Copper Beech/Fagus

I thought i had a thread on this one!

Here's a mini timeline of a Copper Beech i picked up from a hedging nursery, last jan, £20....a year on

2017-01-31_07-38-39 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-01-31_07-39-42 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-01-31_07-41-37 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-01-31_07-42-20 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

I knew it had a great set of branches, just a simple matter of getting everything into position really
2017-04-06_07-22-48 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-04-06_07-25-54 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

the roots system isnt bad and will get better
2017-04-09_04-31-21 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

apr 2017
2017-04-12_09-36-38 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Leaves beginning to show a purple tinge
20170412_215226 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Nebari
20170412_215215 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4196 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-04-12_09-53-31 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

IMG_4217 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4218 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4220 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4237 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

May 2017
IMG_4284 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

July 2017

IMG_4998 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Oct 2017
IMG_5698 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

However, its looking a little bare now as all the upper branches have been cut back on the tree and the lower branches left untouched

Very nice evolution in only one year's time!

Yet, I tend to think that the top would benefit from a lower pruning, like:

Cheers Alain, hmm ive thought about shortening the tree, even as far as the first branch on the right! who knows, in time, when that first right branch is fat enough, you could see this tree drastically reduced, the taper would be far better. but then when i look again, its still a nice chunky tree with less taper but will be more impressive for its ramification rather than taper. beeches tend to look quite nice with muscular n chunky trunks too.
the branch you chose is actually one that ive already pruned off. i pruned all the heavy bits out of the crown and just left the leader and some thin shoots. there are so many dormant nodes/buds on the trunk that ive decided to rebuild this tree and have the option of placing every future branch exactly where i want it. 1 there will be no bar branching.. 2 the final image will be a balanced tree where the lower shoots are the strongest and i will get more thickening from the base up. rather than chop to the first right branch, ive decided to try it this way.

Yet another nice tree.

I've read that Copper Beech are less vigorous than the common green Beech but in my garden the opposite seems true! They grow fast and back bud well but wire scarring can be a problem (as are fluffy aphids) although you probably already knew this;)

Cheers

Richard

Hi Richard, ive also found the copper beech even to be more vigorous than some of my green beeches. ive never had any insect problems, but i also keep up with the sprays every so often, prevention better than cure!

Here's one of my green beech i did some styling on earlier....i got it in june 2017

IMG_4690 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4691 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20170719_204614 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20170719_203626 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20170719_203036 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_5245 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Naked
2017-12-31_06-42-01 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Today
IMG_6418 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_6421 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

or maybe, virt
IMG_6418 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

bit added drama with the windblown look, i like it a lot, going to slip it onto a slab in a few weeks!

Love to see some updates on some of your trees, Richard

So, ive decided to make some changes to this tree. for a while the taper on the tree has bothered me and from some angles the trunk was just very straight and boring. if i have an opportunity i like my tree to be pleasing from multiple angles. i also felt there was a great opportunity to develop considerable taper and movement in the tree with the first right branch. its a very vigorous branch and has some decent development and i can literally build a new canopy with this branch alone....i think it will thicken rather quickly, ive decided not to put it in the ground, i want full control, i want to enjoy watching it develop...

chopped!
2018-01-24_12-07-30 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

and styled, the new angles make better use of the very good nebari
IMG_6426 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

From this angle the nebari is very good, this chop will be made into a slightly extended hollow
IMG_6428 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

There are some dormant nodes on the low trunk which will be developed and be part of the design but they will also aid development
IMG_6429 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_6432 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

may seem harsh to some, but im much happier with the outcome, the tree will be a higher quality tree in the future...

I've acquired a beech and somewhere in our hot summer I skipped a watering or two and the tree took a MASSIVE knock. Im surprised its still alive but its in a 12oL pot which is why its not with the other trees in the first place but separate. Insert the reason why I forget about it.

SO. Our winter is beginning now, into what soil do I transplant because almost no-one else in the country has beech trees as bonsai, I know both the other guys and they are also either struggling or onto beech trial number second.

Im aiming for a very organic free draining 75% compost 25% unsiffted sand mix and then treating it like a maple because it seems very slow, question is just that even though a spring repotting is always better this is a northern hemisphere tree so would repotting now in autumn hit this particular species too hard or do I keep it in the terrible soil it is in now? its 80-90% 5mm gravel with almost no soil. The tree is just very weak and has been almost entirely without leaves for the past 3 months.

Which is the worse evil? Leaving it in there or trying a risky repot?

oh my bobby... perhaps you are right about the future, but that was such an elegant tree you had there...
i hope it pans out for you

Hi guys, here's a little update, beeches have been slow this year, but this one is ahead of the others

20180504_112256 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180504_112155 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180504_112307 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

this is similar to how i envision it
IMG_6477 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

will take a little time to grow out the new side, in the mean time can pinch the strong side at various stages. i try not to complicate soil mixes, i use john innes compost, cat litter, pumice, lava rock all equal amounts makes it simple and trees grow fine. re pot in spring as buds swell

kevin stoeveken wrote:oh my bobby... perhaps you are right about the future, but that was such an elegant tree you had there...
i hope it pans out for you

Hi Kevin, it had some flaws that bothered me a lot,
2018-01-24_04-55-57 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2018-01-24_04-57-20 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

i try to make my trees looks credible from most sides and this one had some bits i didnt like. i have another which is more fitting of an elegant beech form

20180416_214934 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

and another, love beeches
2018-05-04_11-38-19 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

these all just need time to develop

regarding the first beech, i think in time id be looking to get it like this, it has all the attributes, just needs time now
IMG_7031.jpg FRONT. by Ian Young, on Flickr

BobbyLane wrote:So, ive decided to make some changes to this tree.
(...)
may seem harsh to some, but im much happier with the outcome, the tree will be a higher quality tree in the future...

Hi bobby,

Excuse my French, but I think you've spoiled it.

There was a great tree in the making, with not so much work to do, and several options. To me, you took the one that was a complete no-no: when the cut heals, it will make a bulge. Then, you won't be satisfied with the bulge and decide to make a shari, etc.

If we knew each other in real life, I'd be angry at you. We don't but let's stay good "bonsai forum friends". But frankly, I find what you've done very, very disappointing.

Please, forgive me for being so blunt, but if you think you can hide this big mistake by "adorning" it with a half rotten trunk and dead wood later, that's not my cup of tea.

Sorry if I hurt you, but as we say "je l'avais sur le coeur", I had it on my heart. Such a waste....

if it swells, thats fine. thats what brooms often do.  
My Chinese elm at the end of summer taken around sept 2015 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

i dont miss the old tree. sometimes we make bold decisions and look back and think, ffs why did i do that?! but in this case im happier with the tree it will become. thanks for the comments folks will update later in season.

BobbyLane wrote:
i dont miss the old tree.

OK then. After all it's your tree: I'll stick to another saying "Vérité en deçà des Pyrénées, mensonge au-delà" (sthg like "Truth below the Pyreneans, lie beyond").

I mean it's a different point of view. I respect it, but I don't share it.

Trying to find a song to soothe things...

Found it!

It doesn't relate at all with the discussion, but it's jumpy, friendly, and optimistic, so :



Ole!

well, i dont share your views about deadwood either. nor do i respect them. for me bonsai is based on what i see around me and in the landscape. not sure if its an obsession or an agenda, but every time you comment on my topics theres always something added in about your squeamishness re deadwood. i get the message, but quite frankly i really dont give a shit

so go ahead and spew your guts out, enjoy

The royal oak, estimated 750 years old by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

26281587948_cda7fe8ba8_o4 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2018-02-09_11-58-46 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

BobbyLane wrote:well, i dont share your views about deadwood either. nor do i respect them. for me bonsai is based on what i see around me and in the landscape. not sure if its an obsession or an agenda, but every time you comment on my topics theres always something added in about your squeamishness re deadwood. i get the message, but quite frankly i really dont give a shit

so go ahead and spew your guts out, enjoy

Echh, looks like an old woman's end of life, more like a pelvic organ descent than the future of a tree  

Ugly. Just no elegance at all, a sort of fantasy of the ugly. Yechhh ("ch" as in Scottish "Loch")

Try and grow healthy trees! Why this obsession for twisted, rotten, neurotic renditions of a self?...

OK, I've been advised many times to see a psychiatrist, so my opinion is what it's worth, but frankly, your vision of a tree (of a human being?) is really twisted, desturbing because unhealthy.

I can understand that someone can like, enjoy, take pleasure in watching the decaying last year of a living being, but when it is a recurring feature, I'm out.

Good reply Bobby

And as a moderator, I should scold you for cursing, but... well...
ah hell, I certainly wouldnt have chosen me as a moderator

Alain - if everything was beautiful and elegant the world would be pretty damn boring......
and i feel sorry for anyone who can not see the beauty in decay, which is such a natural part of life...
Do you not find beauty in the wrinkled and worn hands of an old woman ?
The hands that were formed by a lifetime of providing for others ?

as Astronautalis says: "Scars are storybooks..."

Alain's comments are priceless. He wins no prize for subtlety, but he does provoke some serious thought.

I often wonder whether a person being brutally honest delights more in the brutality than in the honesty?

Bobby, you know I am a fan of your trees.

BrendanR wrote:I often wonder whether a person being brutally honest delights more in the brutality than in the honesty?

I know of many people who take joy in the former, under the guise of the latter
(and i am NOT referring to anyone in this thread - just some folks i know in "real life")

now... back to the copper beech !!!

BrendanR wrote:Alain [...] wins no prize for subtlety

You're right, I should have put that in a more, er, hypocritacal diplomatic way.

But yes, that was a bit too much. You know even in my native language I often tend to over-react.

So, Bobby, I apologize. I mean, I just think the same, but I shouldn't have been so rude. Sorry if I hurt you.

his thoughts and his feelings provoke nothing in me at all, i dont share, nor do i respect any of his opinions. thoughts? I look at nature for my thoughts....nature provokes my thoughts and feelings. its fine when someone shares his opinion on the same subject once or twice, but when you waffle on and on, from forum to forum, faffing on about the same thing. it seems like more of an agenda driven thing to me, trolling. if you want to carry on trolling thats fine. but dont expect me to be respectful. probably best for me to stick the troll on ignore, tired of hearing the same drivel