Tree off the Ohio river

Spdyracer

Shohin
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I live 10 minutes from the Ohio river and have never gone down there looking for trees, that was a mistake. I got off work early and the river is down right now so I thought I would walk around and see if I could find anything.

I found some pretty cool stuff farther up on the bank and I'm sure I'll go back at some point and get some more. I found this monster though and it was right by the edge of the water. I thought as big as it was there was no way but I went over and pushed on it and it moved around.

Made a trip home to get one of my sons to help and everything to dig it and went back to dig. The dig was not to bad since it was in mostly sand and gravel. I dug 2' down and got down to a large rock. Since there was a huge chunk of concrete on the other side that's as far as I was going to get. Used the sawzall and cut it off as low as I could.

Once cut the tree pretty much came right out. Got a fair amount of fine roots on it so I'm hopeful. Didn't have a box or anything big enough to put it in so I put it in the ground. Since I planted it 2' in the ground it feels very solid and have no concern about it moving around breaking off future roots. If this thing lives it's going to make one gnarly tree.

Do have a question on id. Pretty sure it's some kind of elm from the bark and the buds. Hope it is because going to need it to be something pretty tough to help make it. Let me know what you think this is if you have an idea.
IMG_1826.JPG IMG_1831.JPG IMG_1835.JPG IMG_1838.JPG IMG_1840.JPG IMG_1842.JPG IMG_1845.JPG
 

Spdyracer

Shohin
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This is the way it was before digging. Now it is flipped around and the bottom of the trunk is going at an angle into the ground. The left side of the tree in this picture is the part of the tree facing the ground now. The part to the right is the part going straight up now. Hopefully that makes since.IMG_1806.JPG
Well, I was having trouble figuring out top and bottom...but it's defiantly alive. Congrats!
 

Cadillactaste

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That sure does help! The way it is...sitting in the ground. A cool raft comes to mind. If you could angle that branch closer to the ground so it arches. Just a thought. Something to chew over...not meant to be set in stone.
 

Spdyracer

Shohin
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Put a piece of drywall behind it to try and get some better pictures. Not big enough but the best thing I have right now.IMG_1852.JPG IMG_1850.JPG IMG_1847.JPG IMG_1846.JPG
 

Cadillactaste

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I've never collected before...but, I know when repotting...you want to keep the roots from drying out overly. How long has it been bareroot? Might think of setting it in the ground/grow box for now for health...

That's a piece you will need to chew over on a direction. I suggest not to rush the direction but let it speak to you.
 

Spdyracer

Shohin
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I've never collected before...but, I know when repotting...you want to keep the roots from drying out overly. How long has it been bareroot? Might think of setting it in the ground/grow box for now for health...

That's a piece you will need to chew over on a direction. I suggest not to rush the direction but let it speak to you.
It was only out of the ground for half hour at the most. Dug it out and wrapped the roots in plastic and went straight home and dug a hole. Unwrapped the roots and dropped it in the hole. It's in a corner of my yard that stays moist but not too wet. Figure this thing has spent a lot of its life under water so picked the spot in my yard that stays a little wet.
 

Spdyracer

Shohin
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Also defiantly no rush on a direction. I figure as big as this tree is, if it lives it'll be two years before I would do anything with it. Figure it will take that long to be sure if it's really going to make it.
 

M. Frary

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Willow.
Not weeping.
We just call them swamp willow.
Black willow maybe.
 

M. Frary

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The dark ones with the light 2 tone leaves....?

Always wanted one!

I love the contrast.

Sorce
I believe so. Yes.
They grow ultra fast and do a lot of dieing back too. See all of the broken parts that just fell off? And the millions of suckers? It's how they grow.
They're a mess to remove when fully grown. They're so wet the saw bogs down. When you throwbranches down from 50 feet up they literally explode. And they smell like poo poo when you're cutting them.
 

sorce

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Reminds me of an elm I snagged up about 2ft from the edge of the river in a flood zone, everything was bent downstream lol

Aaron

Love rivers. Obviously!

Floods and Beavers are the flatlands version of the mountains wind and snow.

What they lack in Nebari because of living on the edge, they make up for in character.

And since erosion usually makes collecting a lot of roots pretty easy.....

To me, they are all a ground layer away from awesome.

Of course....

Making an art out of funky roots is also a challenge I seem to enjoy so.....

Here's to the River!

Sorce
 

Spdyracer

Shohin
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Love rivers. Obviously!

Floods and Beavers are the flatlands version of the mountains wind and snow.

What they lack in Nebari because of living on the edge, they make up for in character.

And since erosion usually makes collecting a lot of roots pretty easy.....

To me, they are all a ground layer away from awesome.

Of course....

Making an art out of funky roots is also a challenge I seem to enjoy so.....

Here's to the River!

Sorce
Speaking of beavers they defiantly took a whack at this thing. If you look at the picture before it was dug you can see all across the top where they cut a lot of branches off.
 

Spdyracer

Shohin
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Reminds me of an elm I snagged up about 2ft from the edge of the river in a flood zone, everything was bent downstream lol

Aaron
Yeah things are going in a down stream direction. If it makes it I figure there may be a lot of chopping in the future on this to get some type of a good shape to it. Wish pictures did this thing justice. Walking around this thing there are so many interesting things going on with it.
 

ConorDash

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Yeh its cool and all, but how do you turn it in to Bonsai? Im only beginning to get an eye for potential but this is over my head lol.
How?!
 

A. Gorilla

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Yeh its cool and all, but how do you turn it in to Bonsai? Im only beginning to get an eye for potential but this is over my head lol.
How?!

Branches are easy to grow with fast-growers like this. When the time is right, you saw it down to a lovely trunk, and then work out the details later. Any "branch" you see here is probably gonna go.
 
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