English Elm Twin Trunk

[BobbyLane]

Thought i'd start a progression thread on an English elm i picked up for £10 on nov 2017

I loved that it was a twin trunk tree, i see these all the time here

it was very leggy and unkempt to start with
20171024_165309 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20171024_165322 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

after i cleaned it up a bit, it was looking better
IMG_5926 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_5928 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

it was reduced at the red line, i thought i could maintain a similar height while at the same time take out some of the thicker bits
2017-11-04_06-40-58 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

IMG_5983 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

at the end of feb 2017 i repotted it, it was already in good soil and there were some surface roots below,
20180217_150503 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

20180217_153701 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

arranged the roots neatly
20180217_160045 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

may 2018
English Elm after hard cut back into old wood..further branch selection n wire by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

i decided to go back again harder into older wood
English Elm after hard cut back into old wood..further branch selection n wire by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Today
20180806_194205 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[BobbyLane]

The primary lines are set, im working on ramifying and balancing the vigour, today it was cut back again, ive been using clip n grow, but i can see that it will need another full wiring over winter
20180806_193750 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180806_193721 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180806_193707 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180806_193532 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180806_193545 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180806_193608 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[BobbyLane]

Hi folks, little update....

some improvement on this Elm, after tidying/cleaning up the structure and re positioning some branches. it may go into a shallower pot next season to aid the root spread...
20181118_204608 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

20181118_204644 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

i should of took a before pic, but basically went in and pruned off some dead tips, bits growing in crotches, unwanted shoots and pruned for direction, pruned back to forks of two and small nodes, arranged branches up n out, put bends into some and filled in negative areas...

 

[AlainK]

VERY nice!

 

[Paolo]

love the native species..

 

[Mike Hennigan]

Nice. The trunks are very similar is thickness, have you considered growing the primary trunk to be larger, or cutting the sencondary trunk quite low to regrow more proportional taper?

 

[BobbyLane]

Nice. The trunks are very similar is thickness, have you considered growing the primary trunk to be larger, or cutting the sencondary trunk quite low to regrow more proportional taper?

Hello mate, ive not really considered making the low trunk shorter, but i suppose, looking at it again, there is an option to cut back the short trunk to the first left branch and then training that branch up to grow into the space. thus increasing the taper there, being an elm it wouldnt take long to take the tree back to the current image.

the main trunk could be taller or shorter
20181118_204608 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

could even let both trunks just grow taller. will see how it goes, thank you for your thoughts

 

[Wilson]

I gotta say, I find you always seem very efficient and talented. I enjoy immensely your threads, very nice to see focused approach to raw material. It surely helps that you have a knack for the artistic design. Keep up the great work, I dig it!

 

[BobbyLane]

Thanks Wilson for the kind words.

Here is a spring update, one of my favourite times of year for deciduous

this one was recently transferred into a shallow rectangle, nothing fancy as the tree is still in training. the shallow pot will help the roots spread out
IMG_7757 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_7758 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_7759 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_7760 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_7761 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[Nanuk]

Looks good. I like where you are going with it.

 

[August44]

All the pictures and the progression photos are very nice and encouraging to me. Thanks for always doing that.

 

[akhater]

@BobbyLane man I just love your threads... So detailed and inspirational

Thanks for sharing

 

[BobbyLane]

thanks for the kinds works guys, i appreciate it. glad these threads can be of help to others

 

[penumbra]

What you did with your twin English elms is sort of what I have in mind but with a bit more lateral growth particularly on the lower trunk, and growing on a rock possibly. Won't really know till I have it in hand.