View Single Post
  #1   Report Post  
Old 05-05-2004, 05:07 AM
Iris Cohen
 
Posts: n/a
Default Information Needed

I have all these great bonsai books with lots of stuff, but when I have a
specific question I can never find the answer. ;-(
I have two babies recently sent from ForestFarm, Betula 'Trost's Dwarf' and
Prunus 'Hally Jolivette.' They are healthy and a couple of feet tall, but the
trunks are no thicker than a chopstick. Obviously they are going into the
ground for a couple of years. The birch needs to stay in the ground until the
bark gets white, I should live so long. Since these are both dwarf cultivars, a
little delicate, & probably slow growing, the question is: should I trunk chop
them? The trunks already have a slight modicum of taper, but the main effort is
to get them to thicken up. For this purpose, should I leave the tops as tall as
they are?
Iris
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)