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It’s been a funny start to spring with some trees leafing out early and with gusto while others are only just budding out. I put it down to a warm start and a later cold snap which has set a number of trees behind their bench mates.
The below Crabapple is new to my benches and was re-potted a month or so ago and falls firmly into the early leafing category
Since re-potting, It had continued to grow strongly and had leafed out to a point where the inner growth was already being shaded out and the inner buds looked sluggish.
So i brought it into the workshop and cut back extending shoots and also leaf pruned or partially defoliated the canopy.
Above: Before and after.
I have left the tree with two leaves per shoot, having also removed the small inner leaves at the base of shoots that tend not to form buds at their base. I find this goes a long way to increasing the sunlight that reaches the interior without really effecting the budding / ramification. I will see what happens from here but if the leaves keep growing in size and shade the interior too much i may cut them in half to further encourage light to the interior.
There was a lot of growth in the upper regions of the tree so by carrying out this first leave prune i hope that the energy of each branch is much more evenly balanced and has a more even access to light. We will have to see what happens with the second flush to test that thought.
I’ve just about finished my re-potting for the next season’s growth. It has gone fairly easily this time around for some reason despite the collection growing in size a little. While I wont be posting every tree, this will be one of a few posts capturing the most interesting re-pots of the year.
The first tree is a new tree to the collection. It’s what we think is a Crabapple. It arrived to me in a very shallow pot, which while it suited the tree, i wasn’t sure it was the best choice in my garden with the often hot summers.
So as a starting point i got it into my mix and a deeper pot. By doing that I now know what baseline i am starting with and if any issues do come up over the growing season i will not be questioning the roots or a soil mix i do not usually use.
Above: The tree sans pot. The hook root on the right of the trunk annoyed me so i took it off. i planted the cut root in another pot to see if if will shoot from a root cutting or not.
Above: Post re-pot. I ended up going with this navy blue Reiho pot which i liked. It goes well with the fresh red growth but time will tell how it looks when the foliage matures (and maybe turns green?)
As far as i know, the tree has never flowered so i will be doing my best this year to feed it up with some high phosphorus and potassium fertiliser with the hope it sets flower buds next year.
Nichigo Bonsai 