Carpinus Betulus - Update

Dear IBC members.

I like to show you the beginning of the story of my Carpinus Betulus.

I found the tree in our woods and decided to collect it.

After collection - 02-2010


The tree developed very quickly. I only watered it and feed it with organic fertilizer.

10-2010


Today I visited a class in Tora and we made the first styling of the tree. There are still some things I have to finish like the carving at the top of the tree, style the left root and finish all carving details on the death wood. But the first design is done and the style of the tree is clear.

Before - 02-2011


After - 02-2011


In the next steps I plan to develope the left branch much more dominant, to achieve the balance with the right part, work on ramification, work on the detailed definition of the crown and try to improve the nebari on the back side of the tree.

All comments are very welcome.

Regards, Roland

YOU found a good tree!! The time spand between collecting and now you have done a good job,,it grew really fast..i like your first slyleing..good luck take care john

The nebari looks great it put a lot of new growth out very quickly.
Well done with the transformation.

Hi Roland.


Very nice development. I look forward to the next photo.Thanks for sharing.

Pavel

Very nice start.

Hornbeams (any kind) are one of my favorite Genera -- primarily because of their bark and how easy it is to develop nice ramification.

I look forward to updates.

Here are my reactions as I went through the series of pics you have posted

First Pic : What a sad looking tree. Did it survive??
Second Pic: What??? Is it possible to get this kind of growth in 8 months and that too only with organic fertilizer
Third Pic: Good first styling but was it necessary to remove all the leaves??
Fourth and final Pic: Wow what a transformation and that too in just a year's span!!!!!!!!!!!

Roland that's some amazing stuff that happened to your tree. A near miraculous transformation. Full credit to you

Ravi

Dear John, Kingbean (cool nick btw.), Pavel (I’m a huge fan of your work), Jim (I agree same with me) and Ravi (I’m reading all your comments on this forum).

Thank you very much for all this nice comments; they made me very happy
I will post some updates as soon as possible.

This is one more picture from yesterday to get a better feeling about the size of the tree.


Cheers, Roland

What a great start for this Hornbeam Roland. Branch development and some more carving and you have an excellent tree.

Roland, lovely tree! It has lots of character in uch a short time.

Ravi wrote "Third Pic: Good first styling but was it necessary to remove all the leaves??"

Ravi, the tree is deciduous and lost its leaves in the Fall.

Best, Todd

Wow,,I didn,t realize it was such a big tree..great job you have a winner!! take care john

Great progression Roland. Looking forward to seeing it progression this year. It's obviously a rapid grower

Did you seal any of the wounds?

Ravi Kiran wrote:
Third Pic: Good first styling but was it necessary to remove all the leaves??
Ravi

Funny Ravi, as nature does this here. Almost all trees which are not conifers don't have leaves in our world at this time of the year.

Roland, good start, I like it.

Will and Todd thanks for your comments. I’m really glad you like it.

Ian thanks for your reply. I did seal all smaller wounds on the tree and all big wounds (OK not all yet) are carved. This is a part which I have to finish in the next days

Walter thank you very much for your comment I’m honoured.

Roland - Thanks for reading my comments in IBC. Guess I need to exercise extra caution on what I write.....

Todd & Walter....

Thanks for your comments.... Life's a learning journey......

Regards
Ravi

Great vision for this tree Roland it should be a stunner in no time. Hornbeam is one of my favourites as well.

I wonder about the root cuts sitting out of the soil. I guess this will be refined/carved back to later heal over? This is something I will need to address with some of mine in the future.

Very nice. Just a little thought, you say you collected it fabruary 2010? IVe always been told to wait 3 years before starting to work on it.
Maybe I shouldnt feel too bad with starting on my blackthorn early..

I think it often depends alot on species and enviroment. Some trees in some enviroments will not need three years. Not sure but some times I get the feeling with a collected tree it is a good idea to get in and make use of the stored energy it has from being in the ground.

Of course, it often depends on species. With most broadleaf trees you can start to work when you see they are healthy. That can be in first growing season.

Ravi, please don’t exercise any caution while writing your comments. I like them bcs they are spontaneous and you sort of brig over your pure reaction and feeling about the tree you are describing...for me this is a very important aspect.

Brett, thanks for the comment. Regarding the root problem my plan is to graft two new roots near the base of this root on the left side, align them on each side, maybe with some movement and after they developed I will carve the old root. I have a similar problem on the back side of the tree where I will take a similar approach just with other design (at the back is no strong root at all).

Storm, thank you very much. I appreciate your comment. As Brett and Andrija described it depends on the tree when to start, I don’t believe in magic formulas how many years to wait...in case of this tree I think it was important to make the tree strong and healthy after collection....I planted the tree from beginning in very drained substrate, watered every day very strongly and feed it aggressively with organic fertilizer (every 2 weeks I replacer the fertilizer). I even think that when I look at some branches, like the first on the left side, I was even some months to late with the first styling. The branch is quite thick at the base and it is not so easy to get the branch in the right position, with the desired movement, as I could do when the branch was not so thick.

Dear IBC members.

Here is a new update of my Carpinus. The first left branch was cuted back yesterday. I let it grow freely to make it ticker and in less than 6 months the branch grow almost one meter long and has developed the same diameter as the first right branch. I was surprised how quick it became so strong.

2011-07 - Current state



2010-05 - A bit more than one year back



I think the tree develops nice, but of course it needs a lot of additional time to get in a really descent shape. Among the shape which is at the time far away from a good and mature design, the thing that disturbs me most is the size of the leaves.

All tips and tricks for leave reduction are very welcome

Regards, Roland

Hi Roland,
very nice tree, I like hornbeams.
Regarding leaf size I guess leaves will slightly get smaller with creating finer ramification.

Dear IBC members.

I like to share a small update of my Carpinus.

This year my goal was to develop the primary branches and make the lower left branch much stronger and I’m partially happy with the result. The reason for the partial satisfaction is that the left branch has not enough movement. I guess that next to the technique where I applied wire between the branch and the container I should use some additional wire on the branch to achieve the desired movement while the branch was not so strong.



In the next steps I will be working on the branch structure refinement, the deadwood, and of course on the additional definition of the crown which is not styled at the moment. And while planning this I have one dilemma: Whether to transplant the tree next spring or not.

The dilemma is based on the following theory. If I transplant the tree in spring in a smaller pot the tree will have less energy and therefore more slow growth, so a worse starting point for better ramification. Given that fact that it’s a Carpinus who grows fast this is not even bad, as the development of the branch structure will be more controlled.

If I don’t transplant the tree it will have more energy, growth will be faster and I can defoliate it in the same season, which should encourage further branch diversification.

So what do you think? Which way is better?

Regards,
Roland

Nice tree Roland. But since it's growing so fast, why do you cut the apical meristerm and not let them grow to obtain the expected size for ideal ramification of deciduous tree ? And why do you wire all the single tiny branches ?

BTW, the best way to reduce leaves size is by forming the ramification structure with clip-and-grow technique because this will create more branch's sections. Ideal ramifidcation for deciduous tree is not one single line with right and left side branches like connifers...

Amazing development in just a little more than a year...

Hi Roland,
What about removing some wood in the space between the two right branches,
there is a tendency of revers taper and could maybe cured that way?
If you leave it in a bigger pot the callus will come stronger to close the wound.
regards, Sunip