Would you dig this?

[Littlejoe919]

I believe it's a winged elm. It's currently very tall, but I just love the rugged trunk. It has a little bend in it from growing around the old log. I'm not sure what the base looks like.



Thanks,

 

[I S A A C]

I would I think it would be a dope tree dig up and bonsai I’m all for it.

 

[0soyoung]

I'm not diggin' it. The part I would want for a bonsai is straight and taperless.

But, if I had ambitions of gathering yamadori in the future, it might serve well as practice - you never quite know how to do it, until you have. Right now is not the best time for it - I would wait until sometime after the summer solstice, say August. I would want to harvest the shortest possible tree, but one with some foliage (this is what will power regrowing roots. If it should survive I would let it grow next season (2019) and look to chop the trunk at the end of the 2019 season or 'as buds swell' in the spring of 2020 and start a bonsai adventure! Who knows, you may develp a killer bonsai from it in one or two decades. At worst, you learn something about gathering yamadori (i.e., really cannot loose).

 

[erb.75]

would need a big trunk chop...i agree with @0soyoung. I have too many trees as it is, lol. Who knows what the roots look like. I wouldn't use my time on this tree since my time is better served advancing my other trees.

 

[Solaris]

I'm not diggin' it. The part I would want for a bonsai is straight and taperless.

But, if I had ambitions of gathering yamadori in the future, it might serve well as practice - you never quite know how to do it, until you have. Right now is not the best time for it - I would wait until sometime after the summer solstice, say August. I would want to harvest the shortest possible tree, but one with some foliage (this is what will power regrowing roots. If it should survive I would let it grow next season (2019) and look to chop the trunk at the end of the 2019 season or 'as buds swell' in the spring of 2020 and start a bonsai adventure! Who knows, you may develp a killer bonsai from it in one or two decades. At worst, you learn something about gathering yamadori (i.e., really cannot loose).

That's the approach I've been taking with the Craigslist bushes. Only a few of them have any real potential, but the real value is in learning how to dig things up without killing them. That, I think, cannot be overstated; imagine the tragedy of digging up a really great specimen only to kill it through lack of experience.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Well, it's also in leaf. Making it ill timing to collect. But...exactly how tall do you plan on allowing it to be to keep that curve? Remember the base of the tree and so high up is the bones of bonsai. I see nothing spectacular...unless the flare and base are impressive.

 

[Dav4]

I can't see the base of the tree in question... the base and lower trunk, as in the lowest 6-12", is what you should interested in.

 

[BrianBay9]

Depends what's under the fallen tree trunk

 

[Littlejoe919]

Thank you for all your replies... I may check the nabari, if it's not "special". I'll leave it alone.

 

[onlyrey]

Chop it if there is not too much light, and come back and dig it out in a couple of years.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Reminded me of this thread tree

Colected Ulmus procera evolution since 2008

Didn't link, you'll just have to search

 

[M. Frary]

If it's an elm,dig it.
It will recover fast.
Chop it low.
Get in some chop and grow practice.
I'm digging one this weekend that's straight for a future broom.
I'm surprised nobody suggested it.