A small chestnut tree
In the Autumn of 94, I dug this plant from the garden bed of Mr. Fox in Potsdam
outside Berlin. By that time, it had grown "several years" from seed.
After some rough pruning, I planted it, as a temporary measure, in a large
wooden box together with another, slightly larger chestnut tree.
In the following winter I stored the trees in an unheated garage and made the
basic shaping work that consisted of the removal of most large branches that
were to thick and straight. The picture is taken 30/4 1995 in Berlin where I
allowed it to grow freely throughout the summer.
In the autumn the plants and I moved to Sweden. The whole "temporary" box was
dug down in a garden bed.
In the spring of 96, finally the tree got its own training box. It was really
difficult to separate the root systems after two growth seasons together. In
addition many roots had to be shortened with a saw to fit the plant in the new
box.
During 96 and 97, I wired a few branches but otherwise the tree grew relatively
freely. Each spring, before growth started, I removed the large terminal buds
in order to encourage the development of small twigs from the side buds.
This picture is from the spring of 98, one year earlier, the tree got this
plastic bonsai pot.
The branches are very hard to bend by wiring. To avoid them from groing
uppwards, I often shorter them and let a bud on the underside develop the new
lead.
Early April 99, the tree got a real round bonsai pot. At the time of repotting,
I further reduced the roots from the bottom and now removed all old soil by
hosing them.
The photo clearly shows that the roots are in good shape and grows in a radial
pattern from the trunk.
In the spring of 2000, this is what the tree look like. I decided to change
front because the roots look much better from this side.
I still consider this bonsai to be in its growth phase and therefore water and
fertilize heavily.
Unusually big leaves that grow on strong branches are removed to let more light
enter the inner parts of the canopy. At the same time this also helps balancing
the strength between the branches.
As this picture from the end of July 2001 shows, the tree grows very well. At this time, I have cut away many of the larger leaves in the top. That explains why the crown looks so flat. In reality it is much more rounded but that silhouette will have to wait until the leaves have reduced further in size and I am pleased with the ramification.
The bulb on the right size is ugly. It comes from a large pruning scar from the initial shaping six years ago. I have a strong feeling this flaw will only worsen with time. Does anyone have a proposal how to fix this?
Thank you for your interest! It would be very interesting to get your views, on
what could have been done differently, and what I should do with the tree in
the future.