Brittle Bones

[berobinson82]

Hey there. You look great today. Is that a new shirt?

As the season progresses, I have a bunch of collected American hornbeam enjoying the warm weather and issuing shoots all over. The issue is, they seem to only want to send them straight upwards. I've learned from a previous year's collection that if I let them grow out for the whole year, they will be too thick to bend at all. But it's like a catch 22 because if I try to move them now as they are less than the width of a pencil, they disconnect from the tree at the trunk. Bending them only slightly causes that undesirable "rainbow" effect.




Has anyone any advice on how to manage shoots that grow straight up?

I thank you for your time, attention, and comments in advance.

 

[Poink88]

I only have Korean Hornbeam but it doesn't behave that way. I encountered same problem with my other trees though and would like to share what I do to address the problem.

1. Wire early, making sure the stress is distributed and NOT at the juncture are (trunk & new branch). Use very light gauge wire. May require several adjustments to finally reach intended angle.
2. Insert a spacer between trunk and new branch. I've used bark pieces, branch, skewer, etc. What ever works. Like above, you can adjust after a day or so until desired angle is reached.
3. Prune or pinch back to the first set of leaves. The resulting branch(es) tend to go out further...may not be much but enough to transition it out.
4. Use weights. Being soft, they can be bent easily by weights. I use fishing line weights (I buy it at Walmart). They are round/sphere and have a slit...just put it on a piece of aluminum wire and crimp close. Add as many as needed.
5. Guy wire.
6. Any combination of the above.

Note that on most of these, you are only after the first inch or so...the rest will be chopped eventually anyway (at least in my case). This is the reason I prefer #3...it gives me movement and more options for later.

Good luck!

 

[Poink88]

If you are diligent enough and can do this, it might yield the best results.

Once you see a bud...apply a visor shade above it. It could be a piece of cardboard (or a piece of cloth) taped around the trunk. Having a shade, the bud will naturally find a way around it towards the light. Older trees create this effect with their old foliage...something you do not usually have on newly collected trees (so cheat ) LOL

Good luck!

 

[Zach Smith]

Hey there. You look great today. Is that a new shirt?

As the season progresses, I have a bunch of collected American hornbeam enjoying the warm weather and issuing shoots all over. The issue is, they seem to only want to send them straight upwards. I've learned from a previous year's collection that if I let them grow out for the whole year, they will be too thick to bend at all. But it's like a catch 22 because if I try to move them now as they are less than the width of a pencil, they disconnect from the tree at the trunk. Bending them only slightly causes that undesirable "rainbow" effect.

Has anyone any advice on how to manage shoots that grow straight up?

I thank you for your time, attention, and comments in advance.

Couple things. First, you should be able to, with care, wire and bend the young supple shoots. This is what I do with my American hornbeams. But there's another thing you can do which should give you the desired result. In year two, simply cut off the branches that grew straight up. American hornbeam usually produces multiple buds wherever it buds on the trunk, which means you'll most likely get one on the bottom side of the cut branch. That one will grow straight out from the trunk, eliminating the need to make that drastic bend.

I also often find that even for established branches, the species will throw extra buds at the base of those branches. Here's a photo of a specimen where this happened. As you can see, no problem with a "rainbow" bend.

Good luck!

Zach

 

[Stan Kengai]

It's almost impossible to get "branches" on American hornbeams when you're growing a new leader or healing scars (any vigorous growth situation). I explain the premise here, in one of your older threads. You have to wait until your new leader is cut back and the plant is slightly rootbound. This should be a slow growth period. Once you get those branches started, you can repot the next year and let the branches grow vigorously to get some size into them.

 

[berobinson82]

Thank you for all the replies guys. I guess I need to slow it down. I will take off the overly strong shoots now and take it back to just the leader in September. Thanks for the intel.