Chinese Elm Hokkaido to transplant?

[Sigrdrifa]

My father does lots of backyard Railroad and he is in to reworking it from its current configuration. He has a 15-20ish year old Hokkaido elm that is about 30 inches tall and a little less in diameter (see attached pic).

How big a hole are we going to have to dig around this tree to make sure we don't chop out needed roots?

Also, I'm in the greater Portland area in Oregon; will bringing a Hokkaido elm up this direction from Huntington Beach, CA cause large problems for the tree? I'm thinking it should be OK, but you never can tell when something like the Latitudinal Pressure Differential will cause you problems... (That last bit is made up on the spot, haven't posted before so you probably don't know my sarcasm bit yet)

Thanks, just trying to save this guy if I can, its bark and its trunk have great character.

And sorry for the low quality photo, I'll have Dad send me another tomorrow and repost it so you can get a better look.

 

[R3x]

Fantastci tree. Generally it should be pretty safe to dig in a same diameter as the crown is (or a little less). However now's not the good time to dig but if the rootball is large enough it could work. Can't you wait till autumn? Or maybe dig it up and put it into big enough pot to have it accustomed before moving it in autumn/winter/spring?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Welcome to the site!

That is an uncommon tree to find in such a large caliper. Hokkaidos are notoriously weak and slow growers. Be careful as you handle it; the branches will all be very brittle and easy to break. That said, it is still a Chinese elm, albeit a dwarf cultivar, so I don't see any problem keeping it up in Portland.

As @R3x pointed out, this is the wrong time of year to be transplanting deciduous trees if you can avoid it. They have pushed their summer growth, and right now are photosnythesizing like mad to generate sugars to carry them through the winter and into next year. If you had a tree already in a pot, and needed to do a minor repot (for example if the tree fell off the bench and the pot broke) it would probably be ok, but when you're talking about lifting a landscape tree, you have to be prepared to give the tree enough time to recover prior to winter. You wouldn't want to cut the roots, stress the tree so that many of its leaves dropped, and then not give it enough time to push new growth prior to fall weather.

So a lot depends on how firmly that tree is in the ground. If you have the option, I would go in with a small hand shovel, and dig around the roots to see how far they run and whether there is a significant tap root. You might find (because it is a hokkaido) that there is a root ball the size of a basketball under the tree, but no long running roots, and that you can lift the tree easily without disturbing the roots much - particularly if your dad placed the tree in a hole with decent soil, but the surrounding soil is poor clay. If you explore and find a lot of running roots, I would wait until next year (early spring just before the buds open) before I would pull it out.

 

[sorce]

@Sigrdrifa sounds like you do sideways drivebys in New Hampshire!

Welcome to Crazy!

I'm going to need more pictures of the Railroad!

Thanks!

Sorce

 

[Shibui]

Chinese elm, including 'Hokkaido' are quite tough. Although summer is not the best time of year for transplant it could well survive transplant if a reasonable amount of root is kept. I'll also reinforce @Bonsai Nut comment about branches being brittle. Whole sections will drop off with just a little pressure. Won't really hurt the tree but still frightening when it happens.

Also remember that Hokkaido will also grow from root cuttings so any bits of root should be kept and planted too.

 

[Sigrdrifa]

Thanks for your warm welcome to Crazy and your information! It cleared lots up!

Thank you @Shibui for the tip about the roots continuing to grow, I would not have known that. Any good place to look up what to do with any accidental rootcuts?

@Bonsai Nut: thank you for the tip about the rootball vs taproot info, that's the type of info I came to get.

I made the post late last night and probably should have provided more info. My intention is, whenever I take it, to take all or as much of the root ball as I can and place it in a big (giant?!) pot and transport it up north. My goal is not to actually touch the roots at all, even if I need to dig my dad a second pond (this used to be above his previous pond).

I am also planning to move slowly with this tree, probably would even let it have a year up here in PDX-land before trying to shave off any roots at all or to re-pot it in any kind of bonsai pot, so probably Late Winter, Early Spring 2023 at the earliest for any kind of real bonsai work. It will take me that long to research it well enough and make small, minor cuts and adjustments in order to do some observation, and to come up with a game plan for the design. This tree is not like buying even a $$$$ nursery stock tree, it's really an amazing specimen and I don't want to flub it.

So given all that, and understanding that I was not really making it a bonsai this year (or likely next even, since by the time I know it's going well, it will be a little too late to re-pot it), If I'm careful and dig up a "larger and deeper than the tree crown" rootball/mass and transport it en masse, should it make it? Or should I still see if I can convince him to wait until early spring to re-do the layout?

As promised here are some better pictures! Elm 1 is the first one I sent last night and Elm 5 is top down.

@sorce I'll see if I can get a wide angle of the current LGB layout, but in the background of both 1 and 4, you can just see his modelling of the pueblos at Mesa Verde (he is a bit nuts for the Southwest). I am thinking about going nuts for it too, now that I know that my father's immaculately researched historical records show that the ancient Puebloans had GIANT Hokkaido cultivar Chinese Elm trees... My next trip will likely not be NH, more likely NM to see if I can get an air-layering off one of these ancient trees.......

 

[electronfusion]

Updates!?!?

 

[Crazy Diamond]

Wow that tree its really sweet!!