City Yamadori...Taxus Yew ???

[Bolero]

A hundred or so Growing around Apartments about a mile from my Condo...I think they are Yew...Each is between 3' & 4' tall and at lease 50 years old. Very knarly trunks with a lot of movement on each.

 

[rockm]

Those are junipers. good luck successfully getting them out of the ground. Not easily collected as established landscape material unless you have a backhoe and/or can get a decent amount of roots and rootball. Also, if you get them out of the ground and they survive (and you won't know for about three years post-collection if they will live), you will have issues with backbudding on those long thin trunks. Grafting is an option, but the trunks aren't really worth the effort.

 

[leatherback]

Also, if you get them out of the ground and they survive (and you won't know for about three years post-collection if they will live), you will have issues with backbudding on those long thin trunks.

Could you expand a bit? I got one of a set just like this last spring. Was collected in winter 2015/2016. Why does it take 3 years to know they live?

 

[vaibatron]

Could you expand a bit? I got one of a set just like this last spring. Was collected in winter 2015/2016. Why does it take 3 years to know they live?

They may stay green for a period of about 2-3 years then either start growing or hit a wall and run out of energy reserves.

Sometimes you can give a collected tree like these the perfect aftercare, but the severe trauma induced when collecting may be too much.

 

[leatherback]

ok, thx. I had about 4 inches of growth last summer. Would you say that is enough to get some confidence? I knew Yew has a problem with replanting, growing for a few years then dying. Did not know this of juniper.

 

[clive bennett]

I would dig half way around the tree trench 2 feet deep cutting all the roots you come across, refill the trench with a good composty soil, same thing around the remaainder of the tree next year then dig it out the following year. Some very nice literati trees there

 

[chicago1980]

A hundred or so Growing around Apartments about a mile from my Condo...I think they are Yew...Each is between 3' & 4' tall and at lease 50 years old. Very knarly trunks with a lot of movement on each.

View attachment 133277

Give it a go, will only make you better at collecting. Do it with care and advice. Lots of folks here in Chicago collect landscape juniper with high success. 3rd one from the right in photo .008 with the multi turn trunk is a good candidate if I was digging up a bush.

 

[sorce]

Literate or bust!

Sorce

 

[M. Frary]

Don't waste your time or energy on them.

 

[clive bennett]

people dig Yamadori junipers all over Europe with great success having a go at something new is never a waste of time or energy at the very least you will learn a lot and possibly you will end up with some super trees. GHo for it if you have already achieved 4 inches of growth at the very least you are getting towards success and may well have achieved it.
You are very lucky in the USA a huge country with limitless fantastic Yamadori practice on these trees and who knows what you might collect in future

 

[rockm]

people dig Yamadori junipers all over Europe with great success having a go at something new is never a waste of time or energy at the very least you will learn a lot and possibly you will end up with some super trees. GHo for it if you have already achieved 4 inches of growth at the very least you are getting towards success and may well have achieved it.
You are very lucky in the USA a huge country with limitless fantastic Yamadori practice on these trees and who knows what you might collect in future

If you dig these you will NOT wind up with super trees. You will wind up-if they live--with a lot of bare trunks with foliage at the ends--very hard to make into bonsai without extensive bending (which isn't easy if you don't know how to do it), or extensive grafting of foliage on those huge bare stretches.

this is NOT great material, unless you've got some experience under your belt.

BTW, new top growth doesn't mean all that much for larger collected trees. Older trees can push new foliage without putting on new root growth (which is where new growth actually counts in recovery). Older trees like these can push new top growth from simple momentum and stored reserves.

Sure dig them if you want to learn aftercare for larger yamadori. Don't expect bonsai from them any time soon, or at all, though.

This sounds pessimistic, but it's not. It's realistic.

 

[Giga]

If you dig these you will NOT wind up with super trees. You will wind up-if they live--with a lot of bare trunks with foliage at the ends--very hard to make into bonsai without extensive bending (which isn't easy if you don't know how to do it), or extensive grafting of foliage on those huge bare stretches.

this is NOT great material, unless you've got some experience under your belt.

BTW, new top growth doesn't mean all that much for larger collected trees. Older trees can push new foliage without putting on new root growth (which is where new growth actually counts in recovery). Older trees like these can push new top growth from simple momentum and stored reserves.

Sure dig them if you want to learn aftercare for larger yamadori. Don't expect bonsai from them any time soon, or at all, though.

This sounds pessimistic, but it's not. It's realistic.

This is sound advice as I've been doing bonsai for 15 years and have tried my hand at collect material just like this. The after care is very intensive and if you can't devote 100% time to them the will die. They can make good material but only through advance techniques. I don't mean to sound rough here but you are not ready for this type of work or material. The simply fact is you didn't know the species, which means you're not very well versed in horticulture yet.

I had misters, a shade house, and monitored them pretty close and they still slowly died. 1 - 5 survived simply because the roots grow so deep and long that it's hard to get fin room to keep them going.

If you have permission to do it, do it and use it as a learning curve and do everything you can to get them to survive. Post them up and we'll help the survive!

 

[Dav4]

Skip them.