The trunk chop
What happens when you cut a five-foot tree down to five inches.
I found the eastern red cedar trees on Craigslist in early autumn. There’s a guy in Elmhurst who used to haul cargo for the city. Now he’s retired and grows trees in his backyard for fun. I counted around 40 when I stopped by, growing out of nursery pots, milk jugs, and buckets.
The row houses on his block are the standard ‘50s to ‘70s construction you see in many residential parts of Queens. His colonial looked several decades older. He said he grew up in it—was born in it, too. In the early 1900s, he continued, the whole block had been a family farm. “Mom killed the last cow in ‘60.”
He charged me $40 for the two trees. After I told him I admired his papaya plants, he threw one in for free.
A while ago, I contorted the larger tree into a hideous design burgeoning with beginner errors. It’s so bad I’m ashamed to show it to you. I’ve been staring at this brutalized tree for months, and each day I notice something new about it that sucks.
I decided it was time for something drastic.
A trunk chop is a maneuver to develop movement. You let the tree grow wild until the base is big and burly, about the diameter you want for the finished bonsai. Then you chop nearly all that growth off. New shoots grow out near the wound; you choose one thin branch to become the new section of the trunk. Eventually the branch thickens out and gives the tree a winding, tapered appearance of age. A tree could see many growth-chop cycles before its design is finished.
All of the growth leading up to the trunk chop is important. Then, when the time comes, it’s equally important to throw it all away and start fresh. The goal isn’t vigorous growth; it’s direction and control.
Ironically, back when I first styled this tree, I’d left those low branches as sacrifices. You use sacrifice branches to thicken up a section of trunk, then prune them away for the finished design. Now that disposable branch is the tree’s new leader. Funny, that.
Tree reading
Next week I’ll be sharing an interview with Tobin Mitnick, the Jew Who Loves Trees. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, start here. [Alma]
A South Carolina tree decades older than the United States of America was cut down this week, against the property owner’s wishes, to make way for…widening a highway. [ABC]