After repotting the ginkgo this spring, it has leafed out well and seems to be happy, but the branch structure isn't very pleasing. The height is about where I want it overall, but there aren't enough lower branches. I dragged it next to the house to try to get a picture. Should I be cutting the right and left branches severely to try to get a fuller tree? If so, how far down, and is it better to just let it grow now and do it next spring early?
Another showing bare branches earlier this spring.
Whenever someone is asked to look at someone else's trees, we either find something nice to say about the tree and keep our opinions to oneself, or we offer suggestions that, from our perspectives, will improve the tree or prepare the tree for future improvements - a critique, if you will.
Your tree is very young, so it has all the potential of a young tree. It's up to you to decide what pleases you, and to please yourself first, I can only offer you advise that will make your tree more pleasing to the eye for others. FWIW, I'll be judging the Detroit area bonsai show two weeks from today,so I'm pretty familiar with what makes a tree attractive or evocative.
The two things that most need to be corrected if your tree is to remain a formal upright style is the height and lack of taper. Both can be corrected with a trunk chop and then letting the tree grow unchecked until you do the second chop. All of the branches currently on the tree would be irrelevant because they will be coming off when you chop, but it would be to your advantage to induce back-budding on the lower trunk now, so you will have to leave less to chance when you do chop back. Do this by pinching out all the apical meristems (growing tips) of every branch to stop branch elongation. This will force back-budding - hopefully from adventitious buds on the trunk, too. If you do get new growth on the trunk, choose the branch that is the most logical new top, based on the best view of the roots, and train it upward (upward growing branches grow more vigorously) in preparation for next spring's trunk chop. In spring, chop the trunk back a little above that branch and allow tissues to die back. You can use your knob cutter later to clean up the wound to speed up the healing process.
Of course, all this would happen MUCH faster if the tree was in the ground, or at least a large training pot.
Good luck.
Al
Al,
Thank you, as always, for your suggestions. II just want to make sure that this procedure works with a Ginkgo? I had read that scars don't heal with Ginkgo, so one should be careful about large cuts, which made me think that the radical crop approach was not a good idea with Ginkgo. Nothing I have read has addressed this question specifically, so this is guesswork on my part.
..... one of the reasons that so many are grown in the rosoku-zukuri (candle flame) style, and why careful attention to positioning the tree for the best view of the nebari, and chopping so scars are hidden on the back side of the tree, or incorporating the scar into a design that includes a hollowed trunk are so common.
Scars on ginko are always slow to heal, but trees in the ground do heal faster than trees in pots
Al
Into the ground it goes! I'm feeling confident, since this is a zone 3 tree in the ground, that I can just let the Maine winter have at it, even though it has spent its winters so far in garages and basements. If you have any information to the contrary, please let me know. One of my main bonsai problems is that I'm a bit isolated and it is hard to move from books to action on one's own. You give me courage. Honestly, Dave's Garden would not be the same without you. Your generosity with your time and knowledge is unsurpassed.
I know its a hardy plant but are its roots small? If they are it might not make it through a really harsh winter. Just a thought.
C
I did some top trimming on this plant and it looks nicer (to me). But I still haven't moved it to the ground. Newton's post has me hesitating, he has a point, I think, about the roots? Anyone else have an opinion on this?
If small roots were a prohibiting factor, all the trees that reproduce from seeds would be unable to make it through the winter. Dessication is a consideration if you continue to wait, though, The root system needs time to establish so the woody parts of the tree remain hydrated. Mulching for the first year or two should be sufficient to ensure the soil remains moist enough to prevent the tree from drying completely. If it's small enough, you can cover it with something that allows some air circulation to help in the dessication dept. I've planted dozens & dozens of liners & tubes out & don't recall losing any over winter.
Al
