the tree still had tons of finer roots inside the pot, and the collection of the tree did very minimal damage. Also... almost no coiling of roots around the inside of the pot.

 

[Tieball]

No, you just leave them...

It goes back to the whole air pruning feature. .. Roots, on most plants once they begin to pop out the bottom don't grow any more due to no more soil and air drying them out... if you set a pot on the ground or on top of another pot of soil... you have more soil for the roots to keep growing into. Because our pots often have feet... just sink them down till the bottom of the pot touches the soil.

This is the same thing as putting a colander on top of another colander, or on top of the ground... when you do this... you stop the air pruning.

Years ago... I worked for sometime at a landscaping nursery. We use to put our larger material, trees etc... in the ground still in their pots. This would allow for them to continue to grow... and come time to sell... you would just dig around the pot... cut all roots extending out of it and just lift the tree out... the tree still had tons of finer roots inside the pot, and the collection of the tree did very minimal damage. Also... almost no coiling of roots around the inside of the pot.

Good information. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience on the subjects.....the entire thread of comments.