My first Bonsais, yard-a-dori and river yamadori-need ID

I bought a new house and finally and able to get into bonsais!!! I've went into the wild a year ago and found this guy and thought it was perfect as my first bonsai. When I dug it up it had no feeder roots and just a large 2" tap root that went like 6 feet into the ground So when I cut him out it had no roots what-so-ever but this guy is tough and this is all new growth. Any idea on the Id would be great-also it is about 4.5" base-thicker then a soda can. Also it has a nice spreading nabari but it's just cover with bonsai soil to help keep the base moist

Front-It will need some carving and the ugly elephant trunk branch going up will need to be cut but right now I'm not gonna touch it to let it grow strong roots-i'll just keep growth from coming up there to focus the energy down.

Side- you can see here where the bark has died back

Back



This is a save from my yard as I'm building a new deck and this guy needed to be moved-will need some major bends but for now it will just sit in the pot and gather it's strenght. I'm not sure what type of juniper it is but I have some cool plans for this guy
one side

other side

I'd say the first is prunus/pyrus/malus, most likely a pear. It's nice, that's a great start.

yeah picture make it look kinda weird but I was pretty exited to find this guy-I'll take some close ups of the leaf to try and get a good ID of this guy

First one might be a bradford pear, as they are weeds around here.

It also might be a Black Cherry--prunus serotina, which is also mostly a weed in these parts. I've been been growing a black cherry as a bonsai for years. It's highly unreliable as it tends to drop entire limbs for no reason.

Any fruit tree draws all kinds of bugs. Be on the lookout for borers in particular, adelgids. Tent caterpillars also love Black Cherry and can defoliate a small one in an afternoon if they're thick enough.

rockm wrote:First one might be a bradford pear, as they are weeds around here.

It also might be a Black Cherry--prunus serotina, which is also mostly a weed in these parts. I've been been growing a black cherry as a bonsai for years. It's highly unreliable as it tends to drop entire limbs for no reason.

Any fruit tree draws all kinds of bugs. Be on the lookout for borers in particular, adelgids. Tent caterpillars also love Black Cherry and can defoliate a small one in an afternoon if they're thick enough.

Is there any kinda of bug control that is not harmful to the tree? I'd be really sad if I lost my first bonsai

From the research I've just done it looks almost identical to a black cherry-which is pretty cool!

You can try a systemic, like Bonide systemic or merit.

This guys growing like a weed lol





Any guess on a confirmed ID?

Prunus serotina or americana.... search native plum species to the US and compare leaves and growth habits, there are a few varieties it could be.

Todd

Look like a Prunus to me too, try Googling "American Wild Plum" (Images) and see what you find.

Prunus serotina is what it is. The americana has thorns and the growth is slightly different

I wonder what the flowers will look like? That will be a good indication of the species
"serotina" in the images on Google indicates waxy leaves. Giga's pics do not show a tree with waxy leaves...

Todd Ellis wrote:I wonder what the flowers will look like? That will be a good indication of the species
"serotina" in the images on Google indicates waxy leaves. Giga's pics do not show a tree with waxy leaves...

well then I don't know what it is lol-now that you mention that i'm not sure if I have ever seen flowers on this guy becuase I've been watching it for a couple years now before I collected it

The flowers on Prunus Serotina (black cherry) are nothing like "regular" cherry blossoms. They are carried on spikes that resemble small wisteria blossoms. They bloom sparsely in captivity and the blooms are mostly out of scale to be really attractive.

If that is a black cherry, be on the lookout for tent caterpillars, as they are moving now. They love black cherry and will completely defoliate a tree if given the chance.