| Fagus
sylvatica/European Beech Bonsai Progression Series
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I bought
this European Beech in April 2001 from a bonsai nursery; its
price had been reduced because, I was told, it was a 'little
weak'.
I
was told that the tree had been part of a large group planting
that had been taken apart the previous Winter and this was the
main tree(s).
I
was very impressed with the movement in the main trunk and there
seemed to be a good possibility of using all three trunks for
a clump-form bonsai. Unfortunately, I was also seduced by the
ramification of the branches, as it was to turn out, all of
the ramification was unusable for a tree with a single trunk.
Little
work was carried out on the tree during 2001; the tree was obviously
weak and needed the year to recover. After a bad case of white-fly
infestation during the Summer that is typical of an unhealthy
Beech, the tree seemed to settle down.
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I
wasn't happy with the water-retentive peat-based soil the tree
had been planted in by the bonsai nursery, so in early 2002, I
took the opportunity to bare-root the tree. This was also an opportunity
to discover how the three trunks of the tree were connected and
to establish the 'front' of the tree as a future bonsai.
As
can be seen above, after bare-rooting the roots, what there were
of them, were not a pretty sight! There were many, many dead and
rotted roots; one of the trunks was entirely separate from the
other two and was discarded. Worst of all, the two main trunks
were joined a few inches above the nebari leaving an ugly section
of reverse taper.
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I potted up the tree using good quality bonsai soil (without
any peat!) into a much smaller mica training pot that would stop
the soil from staying wet all the time.
It
was then time to start pruning the tree into shape. It was at this
point that I realised that while the tree had great ramification;
the majority of the twigs (and therefore the foliage during the
Summer) were at the tips of the branches. Where the tree had been
incorrectly pruned for many years, the primary (main) branches were
bare except at their very tips.
As
can be seen in the image above, by the time I had shortened back
the branches to a respectable length, there was little ramification
left!
By
this stage I had decided that the second trunk was unsuitable for
use and had to be removed. This could have been done during dormancy
but its complete removal was left until midsummer when the resulting
wound would heal much more quickly.
Around
this time I happened to speak to Ken Shalilker of Pinewood Bonsai
who was aware of this Beech tree and its history. To my amazement,
he explained that it had quite a chequered past and some pedigree.
It
was originally collected as one of a series of young trees, and
assembled together as a group planting, in the late 70's by Craig
Coussins and Peter Adams (both renowned UK Bonsai Masters and authors).
Craig later told me that at the time he and Peter made many Beech
group plantings of which this was only one.
The
group planting had been around for years being bought and then sold
on by a number of bonsai enthusiasts. Finally, it had been doused
with paraquat weedkiller by its last owners' angry wife (!) and
the majority of the trees had died; this, the main tree, had survived
and had been separated away from the dead trees into a pot. Which
is why I found it growing cheaply at the back of a bonsai nursery!
No wonder the thing had so few roots and was so weak.
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Beech are awkward trees to develop. Though a Beech
tree will produce new buds further back along a branch (backbud)
if pruned very hard, unlike the majority of deciduous trees, if
a branch is pruned back leaving no viable leaf-buds, the entire
branch can often dieback. This left me with the problem of trying
to shorten bare branches without any inner buds to cut back to.
The
tree is pictured above in September 2003. By this time the thick
secondary trunk had been removed. However, there was still no
inner growth and as I was having great difficulty getting the
tree to backbud so I could shorten those horrible, ugly branches!
It
was at this point that I ran across an old translated Japanese
article on Beech pruning techniques. It explained that by pinching
out new shoots in the Spring and partially defoliating the tree
in late Spring, Beech can be forced to backbud and ramification
is easy to achieve. (These techniques are described here
in detail)
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A
year later, at the end of 2004, I had been able to shorten back
all of the primary branches to new inner buds. It was now possible
to start filling out those new shorter branches.
By
this time the tree had completely recovered its vigour and had become
rootbound so it had been slipped into a larger bonsai pot by Erin
Pottery.
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June
2006. After two and half years of using this newly-learnt techniques,
the tree can be seen following its annual partial defoliation
(removal of the spring leaves) and the increased ramification
of the tree can be seen.
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Though
there is still much room for improvement, the nebari (surface roots)
have developed well. In years to come I would hope to introduce
some taper and division in the long straight root on the left hand
side. |
July
2006. A few weeks later and the tree has leafed out again and
is really beginning to look presentable again after just over
5 years of development.
Height
of bonsai; 22"/55cm
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November
2007 . The rust brown autumn leaves that would normally cling
to the branches until the Spring have been removed and the tree
is pruned back once again.
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January 2009:
Following the annual removal of the leaves and rewiring of the previous
years new growth.
.jpg)
.jpg)
As can
be seen in these images, increasing the ramification of Beech/Fagus
is simple if the correct techniques are followed. (These techniques
are described here
in detail)
.jpg)
Current height
of bonsai; 22"/55cm
The beech in early May 2010 just days after the new Spring leaves have opened
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