Collected Material

Woocash

Omono
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Wild Privet, Ligustrum Vulgare. 4 inch base, 19 inches high. 2:moler, 1:grit, 1:bark, 1:sphagnum. Dug on a waxing moon just to irritate the nay sayers ;)5A231C3A-27DA-4502-ADCD-ADA0E815D964.jpeg
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Woocash

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Today I dug this little wee beastie. Field Elm, Ulmus Minor. The base is 8” across and stands 7” high to the top of the stump. Fewer fine roots than I’d have liked, but it is an elm so it’s got more chance than most. Fingers crossed. The trunk is completely hollow with loads of character and age to it. I’ve been searching for one of these for a while.FBCA0082-AEC1-404B-AD5A-BC05D40151F3.jpeg
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Woocash

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A couple of days ago I happened upon this monster field elm, Ulmus Minor, dumped on the side of the road. A victim of a drainage ditch excavation, it was left with two others, one of which was too big to get in my van and the other with poor roots and low chance of survival went straight in the ground with 2 chances. This one though had a nice compact rootball and was protected from drying out by the thick clay encasing it. After (not so) carefully removing as much clay as I could I was still left with an encouraging amount of roots so into a nice big box it went. I removed the moss to get a better look at it and to encourage more buds. I have left the stumps long to leave options, but I plan on a big carve up at some point. The root spread is 15” and it currently sits 27” high. I wanted a monster elm, and that’s what I got!38D94D6F-420F-4FC0-A869-4543F9873B10.jpeg
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jason biggs

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are there any trees left in Oxford??
You have some awesome starter material there - think my favorite is the small field elm...
 

Woocash

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Yea there are a couple left...but I’ve got my eye on them already! :D

Thanks, I reckon I’ve got some good stuff to keep me occupied for a while. Do you mean the hollow elm? That’s probably my favourite too, but I’ve tried to get a selection of various shapes and sizes for various styles. Unfortunately, I still cant do much with them except wait while they try and recover.
 

Woocash

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Mid Spring update number 1

Thought I’d update a few of the trees that I collected this winter. Also, a couple of trees that I omitted for some reason.

Field Maple post #1
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Turkey Oak post #2. Collected a couple more as well and will collect 5 or 6 others too this winter with the intention of creating a forest. The little one is just leafing out. CB181DFD-ED79-4CAA-A7A7-A8E1010EBD86.jpeg

Field Maple post #16. This ones going great guns. Had a chilly night t’other night so got a little wee nip of frostbite, but is all is good.
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Hawthorn post #34. Just left this one to the elements (unlike the next couple of hawthorns) and seems to be doing well. Though the top growth has slowed down. but new roots are exiting the mesh on the top of the pot so that’s a good sign.
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First of the omitted trees. Spur of the moment woodland hawthorn. Stuck in a mix of bark, compost and sharp sand then wrapped up in a black bag and left to ferment. Sent out shoots like nobody’s business and even a couple of aerial roots! Possibly my favourite collected tree so far. The pictures don’t really do it justice.
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Second omitted Hawthorn. Collected from a field of soon-to-be shredder fodder. Bit of an experiment to see how little root I could get away with keeping. Standard mix and sweated in a bag. Doing ok.AB3E8811-F277-4B43-B902-C369A694B20D.jpeg

Field Elm. First tree I dug up. Did well initially, first to wake after winter, but no new growth in weeks :confused: Got a little frost bite...
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Lastly for today, Blackthorn. Collected for it’s age, the deadwood and the opposite sculptural trunk combo. Only one trunk has sprouted so far but the other is still alive so at least it gives me hope!
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More to follow in due course.
 

rockm

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Nice stuff.

BTW, I'd separate the twin blackthorns. I've seen the "embracing/affectionate/whateveritis" design tried before. It Works out to be an odd-looking twin trunk , wasting both trunks that have more value as individuals.
 

Woocash

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Nice stuff.

BTW, I'd separate the twin blackthorns. I've seen the "embracing/affectionate/whateveritis" design tried before. It Works out to be an odd-looking twin trunk , wasting both trunks that have more value as individuals.
Thanks. I have been toying with the idea myself, especially seeing as only one trunk has woken up.

Initially, when I first saw it I instantly thought artsy fartsy sculptural, non trad bonsai, triangular foliage pad in an overall Japanese pagoda type shape thing. A proper marmite type tree. But now I’m not so sure. It’d probably end up looking like a botched topiary spaceship or something...

Assuming both trunks survive, would you just layer the smaller one or try and separate them like conjoined twins?
 

rockm

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Thanks. I have been toying with the idea myself, especially seeing as only one trunk has woken up.

Initially, when I first saw it I instantly thought artsy fartsy sculptural, non trad bonsai, triangular foliage pad in an overall Japanese pagoda type shape thing. A proper marmite type tree. But now I’m not so sure. It’d probably end up looking like a botched topiary spaceship or something...

Assuming both trunks survive, would you just layer the smaller one or try and separate them like conjoined twins?
I'd check the root masses under and around each trunk...All things being equal, I'd just saw them apart. I saw a forest planting of hornbeam a while ago that had two trees "embracing" in the middle of it--basically trunks like these--It was distracting and most of all, too literal and forced.
 

Woocash

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I'd check the root masses under and around each trunk...All things being equal, I'd just saw them apart. I saw a forest planting of hornbeam a while ago that had two trees "embracing" in the middle of it--basically trunks like these--It was distracting and most of all, too literal and forced.
Yes I can see that could be the case. Obviously I’ve got to wait a couple of years before I can check the roots again anyway so i’ll have a bit more idea about whether I’m dealing with one trunk or two.
 

ConorDash

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Ill have to keep you in mind, collecting cool stuff in UK, as I am located in UK too!
GF as head warden, well that helps just a bit dont it lol
 

Woocash

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Ill have to keep you in mind, collecting cool stuff in UK, as I am located in UK too!
GF as head warden, well that helps just a bit dont it lol
Yea I reckon...not sure how everyone’s going to take a nature reserve with no trees left though!

Hopefully I’ll have a few for sale in a couple of years, if you and others are interested then. There’s a field full of hawthorn that’s going to be removed over the next few years. None are really that old, perhaps 15 to 20 years and a lot are just simple stumps but there are a few crackers in amongst the rest. Plus a wooded area with a nice amount of likely candidates, along with a smattering of others across the site.

If you can get friendly with a farmer though, hedgerows and bridle way margins seem to be a really good source of material from what I’ve found locally.
 

Woocash

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Spring update #2

Hazel post #3
Taken a long time to show anything more than a red splodge hint of a bud, but now it appears to be waking up nicely. More buds popping and a couple of extensions being thrown out here and there. Maybe it’s why this has taken so long to wake up? Most trees seem to throw out a leaf first as the bud breaks, but this is extending shoots with a couple of buds on it before any of the leaves emerge. That must take an extra push of energy and something to be wary of when collecting hazels In future.
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Wild Privet (with badger skull), post #42
Again, took a good while to get going, but seems to be forging ahead now. Looking forward to the future of this one.
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Field Maple, post #44
I could’ve sworn this was an elm when I’d walked past it previously, but it was obviously just growing next to some elms instead. Loads of buds still popping and some nice growth now. It appears I caught this one just in time as it’s unlucky neighbour hasn’t made it yet and doesn’t look much like it will either. If I can just figure out what to do with those elephant legs sticking out the top of it now....
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Berberis, post #32
One of the fist to leaf out and looking happy. Great dead cavern on the rear, should probably make a feature of it, but all the foliage is on the front. Hmmm.C5F38E3B-6791-49FB-AA5D-677A56DD62DF.jpeg

Hawthorn #33
This has hesitated a few times, so I pruned out a lot of the dense growth to give it less to concentrate on trying to grow then bagged it up and loads of buds popped a few days later. I’m sort of rueing taking out of the bag so soon as it hasn’t carried on extending at any decent rate, but it does look happy enough and I know it had a good rootball on collection so I’m pretty positive.
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Field Maple
It appears I didn't document this one originally but it’s a nice little clump and one of my first collections back in September. I overwintered it in the wheelhouse and leafed out really quickly this spring. Looking happy now but has some red blobs at the base of some of the leaves. Gall mites I think. Anything to be concerned about?
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Common Ivy, hedera helix
Ripped this odd ball up from under a fence I was repairing and stuck it in the first pot I could find as I was in a rush. It’s leafed out a couple of times but has been nipped by late frosts so looks worse for wear but is still going ok. I‘m not sure what the future holds for this one, maybe some air layers or something to combat the ridiculous shape, but we’ll see if it gets itself healthy.
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Woocash

Omono
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Woohoo! Jiminy Cricket, it’s that time again! 😀

I’m a little later than I was last year, but I’ve dug up my first tree of the year. My heart sank a little on Wednesday as I realised that a hedge near me that contained a tree I’d earmarked for collection was being flailed and there was a very real danger that said tree was experiencing an extremely low chop as the path was being made wider. Thankfully, however, I got there and found out that all the chap had done was to take back the hedge up to my subject and making access for collecting far easier. How kind!

Still, I’m not sure he won’t be back so...

Since my birthday I’ve been aching for an opportunity to try out my present from Mum, a Sneeboer perennial spade and I was not disappointed. It’s a lovely size and weight, made from stainless steel with a nice sharp edge and a flat back to the blade which rips through the ground and small roots with ease. It made life so much easier so. I highly recommend.
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As the tree was just up on the hill behind my boat grabbed the dogs, barrow and a few tools and off we went. Half an hour later I had the tree in the barrow and set about cleaning it up. It has a really good amount of fine roots and a great spreading nebari already. There are also one or two sub trunks growing at the base, one of which I’m definitely going to keep, but the other one, closer to the main trunk I’m not so sure about. It’d make for quite a large chop to take it down to root level so I‘m not sure which way to go, keep as a sub trunk, chop and wait to heal over or chop and make a Shari. Any thoughts anyone please? Thanks

Oh yeah, it’s a Mirabelle plum, Prunus Domestica sub Syriaca.

(He doesn’t count as a sub trunk)
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Front for now
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HorseloverFat

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I’m super jealous of your current digging ability... it’s definitely NOT “that time” for me, yet.

It IS time to start looking, though.. I need some Picea Rubens... I gotta “chill” a little... I collected quite a bit in fall. (Actually Much easier HERE to dig in Autumn).. I also scoped out some WICKED cliff-side Sambucas and Bluffside Locusts... and some Acer Ginnalas...

Ehh.. who am I kidding.. I’ll most likely be in “full-blown collection mode” once the shovel is in my hand.

🤣🤣
 

HorseloverFat

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Look.. just google it. Not to say trust everything online but it can’t be complete crap if so much has been said and people on this forum follow it.. each to their own :)
Talk to most Chinese gardeners.. they SWEAR by it...I haven’t been doing the “tinytree” thing long enough to have any reference-able results.

I’ve performed similar operations on similar specimens.. some paying attention to “lunar phases”.. and some by “Standard rules of order”... so time will tell.

It definitely is a misunderstood concept.. but DEFINITELY not to be ignored or disregarded.

🤓
 

HorseloverFat

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Next a couple of things I collected in September. A hawthorn, Crataegus Monogyna, which I thought was a small tree in it’s own right, but turned out to be a root sucker and so doesn’t have the amount of fine roots I’d have liked. I also got a Turkey oak, Quercus Cerris, which although small has some movement and nice branching already, rare round these parts. They’re both about 14” tall.View attachment 277733
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LOVE that compact, spiky monstrosity of a Cratageus!!

What’s it doing now...

Requesting nudes.

🤓
 
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