Korean Hornbeam
I have been working on this korean hornbeam since 2006. A major mistake I have been making over the last four or five years has been overfertilizing in the spring. This has limited the development of fine ramification and as a result the growth is still somewhat coarse.
This spring it was thinned and wired. Owen Reich visited my garden last week and he made some adjustments to the positioning of the finer branches, adding more movement and natural lines to the branching.
Late April before cutting and wiring.
After cutting and wiring, before Owen Reich.
After Owen Reich’s adjustments. The details are a bit difficult to see as the tree is leafing out.
An early picture, as purchased.
Korean Hornbeam Cutting
I’ve been developing this carpinus from a neglected stump for about 6 years. Most of the primary branches had died back under the previous owner. I have been trying to build a new tree from thread grafts. It is coming along, but slowly.
Korean Hornbeam need to be cut back later than maples, otherwise they won’t backbud well. Usually this mean late spring, once the new growth has hardened off. This is also a good time to send through some thread grafts as defoliated branches will bounce back quickly, and smaller holes can be drilled since winter buds have not yet formed.Thread grafts can also be sent through in the late winter, but larger holes need to be drilled to get the branches through without rubbing off the large winter buds.
Healthy spring growth. I was planning on repotting this year, but never got around to it.
Leaves have just hardened off in the last week.
After cutting back. The tree will be moved to a sunnier location and fertilized heavily to encourage backbudding.
This branch was thread grafted a few years ago.
This is the first branch I threadgrafted on this tree. Funny that it is now supplying the whip for this year’s thread graft (note small branch wired inward)! Ahh… the circle of life… :)
This years little threadgraft, growing well. Note the size of the hole. This is the disadvantage to sending threadgrafts through in the winter. Larger hole = longer time period before the scion is large enough to start fusing with the trunk.
Some fruiting structures (catkins?) were spotted and removed. The branches that these grown on weaken dramatically. I try to remove the conspicuous flowers in the spring, but usually miss a few.