American elm in the lilac.

[Eckhoffw]

It hasn’t quite been a year since we moved into the new house. But right away, I noticed this elm that had been growing inside and pruned in to the lilac bush.
I pondered the idea of digging it out, but since it’s so close to the lilac bush I decided to air layer this spring.

 

[Eckhoffw]

Today is just shy of 2 months. I decided the 6” nursery pot may be too small and restrict root growth. I checked it out and found roots are well on their way. I replaced the pot and added more moss in a bigger pot.Hopefully in another couple months, I will have enough root to plant it in the yard……..then maybe dig up again, a few year down the road.

 

[sorce]

Put a damn Kidde pool on it!

You can have all the root you need for safe transplanting, these ain't rose bushes!

Sorce

 

[Mikecheck123]

The big thing with airlayering (or tree health generally) is balance. How are those teeny tiny roots going to support that massive canopy? So you need to grow way more roots or develop a plan for cutting the foliage way back.

 

[sorce]

Aye.

The physical support itself is my larger worry, as the rocking may set you back...

Has me.... leaning....ahem.... towards thinking about building an entire elevated wood bed for it.
Pillory a slab of wood under it as your Radialdisc™, screw four legs around the hole that can be then screwed directly into the lower trunk, then fab some legs for the outside support.

You could leave it in that box for years. Decades even.

Airlayers CAN and SHOULD be done in a manner that negates the need for a "repot".
In this case, it would be thinking directly inside the box.

Sorce

 

[rockm]

Soooo, I wouldn't have bothered with an air layer. You've separated a decent looking nebari from what is basically a telephone pole trunk...

Elms are extremely tough and can take dramatic root reduction. If this were mine, I would have simply taken a saw to the roots in the early spring taking care to avoid the lilac's root system. Collecting Elms and other deciduous trees generally doesn't involve a shovel or moving a lot of dirt, as much as it involve sawing them out of the ground.

Elms recover quickly from such treatment, even larger ones like this.

 

[Eckhoffw]

The big thing with airlayering (or tree health generally) is balance. How are those teeny tiny roots going to support that massive canopy? So you need to grow way more roots or develop a plan for cutting the foliage way back.

Yes, thank you for addressing this.

I didn’t plan on keeping all of the tree.
My plan was to cut way down leaving a couple of the lowest branches.
I was thinking of doing this if/when I have a lot more roots.
Would pruning now slow root growth?

 

[Eckhoffw]

Aye.

The physical support itself is my larger worry, as the rocking may set you back...

Has me.... leaning....ahem.... towards thinking about building an entire elevated wood bed for it.
Pillory a slab of wood under it as your Radialdisc™, screw four legs around the hole that can be then screwed directly into the lower trunk, then fab some legs for the outside support.

You could leave it in that box for years. Decades even.

Airlayers CAN and SHOULD be done in a manner that negates the need for a "repot".
In this case, it would be thinking directly inside the box.

Sorce

Yeah man, I don’t know what I was thinking just replacing with a slightly larger container. I will construct something a lot bigger soon as I make my large radial layer disk!
I don’t really wanna leave it there too long though. My initial goal was just to remove it.
Thank you

 

[rockm]

what is the fate of the remaining stump?

 

[sorce]

what is the fate of the remaining stump?

The better material.

Sorce

 

[Eckhoffw]

what is the fate of the remaining stump?

Thanks to your suggestion, I will try to dig it up next spring!

it is very dense with new shoots right below the air layer.

 

[Eckhoffw]

Sized up on the air layer vessel today.
After browsing around looking for something to make for this I just decided to use a couple 12 inch nursery cans

If this is a success, I will air layer again higher up on the tree.
Meanwhile, the pot is resting down on the lower shoots maybe creating some bends on the future stumps branches?


Thanks for everyone’s help. I’ll check back in 2 months!

 

[Eckhoffw]

Took the elm out today!
I noticed the Mossball drying out very quickly, and realized that there must be a lot of roots pulling in the moisture.

I believe it’s been about three months.
Perhaps I could’ve done this sooner as the roots are already circling around the pot
What I took off the top.
Potted it up in a mix of my regular bonsai compost and some sphagnum moss.
I will Probably go for the bottom next spring.
Any thoughts on the amount of foliage I left and whether or not this is about right? Thank you!

 

[Eckhoffw]

After looking at this for a bit, I think I will take this portion off as well.
Thiughts/suggestions very welcome.

I think My plan will be to work this into a garden tree in the future.

 

[Eckhoffw]

 

[giventofly]

Looking good, keep doing updates

 

[Eckhoffw]

Planted some trees today in a new grow out bed.
Figured I’d put this elm here to give it a home that we can manage.

As expected, lots of new roots circling the pot.


Once established, I will continue to layer top branches and work this stump down.

 

[Eckhoffw]

The original tree stump will be excavated come spring.

 

[Eckhoffw]

The better material.

Sorce

Night time. Prepping the dig. Yikes. Now that’s a root.

 

[Eckhoffw]

I will still dig it up and cut that beast of a root off near horizontal. It’s gotta go!