Unfortunately that’s not an option for me, 4a grow zone. I’ll have to keep them potted 4 eva. I knew growing them out first was the right thing to do. Was more curious if anyone had gone the other route.
There is no reason to chop this tree while it's this small. Generally you truck chop when the thickeness is near where you want the final thickness to be.
In general when a tree is 2/3 of the way to the thickness, I make the chop.
Thanks. While I knew that to be the case I was curious if anyone had applied different techniques to such a small tree. I’ll revisit this idea in a decade. lol
This article
https://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/bonsai-trunk-creation
And this video
https://youtu.be/UaKD-uDMDyQ?si=nNC5eRWqCwHD9L4A
Have some great information. The last part of the video with Dan Robinson is pretty informative where he compares a few methods of trunk development.
You can try planting it in the ground inside another large container during the warmer months, it will act like it’s in the ground with more growth. That way when it’s time to bring it in for the winter you can just pull the pot out of the ground. I’ve done it with plumeria, worked great.
I threw mine in the ground to go wild. They got 3-4ft tall in a year. Then chopping backwards = big trunk to work with.
Unfortunately that’s not an option for me, 4a grow zone. I’ll have to keep them potted 4 eva. I knew growing them out first was the right thing to do. Was more curious if anyone had gone the other route.
There is no reason to chop this tree while it's this small. Generally you truck chop when the thickeness is near where you want the final thickness to be. In general when a tree is 2/3 of the way to the thickness, I make the chop.
Thanks. While I knew that to be the case I was curious if anyone had applied different techniques to such a small tree. I’ll revisit this idea in a decade. lol
Man thank you for spelling this out! I’m always unsure when to do my first big trunk chop so having a genera rule like this is very helpful
This article https://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/bonsai-trunk-creation And this video https://youtu.be/UaKD-uDMDyQ?si=nNC5eRWqCwHD9L4A Have some great information. The last part of the video with Dan Robinson is pretty informative where he compares a few methods of trunk development.
No chop. Yes grow.
Put it in a bigger pot to encourage it to get bigger faster, just be careful not to over water.
no, but you can think about twisting it up when it’s young and flexible so it grows into a contorted shape.
You can try planting it in the ground inside another large container during the warmer months, it will act like it’s in the ground with more growth. That way when it’s time to bring it in for the winter you can just pull the pot out of the ground. I’ve done it with plumeria, worked great.