Siberian elm urban yamadori #3 (burn pile)

Siberian Elm - Urban Yamadori  #3

Above is the tree before I cut it back and started digging.  You can see the previous cut made by the property owner, but these elms grow like weeds here... are weeds here, and responded with new shoots.  The thick branch on the right of this image will be designed as the new leader.  Much of the tree was below the soil surface.

Below is the shot of the taproot.  There were not too many fine roots, but hopefully enough to ensure survival.

Here are all three trees loaded up in the car.  It was short drive - two blocks, but I put them in plastic bags because there was no rootball on any of them, and I knew that I would be digging for a few hours ( it took only two surprisingly).

I put them in this bin to soak and buy me time to make some lunch.

 Below, you can see where I choose to reduce the root mass at a collar of roots.  Anything lower was too thick, having been cut on site to remove the tree, and lacked feeder roots.  Also, note the already cut root on the pallet next to the saw.  It was way too thick and was also damaged in the removal of the tree.

Although I liked the character of the thicker main trunk, the shoots growing were not in the best place.  I also wanted to treat it like a field grown tree that had an initial chop and now was ready to be cut back to the new leader.  Which essentially it was.  In the next two images you can see where the bark was damaged, and essentially ripped off.

With that large root cut off, the wound is large.  Hopefully, some roots will form around the wound and add to the taper in the future.  Notice also the new leader cut back to a few inches.  The top part I potted in sphagnum moss to see if it would root.

I potted this tree up in a nice blue pot that was unused in the shed. It should complement the leaves as the tree develops.  I put in it pure diatomaceous earth, as an experiment, to see which of these trees responds better to collection.  They all had about the same amount of viable roots.  The others were planted in my typically mix: old turface, D.earth, evergreen bark, and some volcanic rock.

 Here is the tree with a 12oz can as a size reference.  This could be a nice little sumo tree in the future.  I will plan on letting it grow mostly unchecked and repot in 2-3 yrs.

The last images are at the end of the days work after watering the trees.  I wonder how all these large wounds will heal?

Update June 1, 2018 : Disaster struck when a Rottweiler puppy broke into our yard and knocked this tree of my bonsai table.  I was out of soil, so I did my best to collect the soil of the ground and topped it off with compost.  That bastard dog chewed the top right where a bud in the perfect place was just pushing out.  Hopefully it will handle the emergency repot.  

RIP

It didn't !

Siberian elm urban yamadori #2

Siberian Elm - Urban Yamadori  #2

Above is the site.  There were plenty to choose from, yet some were really close to the fence and one was a trunk gut almost to the ground that had responded well, but was 12" in diameter and beyond my scope...I'm glad I passed on it.

Below, you can see why I choose this one to dig up, with one funky zig-zag branch which I planned on being the leader. The vertical growing branch in the back of the image was later pruned due to it crossing around the branch with the interesting movement.

Smooth progress

In the image below, you can see that crossing branch as well as a bunch of messy growth on the left side.  Not many roots to speak of, hopefully it will respond to nice soil, well sealed cuts, and TLC.

Here it is a bit cleaned up.  I didn't worry too much about the knobby and large cuts.  I image that they will become Uro, or hollows in the near future.

I cleaned them up just a bit more, and considered my next move.  There is a lot of potential with this tree but the inverse taper is a significant issue.  The roots were in the lower part of the root structure so I felt that I had to plant it as is.

I have never tried the tourniquet method to correct this type of issue, and thought that I would give it a go.  Basically, the idea is to tightly bind wire around the trunk at the thickest part.  When the tree grows, it will grow into the wire.  The cambium will be affected and the tree will respond by throwing out roots just above the tourniquet.  Then when these roots are established, the old lower roots can be cut.  Below is the placement of the wire. 

I potted it deep so that there was room above the tourniquet for the new roots to develop...hopefully!

This tree could be interesting.  It should stay put for long enough for the tourniquet to take effect and development new radial roots.  I plan on letting it grow unchecked with perhaps a few winter cuts to keep it in shape.

Update:  Here it is with some nice buds on the upper trunk and some suckers on the bottom, which I will cut once the top puts out more shoots. June 2018

Update:  September, 2018 this is the only survivor of that dig.  The large wounds on the upper trunk healed well and the tree grew vigorously, sending up strong leader.  I thinned out some excessive growth an trimmed the leader a bit. 

Siberian elm urban yamadori #1 (burn pile)

Siberian Elm - Urban Yamadori  #1

I called a local plumbing supply company to obtain permission to dig some invasive elms along their fence line. 

Below, you can see the elm had been cut back previously to about 4 inches and a few larger branches began to grow below the cut (right and back) and right out of the cut site (left side).

The digging went OK at first, with the top several inches being rocky and sandy.  I hit some larger roots as I got deeper and cut them with my saw, however there were so many larger roots that the progress was slow.  This was the last of three trees dug, and  it took more than twice the amount of time as the other two combined.   Lets just say, I was glad when I could finally isolate the tap root.  This turned out to be the best material...so it was worth it!

There were some finer roots in the sandy topsoil.   Below, you can see that I am just about there.  Usually, at this point I can start rocking the tree to locate and cut roots.  This tree would not move.

 Finally, I saw the taproot. Below you can see the taproot cut and my saw as a scale reference.  After digging for almost an hour on this tree.  It was a bit of a struggle with the saw.  One interesting observation about Siberian Elms is the the roots (cambium) is really fleshy and get damaged easily, and gunks up the saw teeth.  Later, when I got home, I placed the 3 collected trees in a bin of water, so I could eat lunch.  Later, when I started working on them the roots were slimy like that of a Willow.

Below, you can see the saw where I made the cut to reduce the depth of the root structure.

Next, are three images of the tree from different sides. Beer for scale and refreshment.

Some of these bigger roots could be part of the future root spread.  I cut them back hard.

Notice the sideways root in the image below.  I chose to leave it for now, since there were not many feeder roots.  I will have to be dealt with during the next repot (2-3 years).

As far as initial styling, I chopped back the trunks and eliminated any messy sucker growth, and ill placed branches.  We will see how the tree responds.  I Imagine that I will have to reduce these branches, or eliminate them all together and keep the branch that the back branch in this image (in front of the telephone pole) as a potential new leader. Another option is to later change the planting angle and keep the left side branch (second image) as the new leader.   

I also got some duct seal at a home improvement store.  It works just like the cut paste I had used in the past and cost $2/lb.  Hopefully, this will aid in the trees recovery. 

In the image below,  which I'm currently considering the front of the tree, you can see the deadwood from the previous cut.  As the tree develops it will be carved out and made part of the design.  My hope is that by having some horizontal movement currently,  I can have an open deciduous tree design(informal upright), as branches reach out and up.

I Think I will let it grow and recover for a few years then make some decisions at the next repot (2020/2021)
RIP:
IT did not make it through that summer.

Barberry yard-yamadori (burn pile)

I got a response from a contractor working on renovating a house when I put out an ad on Craigslist. I went to look at a juniper but saw this Barberry.

The Juniper was about the size of a VW bug so I decided to suspend that project since I didn't know where to start.

This Barberry was over 6 feet tall but seem to do able, considering I arrived at the site at about 5 p.m.

Below is the Barbary before I started digging this would become a clump style initially. I couldn't see that all these trunks actually are radiating from one central trunk below the soil line. The work glove in the picture for scale will soon have holes in it because of course Barberry has some robust thorns.

The hardest thing about digging was a piece of thick plastic about 3in down to prevent weeds from coming up. Later you'll see where this confused the tree and  there are a bunch of roots higher than I would have wanted them, and consequently were a pain to remove later.

In pictures above and below you can see the trench. The pickaxe made pretty quick work of it,although pretty tiring, after working all day.

Shortly after taking this photo I sat down and grab the thicker of the trunks and began rocking my body back and forth snapping some of the roots underneath. Luckily, there weren't any huge taproots although, I initially feared that when I started digging and didn't hit any roots too big.

I knocked off some of the soil with my so that I could lift it and place it in the bin below. I did some initial chopping down so it would fit in my car.

I cleaned up the dig site and put the tree in my car for the short drive home

With the root comb and spray nozzle on my hose I did my best to bare-root the tree. This was the longest part of the process because there were so many routes out of place above where the trunk should be. As can be seen in the above image.

Below you could see the roots. One side is a little bare hopefully it will will recover.

Below are few images taken of me hog-tying and working on the roots.

Here's the box I made out of pallet wood ready to receive the tree.

It mostly fit at the trim three or four routes back a little further to get it in the Box.

Below is what I imagine will be the front. You could also see that yellow scars that are typical of Barberry trees.

Here is one of the sides.

This photo is from the back.

We'll see how this tree response. I'd like to keep it a clumped just because of the size however a lot of these branches lack taper and I may have to cut down further. This tree should settle in this training box for two or three years just to have more root growth.

RIP: This tree I did not seal and the trunks dried out and cracked. Didn't make it past the summer.