First Dead Wood Attempt- Ilex Glabra

[Underdog]

It got antsy today and hacked away at my Ilex.
When I got to any green bark I stopped and applied wood glue to seal.
Love the dark color of the wood (not shown in the pics due to sun) and don't want to bleach it. should I put anything on it?
Let me know what you think, I have thick skin and want to learn.
Mark

 

[0soyoung]

Okay, you had some fun!

Now, does what you did make this tree more interesting? For me, yawn ...

This part



is kind of interesting to me. Any ideas how you could get some more foliage arranged around this part to frame/present it? Then, I think this might made an interesting bonsai. There are lots other things that you could do, but it won't matter unless you can get some foliage in this area to make it look like a tree.

 

[Underdog]

Thanks for the reply. I like that part best as well. As for the yawn parts, I tend to agree however they are less of a yawn then they were yesterday. I still may remove them completely. I was surprised to find green wood on the left one as it has shown no sign of life all year.
Hope to get more growth in spring. Two new shoots on the left are wired out of the way for now.

 

[Dav4]

I agree that the best tree lies within that portion of the trunk with the gnarly scar. That being said, this is the wrong time of year to be hacking on most trees in your neck of the woods. You want to get this one to pop much lower on the trunk which means cutting back hard...maybe next spring.

 

[Vin]

Yes, I agree with @0soyoung and @Dav4 as well. In the spring I would remove everything to the left of the red line and focus on the right trunk. Of course there is a lot of root work to do as well. Just mt thoughts.

 

[Underdog]

Thanks again for the replies. I agree with everything said as well as wrong time of year. These branches are dead and had no growth all year. I did run into some green bark on the far left one and stopped. Others all dead clear through. Plans were/are to remove them in the spring anyway.

As for the red line. I almost agree but slightly higher as my best low growth and thickest branches are there. My pics aren't to good at showing them here. I did get some new low growth this summer that I'v been protecting.

Here is what I started with in June so it has had it's share this year already.
I agree the roots need A LOT of love but trying not to kill it yet after the brutal repot in June.

 

[Underdog]

 

[BubblePopScott]

i'm very new, so i don't know if this looks good or bad, but thanks for sharing the progression photos, its helping me learn a bit. I saw how you made a training pot out of wood, and thought I can do that.

 

[Underdog]

Yes a box is pretty easy. I'm finding pond baskets too cheap and easy to build a box. 1.50 USD each here. Double them up for a 3 dollar trainer. Thinking about building some boxes to fit these baskets like I did with the milk crate box. Just to be more attractive. Like the Holly below. Welcome to the forum.