I picked up a japanese hornbeam at the philadelphia flower show a little
while ago. it had four branches and a very long leader.. all full of buds.
i trimmed back the lower branches to a few pairs of buds and left the
leader alone. It is now pushing lots of new growth... but few of the buds
on the leader have opened. hornbeams... like most deciduous are apically
dominant right? all the strong growth on this one appears lateral and low.

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I picked up a japanese hornbeam at the philadelphia flower show
a little
while ago. it had four branches and a very long leader.. all
full of buds.
i trimmed back the lower branches to a few pairs of buds and
left the
leader alone. It is now pushing lots of new growth... but few
of the buds
on the leader have opened. hornbeams... like most deciduous are
apically
dominant right? all the strong growth on this one appears
lateral and low.

Hornbeams are VERY dominant, epically. However, it seems that it
would be a bit early for a hornbeam to be doing much in your
area -- some of mine down here are just now coming out. They
generally seem to leaf out from the bottom up.

Yours may have been forced for the show, and since you've moved
it to somewhere else, perhaps a cooler area, it may be slowing
down???????

It can happen, however, that a top simply doesn't grow. Keep an
eye on the buds; they'll be the first sign that something is
wrong. Do you know if this tree had been repotted? Excessive
root work -- as in moving the tree from ground to pot -- could
affect the upper part of the tree.

Still, I'd guess things will pop in time.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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I want to wire my hornbeam, but i dont have any experience, beside this
gained from reading "Bonsai" by Harry Tomlinson.

I have two hornbeams. One I bought almost 10 years ago at the Philly
Flower show and I imagine it looked then like yours (bought at a flower
shop) looks now: a small bushy thing with a thin trunk. I haven't done
ANY wiring on it- I've been thickening the trunk and styling the branches.
Mine is a Korean hornbeam, and it bud backs with enthusiasm; if I need a
branch somewhere, it is happy to supply me with a bud. So I may need to
do minor wiring in the next few years, but nothing extensive. It is
beginning to look like a nice little bonsai. The other is a whopping
stump I dug up a few years ago, and I'm working on creating a new apex and
new ramification and I'm not wiring *it*, either, until I see what it's
going to do.

So my advice to a beginner is not to rush things: learn the behavior of
your tree. Some things need to be wired immediately and other things
don't.

Final question: please tell me this tree isn't inside your house.
Hornbeam is most definitely an outdoor tree.

-Nina,

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I want to wire my hornbeam, but i dont have any experience, beside this
gained from reading "Bonsai" by Harry Tomlinson.

I have two hornbeams. One I bought almost 10 years ago at the Philly
Flower show and I imagine it looked then like yours (bought at a flower
shop) looks now: a small bushy thing with a thin trunk. I haven't done
ANY wiring on it- I've been thickening the trunk and styling the branches.
Mine is a Korean hornbeam, and it bud backs with enthusiasm; if I need a
branch somewhere, it is happy to supply me with a bud. So I may need to
do minor wiring in the next few years, but nothing extensive. It is
beginning to look like a nice little bonsai. The other is a whopping
stump I dug up a few years ago, and I'm working on creating a new apex and
new ramification and I'm not wiring *it*, either, until I see what it's
going to do.

So my advice to a beginner is not to rush things: learn the behavior of
your tree. Some things need to be wired immediately and other things
don't.

Final question: please tell me this tree isn't inside your house.
Hornbeam is most definitely an outdoor tree.

-Nina,

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Nina's advice is good. If you want to practice wiring and styling a very
young Hornbeam is as good a place as any to start. An older tree is very
difficult to wire as the wood is extremely difficult to bend - hence the
name Ironwood that is used in some places. If you get the trunk shaped
while it is young and then grow it on for a few years, you will
eventually get a much better shaped specimen than any of the dead
straight plants that generally tend to grow in nature.

The aluminium wire has to be the correct thickness for the branch/trunk
that you want to bend, so I can't advise on its suitability. You should
be able to compare it to wire from web based bonsai shops. Also take a
look at the range of trees on our gallery to get a good idea of how to
wire hornbeam.

Cheers

Kev Bailey
Vale Of Clwyd, North Wales


-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club ] On Behalf
Of slowinskik
Sent: 06 February 2004 10:27
To:
Subject: [IBC] hornbeam

Bonsai Growers,
I would also like to talk with people who have hornbeam and have
experience
in growing it. All the information about feeding, repotting are very
useful
for me. I have been having my tree for 5 months now. Its not formed yet,
i
bought it in a flowershop and I want to form it. How can I start, what
should I do?????????


I want to wire my hornbeam, but i dont have any experience, beside this
gained from reading "Bonsai" by Harry Tomlinson. I live in city where
there
is no shop with professional bonsai equipment. I need to know if wire
from
shops like Prakticer (aluminium) are equal to professioonal ones and if
i
can use it??????. I dont want to hurt my tree. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!


Thanks a lot,
Beginer

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I have several Hornbean. Japanese and Korean Hornbean. they respond quickly
to wiring and pruning I do my pruning in the spring generally, i get my wire
from ebay.

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I have several Hornbean. Japanese and Korean Hornbean. they respond quickly
to wiring and pruning I do my pruning in the spring generally, i get my wire
from ebay.

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Ken Rutledge++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

I have several Hornbean. Japanese and Korean Hornbean. they respond quickly
to wiring and pruning I do my pruning in the spring generally, i get my wire
from ebay.

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Ken Rutledge++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

I have several Hornbean. Japanese and Korean Hornbean. they respond quickly
to wiring and pruning I do my pruning in the spring generally, i get my wire
from ebay.

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Ken Rutledge++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++