2 European Hornbeams - almost flawless yamadori material

[R3x]

Wow! Super interesting how that site has produced such incredible trees. Thanks for the pictures and write up. What a gold mine!

I guess there were many more interesting trees per square meter than everywhere else. But the place is quite small. There is maybe one or two such nice trees to be collected. They hide - they grow branches very low (sometimes touching ground) in the grass so it seems there are many smaller trees there. That was the case of the the second one today. Realizing this I have stumbled upon few more spots where deers graze so I will check them later. I go there in summer and autumn to collect porcini mushrooms - the place is just 20 minutes driving from my home.

But the shame is it's all just hornbeams. There are sporadically larches and pines but far from quantities that would unsure that from time to time there would be something of quality of these. Will have to find such places but it is harder to scout there when it's further away from home.

 

[Schmikah]

Now this second one is a beast. Very wide base, dramatic taper. There was one quite thick branch growing at the ground level - had to remove that. But I really like this one.
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Completely off topic: I've noticed some similar formations on the hornbeam I collected just a few weeks ago. Even the seedlings that are growing in near full-sun conditions seem to shoot off back buds in all sorts of crazy directions that give the lower trunk some really interesting taper and direction (plus a ton of branch options that I will not be able to decide on later down the road).

These are just the musings of a novice that I find interesting.

 

[BobbyLane]

Pretty sure these would have grown well over 2 years. updates welcome!

 

[R3x]

Pretty sure these would have grown well over 2 years. updates welcome!

Here it is. I have replanted it quite drastically this spring so there's not much new growth compared to last year.

 

[BobbyLane]

Here it is. I have replanted it quite drastically this spring so there's not much new growth compared to last year.

Nice, lots of growth there. Could be ready for wiring in winter

 

[R3x]

Nice, lots of growth there. Could be ready for wiring in winter

Will probably wire it in winter. So far I have only been wiring some branches here and there.

 

[ibakey]

Hello R3X, I am wondering how your collected hornbeams are doing and its development! would be interesting to see some images of it again!

 

[R3x]

Hello R3X, I am wondering how your collected hornbeams are doing and its development! would be interesting to see some images of it again!

Hey,

thanks for the interest. The trees are in winter mode now - all of them on the ground because temperatures here drop to -5 (sometime -8)˚C... When I put them back on the benches sometime in March, I'll take some photos... The new ones I posted in 2020 didn't make it unfortunately...

 

[ibakey]

Hey,

thanks for the interest. The trees are in winter mode now - all of them on the ground because temperatures here drop to -5 (sometime -8)˚C... When I put them back on the benches sometime in March, I'll take some photos... The new ones I posted in 2020 didn't make it unfortunately...

Ah, okay! I face similar temperatures recently since moving to switzerland.

Oh no. I really liked the 2nd monster one that you showed in 2020 but yes I heard it takes a couple of years for yamadori material to recover.

Looking forward to your images in the spring. =)

 

[jradics]

I have collected these 2 european hornbeams (Carpinus Betulus I believe) few weeks ago. They are both large trees - the larger one almost 1m, the smaller one about 75cm. As you can see they have almost everything one can hope to get: perfect nebari, taper, trunk movement, ... The funny thing was I collected them like 5m from road in abandoned quarry nearby so no long hauling those heavy guys. Also the soil conditions there caused the trees to grow root mostly horizontally - no major tap roots, all the roots quite shallow.

The plan right now is to establish them properly for at least 1 or 2 years - they are pushing buds now as can be seen from photos. After that I will report them to some training pots. In the meantime I will start to build branch structure. The larger tree still has 2 very big branches going to the right - will remove (or shorten significantly) them later. On smaller one there was very thick branch that I removed when I brought them home. I plan on to try to heal that scar by crossing it with one or more young branches and fuse them with bark on the edges so that it will cover tho whole wound. If that should fail I would carve some nice hole ;-) The trees are potted in Zeolit - anorganic substrate. However I did not wash the roots. I removed original soil to some extent but left some. When the tree is established properly and grows bunch o feeder roots (which in Zeolit works fabulously) I will remove the rest of original soil.

I collected few more elms on that same spot: smaller size like 30-40cms after cutting and even almost mame sized ones. Will post them in another thread.

I hope you like them.

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good eye for spotting them and collecting them. I enjoy collecting as much as the after care

 

[R3x]

Hello R3X, I am wondering how your collected hornbeams are doing and its development! would be interesting to see some images of it again!

Here are shots of the 2 and one additional from the same location... The background is pretty crowded but it is what it is.