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Zelkova Serrata Broomstyle 3 years 1 month ago #66177

  • marco buijsman
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I like to share another progression of one of my trees. Its a Zelkova Serrata, THE classic species for a Hokidachi, or broomstyle.

The story started in 2010, when I saw a 'normal' young Zelkova tree in a local gardencenter. It was about one meter in height and the trunk was about 2-3 cm in diameter. The nebari of that tree was bad, so I decided to place a marcot.

In 2011 I separated the upper part from the lower part. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the tree that time, but the marcot had developed roots at all directions of the trunk. I placed it in a big pot to strengthen the fresh roots.

The Hokidachi style tree I wanted to make couldn't become too high, because of the thickness of the trunk; 45cm in height for the finished tree was a nice size in my opinion. The ideal trunk height for this style has a ratio of 1 to 3, so I chopped the trunk at a height of 15 cm. I did that one year later, in 2012.


2013- New shoot were formed, and I selected 2 to become stronger. I also wired the base of the shoots to minimalise the expanding of the outer part of the base of the shoots.


Here the trunk in 2014, after the first prune.

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Zelkova Serrata Broomstyle 3 years 1 month ago #66179

  • marco buijsman
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2015- He had grown well, especially one of the two branches.


2016- Time to do some rootwork: Some of his own roots grafting at another place.


After that I placed the tree in a wooden crate.


2017- Before the hard prune in spring, and after. This to promote more branches. I also covered the rootbase with some roofing. That gives some higher temperatures under it when the sun is shining. This to promote more and faster rootgrowth.

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Zelkova Serrata Broomstyle 3 years 1 month ago #66180

  • marco buijsman
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2018- no picture, but the picture made in 2019 shows that it had made a lot more branches.


2020 - I did some wiring to spread out the branches. I also removed the fatter branches in the tree.


The next picture was winter 2020/21, before pruning back.


In my opinion the fundamental of the tree was ready, so it was time for a nice bonsai pot. From now on the refinement can start and I hope that will become better and better! I like it!

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Zelkova Serrata Broomstyle 3 years 1 month ago #66181

  • Albas
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Oh that's nice Marco!
First time I see this V shape technique.
It's awesome to see it evolving tru' time, the tree looks amazing, thanks for sharing it, and congrats.
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Last edit: Post by Albas.

Zelkova Serrata Broomstyle 3 years 1 month ago #66201

  • Clicio
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Wonderful progression, Marco.
It became a very nice broom, and I love the new pot!
Congrats, your work on this tree is perfect.
:-)
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Zelkova Serrata Broomstyle 3 years 1 month ago #66202

  • Nick Meusel
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Bravo Marco! thank you for sharing!!
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Zelkova Serrata Broomstyle 3 years 2 weeks ago #66552

  • nboisvert
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Wow! Really beautiful, it might sound stupid but this is exactly what I wanted to see as an example of a growing tree from a cut. This is definitely something I will try as soon as snow leaves.

Again, really nice work!

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Zelkova Serrata Broomstyle 3 years 2 weeks ago #66637

  • persimmon
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Last weekend, I visited a bonsai nursery in Saitama countryside (far away from Omiya bonsai villgage). They had a very similar Zelkova broom style tree, but the trunk diameter was something like 30cm! It was work in progress, but they had done exactly the same as Marco ;) Didn't ask them how many years the stump had been in training, but I would assume they have been working on it for a while, as some of the branches were as thick as the trunk on Marco's tree.

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Zelkova Serrata Broomstyle 2 years 6 months ago #72419

  • marco buijsman
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The Zelkova in my Tokonoma....

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Zelkova Serrata Broomstyle 2 years 6 months ago #72443

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It IS beautiful, isn't it?
Tokonoma, accent plant and broom Zelkova, wonderful match!
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