Can you bare root a yew?
- Thread starter Mike123
- Start date
Mike123
Shohin
Just read a thread here and the response was yes. I like the way the trunk curves!
Mike, I have collected at least 14 Yews for Bonsai from various landscape jobs. I've washed the roots with a jet nozzle to remove all original soil for tree health AND as you say, "show me the bones better" (root structure).
My college degree is in horticulture and ONE thing I remember that our professor drilled into our heads is that Yews must have well-drained soil/growing media. Yews in the landscape will tolerate most soils but will NOT tolerate poorly-drained, constantly wet soils.
An original soil root ball (clay or loam soil) placed in a highly porous media can cause the original soil to stay constantly wet while the porous media is well-drained. This can cause root rot in the areas of the original soil.
In a few Yews I collected early-on, I did NOT remove all the original soil from the inner area of the root ball. The trees did survive but at the next repot the original soil had a foul smell from lack of oxygen and not much new root growth in those areas. Roots that were outside the original soil ball DID grow on and were thriving. I was sure to remove the rest of the original soil at that time. The discussion above will work for Yews and deciduous trees (others ?) that are collected but NOT recommended for pines (by pine bonsai experts).
People who do NOT remove the original soil may have success with a collected Yew, but my experience is that it is best to remove the original soil on Yews at collection time.
See HERE and HERE
Mike123
Shohin
Thanks good info. I did remove about 80% of original soil at least. So hearing that I hope that doesn't happen! Neighbor said I can have it. So took it on.i didn't have any Yews previously so was excited to collect. I put this post on another thread "collected Yew" because reading, thought I'd have no problem washing old soil. And after your info, it sounds good. Thanks!
fourteener
Omono
It obviously buds back well! No problem with branch placement!
Diolated
Seedling
Here's a couple shots of a monster yew I dug this fall. (These things are a bear to get out of the ground.) I combed out the roots, washed it gently and bare-rooted it with much reservation. I'll post an update in the spring if it lives, as I have been searching low and high for advice on bare-rooting this species.
