Help with elm stump

[bonsai barry]

I picked up this elm a few years ago. The upper "weeping" elm never leafed out but the root stock did, so I cut it at the graft. Any hope for this one?

I should add the trunk is about 4" in diameter.

 

[Glider]

I would say so. I had a similar circumstance with a cheap Elm I bought from a Homebase for £20 about 8 years ago. I just chopped it at the first viable branch and used that as a leader (see pic). It's not doing too badly now. Not perfect, but getting better and I quite like it. This is it's first year in a bonsai pot. It's been in large growing-on pots since I chopped it.

PS Sorry about the crappy picture. It was the wrong time of day with the sun in the wrong position and I was actually trying to something completely different with my camera. The tree looks quite good in full leaf with the sun on it.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Yes, Barry - elms can recover from anything. You can even grow out all the branches, and airlayer them off as separate trees, or ground-layer the stump to get brand a new nebari. I have one elm right now on which I have 4 air-layers developing. They only take about two months to get developed enough to separate - and meanwhile the trunk will be popping new buds like crazy. Just chose your new leader and train it for the future of the tree, while letting everything else grow like mad. Keep removing the wild growth to refocus energy on the new leader and you will be there faster than you think. I don't know if you have seen this thread about a couple of elms I have been working on for the last two and a half years. They are due for new photos - the growth is sprouting out about 6" in all directions now and needs to be wired and trimmed.

 

[mahler365]

I say you let it grow for a year or two. From my experience with stumps like this one, letting the tree recover and being patient will work well.