Bonsaify | The Ramifications of Elm Bonsai Ramification

Eric shares his work on two of his older Chinese Elms, focusing on ramification and spring cutback and thinning.
00:00:20 Tree 1: Between last summer's work and damage from an early Fall storm, Eric decided to trim back all of the branches and "start over" with some secondary and tertiary branching...to mixed results.
00:01:14 The results includes some bare spots; Eric had hoped more buds would pop out.
00:01:38 How to gauge whether Eric cut this tree back properly.
00:02:08 Cutting back to two leaves on each strong shoot.
00:02:43 Additional cutback of branches.
00:03:52 Tree 2: Keeping up with deciduous work in Spring...or not keeping the tree cutback and thinned out enough, the outside and top branching is healthy but the interior twigs are dying off.
00:04:20 Eric wants to force the tree to bud back on older wood and make more compact branching.
00:05:11 Analysis of cutback results and discussion of long-term maintenance to keep growing out interior twigs.
If you're looking for more Chinese Corkbark Elm bonsai videos, check out • Bonsaify | Learn to PR... "Learn how to Predict how your Bonsai will Develop"! Share your experience with Elm ramification in the comments below. Thank you for watching!

[@Bonsaify]

Thank you for your support and engagement! It means SO MUCH to us when you Subscribe ✅to our channel! ❤

[@phungar]

The season logo is a great idea and very useful for those not in the same region. Thank you Eric

[@r.evanmiller1030]

Really nice work, thanks for posting the video on this. I have a couple elm's in need of plenty of ramification! I'll be looking at your other videos on the development as you mentioned.

[@Bonsaicrazy]

Great video Eric Those trees look amazing 👍👍👍

[@tomlawler8293]

I love that green rectangle pot with the araan cable pattern. Wish I could find one like that!

[@Bonsaify]

I have to admit - I've never seen another one like it. It's an old hand-made Jim Barrett pot that I purchased from one of my clients. I can't say I've even ever seen one in Japan, or Japanese show books...but I'm sure they're out there. Perhaps a special edition to come!

[@stephencreswell229]

Try exfoliating the bark with a green nylon brush in the areas you want new growth. I use that technique with the Corticosa variety. It sounds crazy but it always works for me.

[@Bonsaify]

Thanks Stephen - that has to be the craziest tip I've never heard of! I'll give it a try.

[@stephencreswell229]

@@Bonsaify the only problem I've noticed is you get a 5+ buds trying to push in that area and if you don't thin them out it causes swelling extremely fast. I hope it works for you.

[@notionbonsai]

Great video Eric! Such beauiful Elms! 😄😄

[@ryanaugustus]

Fun to see this pop up in my feed. I just moved my elms outside for the season (I’m in Colorado, so growing in a greenhouse during the off season) and I just chop the hell out of mine because the greenhouse-grown leaves will be obliterated outside in a day (and no amount of “acclimating” seems to help). Doing this gets me robust back budding every single time but I’ll admit… I haven’t tried this on my corkbark types!

[@jakejacobs5068]

Interesting, Eric. I have several corkbarks of this age/size and I never would have considered cutting back to bare wood this time of year. I'm in coastal SoCal, so climate is pretty similar. Thanks, great video.

[@DavesBonsai]

Excellent tutorial Eric!

[@phillipwaterman5721]

Nice video nice shape tree s thanks Eric keep up the good work mate thanks

[@kevinmitchell4960]

Great video thanks for sharing 👍🏻 love elms my favourite species

[@boxCatalogue]

0:03 My favourite part of the Odyssey was when Odysseus was captured and forced to prune elms for 10 years before being allowed to return home to Ithaca

[@Bonsaify]

Classical.

[@gs7605]

Coming back to this video again, just to confirm, this was post-spring flush pruning, guessing mid to late june?

[@Bonsaify]

Late April actually - but yes spring. We have a pretty early spring here in the SF Bay Area so it may be equivalent to a bit later where you are. (although I'm guessing you don't live on the ski slope in your avatar.)

[@bonsaidinhvuong]

Beautifully bonsai

[@Muted]

Love your channel. Are you going to rbe restocking the cork bark elm seedlings anytime soon ?

[@Bonsaify]

I have a bunch in the works - but unfortunately, they are too young yet to put up for sale. I like to let them run for a while after potting them up to ensure I'm shipping out good healthy plants. I'd expect we may have some by fall, but not likely before. And all this elm work I've been doing is a reminder that I didn't make enough cuttings last year! (cork elms are all cutting propagated.)

[@baldyeti]

Very educational, thank you for that!

[@bonsai_life_style]

beautiful tree's 😍

[@giulianapazziniyamadoriita8527]

Tutt'e due bellissimi ❤❤❤❤

[@danielfonseca5007]

I have just dug up an elm stump from a very muddy garden bed and it has slime all over the part that was underground. Is this normal? If not, could tell how to fix? Or do I throw it out?😂 Was hoping for it to look like one of your elms one day !

[@Bonsaify]

Cut roots on cork elms (not sure about normal) do exude a slimy ooze. I've seen it many times. Not a problem.

[@danielfonseca5007]

@@Bonsaify thank you Eric for the reply, always offering sound information. Those elms are inspirational. Your tutorials have also been super helpful to develop my ficus trees. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience

[@nickaleshin7149]

When doing this sort of work, I’ve read that it’s best to wait for the new leaves to harden off & turn that nice hunter green from the last cutback prior to the next cutback. But I feel like in a lot of cases if you wait that long, then you might miss out on some opportunities (like losing interior twigging). Ideally, do you wait for the leaf hardening off response or just the super bushy response prior to another round of cutback?

[@Bonsaify]

I generally wait until I see the tree showing signs of vigor. If the branches come out and harden off without much extension then the tree is weaker. If the shoots come out and start running then I wait about a month - in this case maybe 6-8 weeks actually, and then I cut back. With the density of the larger one that I started with it would only take a few weeks for the tree to give up on some of the leaves/twigs in my experience.

[@nickaleshin7149]

@@Bonsaify thanks Eric!

[@andreabr76]

Ciao, lavoro eccezionale. Qual'è la varietà di questo olmo?

[@Bonsaify]

Ulmus parvifolia 'Corticosa' - or Corkbark Chinese Elm.

[@Kevin-d4d4c]

I have had serious die back on a sejiu elm when making hard cuts, is there a time of year that can eliminate this issue

[@Bonsaify]

I would say mid-spring is the best time for hard cuts. But more important than that even is that the tree should be healthy and growing vigorously. Weak trees are often the cause of problems. Lots of fall fertilizer will get you going in the right direction. And don't be shy about using a large pot.

[@Kevin-d4d4c]

Thanks, the serious issues I had was when I was growing it in the ground, I would lop off large branches and part of the trunk would die back, but it was actually a few years before I realized it had died when the bark started to come off. I was thinking it may be the time of year.

[@waterlover]

What is the regimen of fertilizer and type of fertilizer for the elms?

[@Bonsaify]

We use mostly either inorganic time-release (like osmacote, or Apex) or soluble (like miracle gro) in the nursery operation because organic fertilizers are too bulky/expensive and problematic in that context. But for mature trees in bonsai pots a mix of organic and soluble - either fish emulsion alternating with miracle gro, or solid organic like BioGold or a cheaper American alternative. But really just about anything will do. Dont worry too much about what/how and just make sure you do.

[@waterlover]

@@Bonsaify I didn’t know you could just feed what ever type of fertilizers I heard you could kill trees for giving to much but I’ll read up more on the stuff you commented on, thanks for your time.

[@Bonsaify]

You can, but only if you mis-use the fertilizer. E.g. Miracle gro dilution instructions are very important - the maximum concentration should be no more than 500ppm (you can use a TDS meter to check, but this is about what the full-strength label directions give you.) With pellet fertilizers - some do have soluble components - so follow the directions. Also: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ap_Jp56Jnrmdj68 and: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n16apqidftxric0 Good luck.

[@waterlover]

@@Bonsaify thank you will do and will look at those links.

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌👌

[@dudesjirbonsai]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@9daywonda]

It looks like something from middle earth. Where is the hobbit?

[@Bonsaify]

Did you see our last video? True wizardry #middleearth