Elm Root Cuttings

milehigh_7 said:

@Smoke or anyone else. How cold hardy are these after you have have stuck them but before they bud? We had been reliably in the 30's and 40's at night so I thought I was good. We dipped into the upper 20's a couple of times in the past month and now I am worried... It has been 1 month today.

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No problem. They will pop

I may have gone overboard a bit... the right most "rootmaker" flat has 60 Ulmus pumila (Siberian elm). The others (approximately 200) are Ulmus parvifolia. I think I am good on roots for this season.

The big ones on the left and the left most flat are the ones that I was asking Smoke about.

milehigh_7 said:

I may have gone overboard a bit.

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Understatement of the year.

In a root thread! Fitting!

Sorce

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7UCS/colgate-total-daily-repair-keep-teeth-healthy-ft-kelly-ripa

Sorce

Great thread.


I can't believe it. I pruned some roots off of my seiju elm and I potted the bigger roots (5?) in pure pumice and set them on my bench. Never watered them directly, I thought they were dead so they just sat there. Lo and behold, they're green all of a sudden!

Here are three of the five. One hasn't leafed yet, small buds yet, and one is in the process of healing from extensive squirrel damage.

JoeR said:

Great thread.


I can't believe it. I pruned some roots off of my seiju elm and I potted the bigger roots (5?) in pure pumice and set them on my bench. Never watered them directly, I thought they were dead so they just sat there. Lo and behold, they're green all of a sudden!

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Wow. These have come a longgg way since then, unbelievable. Think I posted updates on them in the Projects for Smoke thread.

Same with yours, I especially like the second one in the last set of pictures. The first one’s roots make me think of an awkward person though, like a cowboy wearing metal underwear or something

Like what you did with your avatar too Al.

Your exposed root is what inspired me to develop my own exposed root in the Gogi...since the roots on mine so fine...it will take a good 5 years in training. But you have my creative juices flowing for sure...in creating more...of these with more mature roots of I come across anything like that.

Thanks for inspiring us all Al!

Hate hearing of squirrel damage...oh poo!

I put together a bunch of elm root cuttings,


afeter one year


and they are fusing quite well aferte a cuple of years more:



You can get a lot of fun for free with them, better than throw to trash!!

Greetings from Spain

Smoke said:

I will let these grow all year unhindered just to get some girth in the chosen leader to help erase the cut end. Choosing leaders happens after lignification of the emerging shoots. Probably next month. I'll shoot a pic as it hardens off. There is one in there that is going to be an "exposed root literati semi cascade". How's that for a form?

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I've been trauling the forums over the last few days and saw this. What do you mean by "hardens off", @Smoke ?

Haha in all seriousness this thread is fantastic so thank you as it certainly helped a while back. Also a massive thank you, @Si Nguyen, for a pm even further back helping me with some root cuttings that are now close to trees- I'll upload a picture tomorrow of the first to be potted up as I have become very fond of what was an ugly, discarded root.

This is an excellent, informative forum that has taught me a great deal. I've enjoyed the evolution of Smoke's recent thread and I look forward to posting and weighing in on more threads to come- hopefully passing on what I've picked up bonsaing away and stalking you all here .

Edit- who can I PM to change the the first letter of my username to upper case? It irritates be far more than it should every time I see the thing.

Forgot about this thread...
Nice!

@Si Nguyen, if you're still a regular on these shores I just checked and your PM was recieved in 2011. Madness!

So below is what was one of my first root cuttings- I followed @Si Nguyen's advice, had a little experiment by splitting a large root and and separating the others. It's a tree that I named "the ugly one" and now come to love! First picture was March, the others taken in the last month and a half. I've learnt loads from it- carving practice will be next.

It has exploded in growth at well over 1cm a day. I'd argue that it supports @Smoke 's views on when to prune as I have been pruning and clipping from almost immediately after bud break. There was clearly a substantial store of sugar within what was left of the tree following me lopping off the entire top in the winter. It seemed pointless (detrimental even) to have that surplus energy transferred to branches that served no purpose to the end design, so I funnelled that energy into the new leader. I was also able to build up a branch structure behind the tree as part of an experiment.

Please bear in mind that this was a discarded root pretty much thrown into a ground and left to fend for itself. I am well aware of the flaws of this tree but still think this supports techniques dicussed recently, and hopefully in conjunction with thread, and numerous others, encourage those out there to get a few fun, cheap, relatively quick projects on the go. Happy weekend, all.

Not sure why the first picture is the last in order- maybe sitting on my phone in the garden, beer in hand trying to construct this post wasn't the best of ideas

Don't laugh, but I have tried twice now to take root cuttings from elms, and both times have failed. Right now I have three chunky roots potted up... and they have been sitting there showing no signs of any buds.

I have never tried root cuttings before in my years of keeping bonsai, so to try them now and not get them to work is frustrating

Try a little a scratch- if they're showing green by now they should pull through. This year's crop for me, bar one (and that was a beast), haven't budded yet.

Bonsai Nut said:

Don't laugh, but I have tried twice now to take root cuttings from elms, and both times have failed. Right now I have three chunky roots potted up... and they have been sitting there showing no signs of any buds.

I have never tried root cuttings before in my years of keeping bonsai, so to try them now and not get them to work is frustrating

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My first couple of years attempting root cuttings were unfruitful. Then someone told me to treat them similar to regular cutting: loose, light soil like perlite or pumice; high humidity, but not necessarily covered; dappled sun; and add them to you ignore list.

Stan Kengai said:

My first couple of years attempting root cuttings were unfruitful. Then someone told me to treat them similar to regular cutting: loose, light soil like perlite or pumice; high humidity, but not necessarily covered; dappled sun; and add them to you ignore list.

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They are in 100% pumice in dappled sun. The only thing I haven't done is put them in some sort of humidity protection. It has been about three months - I'll have to go look and see if they are still alive

I usually chuck them in the ground or poor left over garden soil that usually holds plenty of water. I wonder if maybe you're growing medium is almost too good so maybe needs that regular watering (bit of a paradox I know!). As long as they don't freeze or dry out I've found they tend to be successful.

Bonsai Nut said:

and they have been sitting there showing no signs of any buds.

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Could be worse... None of my Elms including those I let grow through the pot into the ground 3 to 6 foot tall have not yet either. Most of my pitted fruits are trying to bud again as the fresh buds froze off... Things don't look good here

Grimmy