This is a very young one !
Can’t believe no one posted! I have had Aspan from almost day one… collected 10, two are still around.
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Two summers ago I purchased several 1 gal. Aspen. Put them into a forest last spring… May take awhile, but this was the idea 25 years ago.
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Care MUST be used wiring. Because they grow fast, they scar real easily! And, the limbs tend to die easily. Oh, ya… winter mice love chewing on the bark…
Nobody else?
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Here’s one … collected 20+ years ago. Love it.
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Leaves are a little large this year. Too much fertilizer. Will get into a shallower pot next spring. Needs better soil. Keeps sprouting suckers.
Enjoy… Bonsai On!
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Two new collected Aspens. I grew up in the Colorado Rockies and these trees have been on my mind. I left one with my Mom in Colorado and brought one home to NJ. Will see how the NJ tree will deal with the lower altitude this year.
Does anyone have any knowledge on how aspen back bud? Observing them in nature it seems that the growth tips are all at the ends of branches so it makes me wonder if they can be pushed to bud back.
I have NEVER see my older collected Aspen backbudding. I DID get one bud along the vertical main shaft on one younger purchased tree in the forest above this spring, though…
Crazy healthy this year, too. They DO throw root buds every year… they dont last very long in the summer heat here…
I root trimmed the forest trees 2 springs ago. Threw the roots into a large pot with potting soil. This year I have 7 new 3 foot trees! I should put movement into them NOW. I like the movement in yours.
I have not posted my other collected tree…
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This IS the adult asthetic …Over the 20 odd years I have had this potted, it has NEVER back budded. Just keeps shedding limbs and getting taller… about 45" now. The nubbin halfway up used to be the tree top. It IS getting the characteristic black knarley bark at the base.
I DO trimm the elongated terminal buds to encourage backbudding… They DO love the organic feritilizer.
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The bugs I have noticed…
Leaf miners. Only one or two times. Little tracks all over the back. Pluck and discard.
Parasitic aphids, making ugly nobs at the base of a leaf. I cut them open and kill em. Systemic spray one spring stopped it permanently. Came in with the purchased forest trees. The nobs are permanent…
Here is an update on the same Aspen, almost one year later. I let grow a tall section on the left to keep compact growth on the right. I like how they can make short internodes. This tree has a long way to go, but I am having fun with it !
I know this is an old thread but there is not much info on Aspens so I thought I would show one that I collected in September of 2022. I had to plant it directly into my heat bed because of the long root runner I collected it from. Now I am debating whether to remove it and build a training box for it or leave it another year. I really need the heat bed for air layers and cuttings this winter. The spruce you see spent last winter in the training pot in the ground, but was also collected and spent the fall/winter of 2022 in the heat bed.
So the last post was 3 years ago. How is everyone’s Aspens doing?
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This one is is the only survivor of a couple seedlings I bought and it’s actually a cutting from a trunk chop that has rooted and taken off! I’ll give it its own digs this winter.
So maybe for updates on this thread in another 2 years 
that aspen planted in your heat box has such tiny leaves Pondi! is that a size illusion?
Congrats on the survivor. That’s pretty good for SoCal. It’s 50/50 here in the Denver area from local nurseries that have collectors in the mountains. My aspen was collected at 9700ft. And I kept it buried in burlap at my cabin 4 miles away. I brought it down to my house 3 months later when the temperatures were close. It was 27* when I collected it and 90* in Denver at 6000ft in altitude 90 miles from where I collected it.
Rivka the leaves are tiny. No illusion. I found a grove about 1/4 square mile wide that had 50% of the trees under 3ft that were clones of my tree. The majority of the trees were branched low. But a lot were normal single trunk with large leaves. I am sure as it gets older the leaves will increase in size but I have been pruning a few tips as they grow.
Don’t know how old this tree is but the trunk is short before the primary and about 4”base below the mulch.
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Pondi, those leaves are amazing! anytime you want to dig another one out, I’ll give you my address! 