If it is Fagus syslvatica - ground layer could take three years to produce decent roots. Quite hard but doable. If in container you could chop it and expose it to sunlight to produce new growth, I would not recommended chopping and repotting in one season. When new growth is there and a lot of buds are available then figure out repotting.
Thanks! It's sylvatica.
It was in a container for the last three years.
I bought it chopped for cheap. I will expose to the sun, sealed the chop.
I cut a bit of the rootball to be able to fit it in something manageable, but will not bareroot/hbr or anything similar.
my bad.i thought the tree behind was a branch until you just mentioned it, i suggested reducing back to it in our pm...
well in that case i would just do the chop closer to spring.
No problem. It has buds at the top (4 but still).
Spring is around the corner. Beeches usually take a couple of extra weeks. So should be a month at most.
with beech its hit n miss whether dormant nodes on the trunk take off or fail.with no lower branches on the trunk to cut back to, i probably wouldnt have bought this.take a look at my beech threads and youll see im always cutting back to low branches, not relying on nodes. you will get mixed views when asking on a forum, so most of the time ive always done my own thing, for the price theres no harm in experimenting.
Yours, maros large hornbeams and walter's large beech were my inspiration.
If it works... it works. Definitely the price is worth the risk.
Agreed that these are difficult to layer, a chop is probably your best option. I would suggest reducing down to known buds and try for old dormant buds to pop. I imagine you could approach graft low onto the trunk as well.
I layered one last year. It took two years to work.
I could approach graft if no buds appear next year.
...somethings wrong, better not have all my eggs in these apical baskets (top branches)...better make some new braches for backup??? <-hard as nails science
