Updates of the Two Shohin Chinese Elms Air-Layered from a Mallsai

It has been three years since I wrote my first blog on air-layering a Chinese Elm mallsai into two shohin. It turned out to be one of my more popular blogs with over 2,600 views and had been reblogged twice by others. I think it is time to update how these two shohin look after three more years of care.

This is the original S-shaped Chinese Elm mallsai in 2009:

Air-Layered Top Section

August 4, 2009, after sawing off the rooted air-layered top section and potting:

I repotted it into a high-end Chinese olive-green crackle glazed bag-shape oval pot made by Jiang Xiaoling (江小林). This is the fall color in January 21, 2016:

This is how it looked about 10 days ago with spring leaves:

This shohin was trained as a Lingnan penjing using the clip-and-grow method. At first glance, it looks like an informal upright bonsai, but it is not. The main trunk, instead of moving to the left or right as in a typical informal upright, leans backward to the northwest corner of the pot before it bends back slightly to the right and forward with the apex falling within the trunk base. Since photography flattens the tree into a two dimensional image, perhaps one can better envisage the backward movement with the aid of the below side photo.

When I attended Pedro Morales’ Tropical Bonsai School’, he emphasized in the Japanese informal upright moyogi style, the first movement of the trunk is either to the left or to the right; it is a no-no for the first bend to go backward, otherwise the tree would have a Jay-Lo’s butt! Well, in Lingnan penjing, that is OK.

The late Lingnan master Mr. Liu Zhongming (刘仲明) said in his book, “Lingnan Penjing”, since South China has a hot weather, people tend to be easy-going and lackadaisical; and such traits show up as one of the characteristics of Lingnan penjing. So Lingnan penjing has a “reclining” (卧式) style tree, sort of like someone taking a siesta. In this shohin, the trunk movements resemble a person leaning on the far end of a sofa, a couch potato. I jokingly told friends this tree reflects me when I watch TV.

The Bottom Section

This is how the bottom section looks after cutting off the air-layered top:

And this is how it looks seven years later from a stump:

This one is a sumo style informal upright with a fat trunk and sharp taper, and trained with wiring; what a big contrast to the air-layered top section. I potted it into an oval blue glazed Chinese pot by Zhu Shuiming (朱水明 阳明交趾) to soften up the tree.

I have a lot of fun transforming this mallsai into two very different looking trees: a Lingnan penjing with an easy-going trunk movement and somewhat more natural looking branches ramifications, while its younger “brother” grows up as a serious looking squat-like informal upright bonsai.

Air Layering a Chinese Elm Mallsai into Two Shohin Bonsai

The Chinese elm shohin in this display was air-layered from a mallsai. This post shows the progression of the transformation.

Mallsai is a term coined in the US; it refers to mass produced bonsai sold in big-box stores, roadsides, gift shops and nurseries. The word often carries a connotation of a poor quality tree planted in a shallow pot to look like a bonsai, and sold to the uninitiated. But many people have credited mallsai, either through personal purchase or receiving it as a gift, for introducing them to and getting them hooked to the hobby.

Typical mallsai has an exaggerated S-shape trunk which lacks taper. I found some of them can be inexpensive starting materials, just like garden center trees, for bonsai development.

This post will show the progression of air layering an inexpensive S-shape Chinese elm mallsai, and it’s transformation into two shohins.

The top half of this Chinese elm mallsai has a good trunk movement and several well-placed branches suitable for air layering into a shohin.  I marked the trunk where I want to air-layer, and cut off a swath of the bark girdling the trunk.  Rooting hormone was applied to the region to encourage root development.   Moist sphagnum moss was wrapped around the stripped section and covered with a piece of plastic cling wrap, tied firmly to retain moisture while the roots are growing.

February 7, 2009 – Top: bark removed, and Bottom: Wrapped with moist sphagnum moss