American Elm Air Layer

[Waldo Street Pottery]

American Elm Air Layer- EDIT: It's A Hackberry!

This spring I spotted an American Elm at my neighbor's house that was growing between his fence and his large rhododendron. The tree was appx 5 feet tall, and appx 4" diametrer with zero taper up to the top of the fence. It appeared that the tree had been cut back to the top of the fence level and grown back out. I saw potential in this upper section and asked my neighbor for permission to air layer this section. With permission I waited for the initial flush of leaves to harden. I watched the Graham Potter air layer video on Youtube thoroughly and set out to do the job.

The first 2 pics show the roots forming. Picture 3 is the tree separated prior to potting, and the 4th is the tree potted up. The training pot is a number 11 Japanese terra cotta style training pot, for size.

 

[Waldo Street Pottery]

I separated the tree at the end of summer dormancy, hoping to get the new growth hardened before winter. These pics show the tree as it is today, it's been pushing new growth like crazy. There will be lots of editing to do, but the bones are great, the bark is really nice. I'll just have to protect it if our winter is anything like last year. (My) Pics never do the tree justice, I hope you can get a sense of what's going on here. Thanks for looking.

 

[johng]

Looks like that one has some real potential to be very nice. Nice job my friend!

next season I would be pruning that one on a weekly basis!

john

 

[GrimLore]

I agree with John, nice job! Also constant pruning will give you great results a lot faster then you would expect

Grimmy

 

[Dav4]

Looking good, Eli. Hopefully, I'll see this one in person someday soon.

 

[Waldo Street Pottery]

Thanks for your replies and encouragement, I'm looking forward to working this tree.

 

[evmibo]

That is going to be a really fun tree to work with. Great find! What are your plans for spring (if you have any yet)?

All three angles seem to have promise to them.

I'm inclined to instantly start thinking about branch structure, but have you considered letting it run wild for a full year (for nebari development)? Maybe repot it in spring onto a tile, plywood, whatever flat item, into an anderson flat or ground, then just feed the heck out of it.

cheers,

 

[fh05]

It looks like a Hackberry but in any case it has great potential. Congrats

 

[larlamonde]

Can you give us a timeline?

 

[Waldo Street Pottery]

Thanks for the replies. Evan, I have thought about branch structure. There are many branches that will be edited back or removed all together. There is one branch that is fairly large, maybe too large for a branch but too small for a 2nd trunk. At present I like the large branch to the rear, but that could change. The rate the tree is growing I may be able to start on it in spring, but first things first, I gotta get it through winter. I believe I will leave it in the training pot through its development. Fh05, it may be a hackberry, but I believe it's an American or winged Elm. Larlamonde, as described before, I started the layer as soon as I thought the leaves had hardened and separated it appx. 3 months later at the end of summer dormancy. It's been in the pot for about 3 weeks.

 

[Waldo Street Pottery]

It looks like a Hackberry but in any case it has great potential. Congrats

fh05 FTW!!! It's a Hackberry, confirmed by my teacher, Rodney Clemons, who stopped in for a visit today.

 

[Lancaster]

That looks like a great piece of material for you. Nice job on the airlayer.

Please keep us informed on the development.

-Troy