Collected and Cleared. Lonicera Pileata

Lonicera pileata is a very resilient plant and will endure a lot of grief. I had to collect this slightly prematurely but I am confident in its survival.
What should I do with it???????

I have kept honeysuckles for some time with varying success. One thing I have come to learn is if one wires up all the chosen suckers early the resulting branches look much more natural otherwise you have to hack back the branches and then wire the branching that comes from these which does not work for me as well. As far as how I would approuch you HS stump: I would chose a bunch of your suckers and wire them hard and train them as a oak-like top. If the suckers are to big for this I would either cut them off and re-grow or try cutting them to short stubs then wire train the new tendrils with lots of movement very early. I would keep the crown from getting to big and show off that cool base.

crust wrote:I have kept honeysuckles for some time with varying success. One thing I have come to learn is if one wires up all the chosen suckers early the resulting branches look much more natural otherwise you have to hack back the branches and then wire the branching that comes from these which does not work for me as well. As far as how I would approuch you HS stump: I would chose a bunch of your suckers and wire them hard and train them as a oak-like top. If the suckers are to big for this I would either cut them off and re-grow or try cutting them to short stubs then wire train the new tendrils with lots of movement very early. I would keep the crown from getting to big and show off that cool base.

Thanks Crust. Before taking the pics I chopped anything too thick off. The shoots left are just about pliable enough to wire some shape into. I have many bonsai of this species and too find the best results come from wiring young shoots, as anything over 3mm is to brittle. The real problem I suffer from this species and this size is the amount of suckers to keep under control.

I played around with these photos a bit last night, but couldn't really come up with anything I liked. Part of the problem is I'm not really familiar with the growth habit of this species, and how large the leaves are, etc. Couple of questions:

1) On this plant, are all the "stub branches" alive, or are some (or all) of them dead wood? Most of the new branches seem to be coming from one area of the trunk.
2) Do you think the root system/nebari will allow the tree to be shifted in the pot to a different angle?
3) Do you have photos of any of your other honeysuckles so I can see how they grow?

It's very interesting material with a nice base, that's for certain!

coh wrote:I played around with these photos a bit last night, but couldn't really come up with anything I liked. Part of the problem is I'm not really familiar with the growth habit of this species, and how large the leaves are, etc. Couple of questions:

1) On this plant, are all the "stub branches" alive, or are some (or all) of them dead wood? Most of the new branches seem to be coming from one area of the trunk.
2) Do you think the root system/nebari will allow the tree to be shifted in the pot to a different angle?
3) Do you have photos of any of your other honeysuckles so I can see how they grow?

It's very interesting material with a nice base, that's for certain!

Hi Chris,
Its very similar in its growth to a tree you helped me with before, which was a Lonicera Nitida.



Here are a few other Lonicera Pileata, although they are much smaller.





The sections mark in green are alive and will produce many shoots. The sections in red are old roots and wont produce any growth.




The tree could be adjusted anything up to about 45 degrees in any direction.

Now I remember that honeysuckle...how's it doing now?

On this one...knowing that most of those sections are deadwood is helpful. So basically you're going to have to grow everything - trunk, branches. Do you want a short tree with lots of carved deadwood? I don't have much time for the next few days, but will think about this one a bit more. Should be fun to work with.

coh wrote:Now I remember that honeysuckle...how's it doing now?

On this one...knowing that most of those sections are deadwood is helpful. So basically you're going to have to grow everything - trunk, branches. Do you want a short tree with lots of carved deadwood? I don't have much time for the next few days, but will think about this one a bit more. Should be fun to work with.

Yeah trees doing well. If you look at my other post of my greenhouse you can just about make it out packed onto the bench. Your wise words and virtual made it what it is!
I guess short with carved deadwood is what I was going for but am open to any ideas. Would be fantastic if when you get time could come up with something.
Thanks Sam