$8 plum. please advise

[Captkingdom]

I have been given a opportunity to collect an 10 yr old plum tree.
The owner had a reason he had to dig it up this winter. He balled it and stuck it in the ground elswhere temporarily.
I am schedued to collect it tomorrow but it is still winter here.
Questions:
1. Can I chop it immediately?
2. Should i protect it or bring it inside to wake up?

Any other comments are appreciated

 

[Potawatomi13]

Do not bring inside. Cut back depends on how many/conditions of roots. If good amount of small feeder roots available can cut back some but do not suggest drastic cut back. If roots badly damaged small trim only on limbs. Foliage needed to feed new root development. Patience has own reward.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

waking a tree up too early is not good if you cannot give it protection and enough light. The tree has no leaves now right? The best option if roots have been damaged is to keep it in a cold garage until there is less chance of frost or the like....best time for chop is early spring.

 

[Tieball]

I think inside a garage may be to warm in Utah. I would keep it outside...same conditions it has been sitting in the last months since digging. Dig a hole and bury the tree on your property...root ball cover and all. I would not prune anything until I saw permanent growth....some initial spring growth may just be within the branching. Wait for it to take hold and continue new growth. Definitely do not wake it up early...let the tree sleep in this year. Push the snooze alarm. Let it wake up naturally.

Did you take a photo to share?

 

[Captkingdom]

I am collecting it today (hopefully) and can take some pictures.

 

[Captkingdom]

Well, I got it. And as a bonus the owners didn't charge me anything at all. The base doesn't have quite as much movement as I was hoping for but it does have a few interesting features. I was in a hurry when I repotted so I wasn't terribly thorough in checking and exposing the nebari, there seem to be some very large twisted roots in the ball that I'll have to examine down the road. I think it's got a fairly nice Flair and about a 3-inch caliper. I potted it in diatomaceous earth mixed with perlite.

 

[Random User]

Just in case you didn't know, it appears to me that it "might" be a grafted tree. The possible graft is just out of the frame of the first two pictures, and of course it's too hard to tell by the third pic.

Before you do any chopping, I'd take a few more pictures of the lower trunk and have a hand full of people here give their opinion about it... UNLESS that is, you are already fully aware of what I'm talking about and don't need the help.

 

[sorce]

I hope you chopped all them useless thick hangers!

Nice!

Sorce

 

[GrimLore]

Well, I got it. And as a bonus the owners didn't charge me anything at all.

Cool, Put it out in full East West Sun and keep it as you do your others there including water. If anything like here the buds will probably be a few weeks behind schedule, a painful wait

There are various methods to hide the graft if it is but don't worry about that either way. Let it get established and grow!

Grimmy

 

[Captkingdom]

Here are a couple pictures. I think you are right that it appears to be grafted.
So, What are your thoughts?
I thought perhaps if I could get it to bud below the graft I would just grow out the rootstock. I do like the dark bark.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The understock won't be any ornamental or culinary plum. It will be a variety of Prunus that is reluctant to back bud, reluctant to sucker and very likely few flowers, and poor quality fruit. The understock could be a wild type plum, cherry, sloe, laurel, apricot, whatever. The understock is chosen for disease resistance, and tolerance of poor soils. Not likely to make a good blooming or fruiting bonsai.

If it were me, I'd air layer the top off. OR, put a wire tourniquet at or just above the union, bury the tourniquet & graft union at least a two inches under the soil in a really deep pot and hope in time, maybe 3 years it will ground layer.

While waiting for the ground layer, you can work the scion part into a bonsai.

 

[Captkingdom]

Thank you for that tip!