Bougainvillea collecting (yamadori) check list

[fucious70]

First time collecting a bougainvillea. Requesting tips for collecting. Below is what I gathered so far in term of what to.

Background: I live in southern California near Los Angeles. I think that is a zone 10. I found a bougainvillea that has fallen over. The land owner is allowing me to harvest it. The roots are still intact. The trunk is about 4-5 inches wide.

Steps

1. Chop off the top, the area I plan not keeping. Should I add any clay or something to seal the cut area?
2. Remove all the leaves
3. Dig around the tree to remove.
4. Use cutters/hack saw to cut the roots
5. After its gathered, clean all the soil off with water and transport it home, I live less than 0.5 a mile away
6. Prepare cement mixing tray, cut holes and put some type of mesh for drainage.
7. Pot it in a cement mixing tray. 1/2 potting soil and 1/2 perlite, Should I put root hormone on the open areas of the root cuttings? I have Clonex rooting gel
8. Tie it down.
9. Water it.
10. Cover it with a trash bag and keep it out of the sun in a cool area.
11. When should I remove the bag and start watering it like normal

Thank you so much for your guidance and assistance in advance. I'll definitely take picture and post up progress.

 

[Shibui]

Bougies are quite hardy and usually transplant quite easily. You don't need to dig excessively long roots as the roots sprout easily from cut ends.
Not sure how big your cement mixing trays are in relation to the tree but I've always found that collected trees are far bigger than they seemed. maybe they expand on the trip home but they rarely seem to fit into the container you had in mind. Be prepared to get/make a larger container. The tree will be fine sitting in a tub of water for up to a couple of days or just bury the roots in a hole or mound of damp soil until you are ready.

For a long time now I have bare rooted collected trees and have good success. I don't usually wash the roots clean, just shake off all loose soil and poke out some more if it is clay and won't drop off easily.
There's no advantage to root hormone on cut roots. Roots are already primed to sprout new feeder roots when they need to and will do it without any help.

I haven't used the plastic bag method so can't offer any help there. I'd be checking every few days to see if there's any growth or if it needs water. maybe someone who has done this can offer advice.

 

[fucious70]

Bougies are quite hardy and usually transplant quite easily. You don't need to dig excessively long roots as the roots sprout easily from cut ends.
Not sure how big your cement mixing trays are in relation to the tree but I've always found that collected trees are far bigger than they seemed. maybe they expand on the trip home but they rarely seem to fit into the container you had in mind. Be prepared to get/make a larger container. The tree will be fine sitting in a tub of water for up to a couple of days or just bury the roots in a hole or mound of damp soil until you are ready.

For a long time now I have bare rooted collected trees and have good success. I don't usually wash the roots clean, just shake off all loose soil and poke out some more if it is clay and won't drop off easily.
There's no advantage to root hormone on cut roots. Roots are already primed to sprout new feeder roots when they need to and will do it without any help.

I haven't used the plastic bag method so can't offer any help there. I'd be checking every few days to see if there's any growth or if it needs water. maybe someone who has done this can offer advice.

Thank you for the insight. I’ll get a couple of containers to see which ones fit when I get it home.

 

[Starfox]

Coming up to winter is probably not the best time to do it but I think it would probably be fine anyway it may not push much or any growth until spring time as it may go into deciduous mode.
They are pretty tough and you can be pretty hard on the roots at collection even if it looks like there are not many.
You could use a cut paste or some type of sealant on the chops, I would if I had it at hand. Personally I'd leave most of the remaining leaves on, you can certainly thin them out a bit but they are a good indicator for how the plant is recovering. It may go ahead and drop the leaves anyway, if it does don't panic and wait for spring.
I'd also be careful that your soil mix does not stay too wet over the winter as too much water is about the only thing I know that will kill them off and if frosts are a thing for you then you could bring it indoors overnight for piece of mind..
I wouldn't worry about the bag and if it was mine I would leave it in full sun too.

Here is one I dug just over a month ago which shows just how little you may end up with root wise. So far it's doing well.

 

[fucious70]

Coming up to winter is probably not the best time to do it but I think it would probably be fine anyway it may not push much or any growth until spring time as it may go into deciduous mode.
They are pretty tough and you can be pretty hard on the roots at collection even if it looks like there are not many.
You could use a cut paste or some type of sealant on the chops, I would if I had it at hand. Personally I'd leave most of the remaining leaves on, you can certainly thin them out a bit but they are a good indicator for how the plant is recovering. It may go ahead and drop the leaves anyway, if it does don't panic and wait for spring.
I'd also be careful that your soil mix does not stay too wet over the winter as too much water is about the only thing I know that will kill them off and if frosts are a thing for you then you could bring it indoors overnight for piece of mind..
I wouldn't worry about the bag and if it was mine I would leave it in full sun too.

Here is one I dug just over a month ago which shows just how little you may end up with root wise. So far it's doing well.

Thank you for the pic. Extremely helpful. Fingers crossed. Do you have progress pictures of that beautiful Bougie collected? Such interesting lines and angles.

 

[choppychoppy]

Bougie collection method.

1. Drive around looking for stumps ripped out and curbed on trash collection day.
1a. Use car to yank out any I like.
2. Chuck stumps in back of car.
3. Drop huge rootless stumps in large pots filled with any soil avail.
4. Stick it anywhere.
5. Bougie grows like crazy.
6. Repeat.

 

[cbrshadow23]

Hey I thought I'd check in to see how your collecting went on your bougie. Any tips/learning? Did you take any photos? How's the tree doing now?