Forsythia

[rogersnipes]

On the old ABS Yahoo forumTom Simonyi asked for people's experience with forsythia. I've worked with a forsythia quite a few years. The leaves don't seem to reduce all that much, but they do to a certian extent if one keeps on top of pinching new shoots. They will develop pretty good ramification as well if new shoots are kept pinched back.

One needs to pinch the new shoots back to one or two leaves as they start to elongate and are still soft. You really need to stay on top of this in the spring after flowering. Forsythia should be repotted every year or every other year. Mine is pushing itself up out of the pot after two years. It produces a ton of roots, so repotting every year isn't a bad idea. They are fairly thirsty, so use a reasonably deep pot and don't fail to water in the hot weather. For soil I recommend either straight lava rock, or 2/3 lava rock and 1/3 akadama, which is what I am using. Repotting can either be done early spring before flowering, or after flowering. I prefer to repot before flowering.

I like to clean up the branches and wire in the middle of winter. At that time of year the new buds are hard and tight and you can clean off old flower debris and wire without damaging them. I always bring mine out right around January first or thereabouts and trim and wire branches as necessary. If you wait until spring the buds start to swell and get soft and you will end up knocking off a lot of flower buds at that time.

Here are some pictures of my forsythia.

This is from 2007 when in full flower.

IMG_0428-sm.JPG (49.3 KiB) Viewed 3091 times

This is from spring of 2009.

IMG_2643-SM.JPG (65.18 KiB) Viewed 3091 times

Spring of 2010 just before flower buds open.

IMG_4652-SM.JPG (67.29 KiB) Viewed 3091 times

I have let the lower right branches grow a little long to thicken them up.

[awbonsai]

Nice work, Roger.
Off topic:
By the way, it looks like this forum has a user friendly means of attaching a photo.
One question, where and how do I create a signature file?

[owen14]

I guess you can make a decent bonsai out of almost anything if you're determined and disciplined enough. Privet, wisteria and any species of willow come to mind. I guess the age old technique of letting a branch grow out and cutting back to 2 leaves although tedious, is effective! Great bonsai!

Owen NJ Zone 6 (getting ready for Earl - have all my trees under the benches and bunched together!)

[BillsBayou]

Nice work, Roger.
Off topic:
By the way, it looks like this forum has a user friendly means of attaching a photo.
One question, where and how do I create a signature file?

To create a signature:
Upper left hand corner of the forum page, click on "User Control Panel"
In the control panel the second tab click on "Profile"
On the left column of the Profile section, click on "Edit signature"

It is recommended that you put in your name, even if it's just your first name, so we don't have to call you "awbonsai" when typing replies. Also, include your USDA Zone and city. That helps with giving you more accurate answers to plant care.

I'm putting together instructions and recommendations on signatures. I should have that in the "Forum Information" section some time today.

[rogersnipes]

Thanks Alan.

Thanks Owen. Yes, there is no substitute for continual pinching and pruning to develop ramification. I hope Earl leaves you unscathed.

[rogersnipes]

I replied to a private email from Tom, but my message bounced for some reason, so I'll post it here and hopefully he'll see it.

I would definitely recommend getting rid of the clay soil as soon as possible. You should be able to do that over the course of the next two repottings. Assuming it has a decent amount of roots in the spring, I would clean the clay soil totally out of half the rootball, and partially out of the other half, leaving some of that half undisturbed. On the next repot, which could be in one year if the tree grows well, you can clean out the rest of the clay at that time. As I mentioned they really put out a lot of roots, so that schedule should be feasible. I repotted mine in 2009, and was planning on repotting this spring, but I got behind with other repotting and decided to wait until next year. It is already pushing itself up out of the pot by a good inch or so. I shouldn't have waited.

The attached picture is from spring of 2005. That is pretty typical of the rootball after two years in the pot, which is why I think you can probably get rid of your clay soil over the course of two years.

IMG_1919-sm.JPG (89.93 KiB) Viewed 3020 times

Since you are starting with a stump I would recommend selecting the shoots that you want to become future branches and let them grow totally wild rather than pinching them. Once the bases of the branches that you want to keep get thick enough you can cut them back short, say one or two nodes, and start growing the final branch out, pinching back as mentioned to create ramification, but you may still want to let sections grow wild, depending on how long you want the branch to get, etc. If you start pinching back right from the start the branch will never thicken up. It may take a year or two or three to get them thickened up sufficiently. If they are too long to get the tree into winter storage, cut them back as necessary, but still leave them long, and then continue to let them grow unchecked the following year.

Once you get your forsythia in a pot be sure to give it plenty of water. Mine is one of the first, if not the first, of my trees to start drooping at the end of a hot summer day.

[awbonsai]

Nice work, Roger.
Off topic:
By the way, it looks like this forum has a user friendly means of attaching a photo.
One question, where and how do I create a signature file?

To create a signature:
Upper left hand corner of the forum page, click on "User Control Panel"
In the control panel the second tab click on "Profile"
On the left column of the Profile section, click on "Edit signature"

It is recommended that you put in your name, even if it's just your first name, so we don't have to call you "awbonsai" when typing replies. Also, include your USDA Zone and city. That helps with giving you more accurate answers to plant care.

I'm putting together instructions and recommendations on signatures. I should have that in the "Forum Information" section some time today.

Thanks, Bill. That worked just fine as you can see.
I have one other problem. I tried to change my password to one I can remember better, however it will not accept the initial password that ABS sent me as correct. I tried cutting and pasting, and I tried just writing it in the box. Neither approach was accepted by the Great ABS Robot.
So, what to do?

[BillsBayou]

Thanks, Bill. That worked just fine as you can see.
I have one other problem. I tried to change my password to one I can remember better, however it will not accept the initial password that ABS sent me as correct. I tried cutting and pasting, and I tried just writing it in the box. Neither approach was accepted by the Great ABS Robot.
So, what to do?

There is a problem with changing the password through the forum.

Here's a temporary fix:
Logout of the forum
Click Login
Select "I forgot my password"
Follow the instructions. You will get a temporary password via email.
Login using your new password.
Change your password "User Control Panel" "Profile" "Edit Account Settings"

Something about forcing the password change will unlock the ability to change passwords. Yeah, it's not right. We'll look into fixing this.

[MatsuBonsai]

Alternatively you can update your password on the main site, http://absbonsai.org/login-information or http://absbonsai.org/membership/change-of-address which will update site wide.

[smrichards]

Roger: I'm inspired by your Forsythia and am ready to dig up one in my yard. Since the root system is so massive how much of the main tap root needs to stay intact if it has lots of smaller roots? And do you recommend keeping it in a nursery pot over this winter, or put it directly into a deep bonsai pot? Shovel is in hand...