Help with trunk chop on 4 possible trees that are currently over 10 ft tall.

[3rdfloordeck]

Hey Guys,

I had the opportunity today to roam a friends densely wooded property with permission to dig up whatever I'd like. I found 3 maples and one other unknown tree with shoots near the base.

Link to the album: http://imgur.com/a/OahjV

I've never done this with mature-ish trees like these before, so I have several questions.

• I am located in the border of zone 5b/6a, is this an okay time of year to perform the cut?
• If I cut them this year, should I dig them up now or wait until next year?
• If I dig them up, should I prune the thick roots out?
• What kind of soil should I transplant them to?
• They are all located in a full shade area, should they remain in full shade after the chop/dig?
• How far up the trunk should I make the cut?

Any other tips or advice on trunk chopping mature trees would be appreciated.

 

[lordy]

I like Maple 3 the best. The others seem to have questionable bases, so why take those?
If you can, I say cut short now, but leave in place until about 2 weeks before normal bud break. Also, now would be a good time to cut down through the roots with a sharpened shovel so the amount of stress next spring would be minimized. This will give the tree the rest of the summer and fall to send out new roots to help it when you put it into a box or similar.
Next spring, finish digging them out. I have had good luck bare-rooting Japanese maples, but imagine a similar situation with non-Japonica cultivars.

 

[3rdfloordeck]

I like Maple 3 the best. The others seem to have questionable bases, so why take those?

I've picked these 4 out of thousands of trees of similar age/size. I am going to try all 4 because I have been daydreaming about this collection method for years and am ready to experiment.
I agree with you though, Maple 3 is my favorite. How far up would you make the cut?


Thank you for your advice! I've had a hard time finding resources on this kind of collecting.

 

[lordy]

I think I would be bold and cut at perhaps 12", assuming the diameter of the trunk is 2 to 3 inches. It should bud SOMEWHERE on the 12", and when the new apex grows taller, there will be maybe a 6+" addition to what you leave. That will give you a lot to work with.

 

[3rdfloordeck]

I think I would be bold and cut at perhaps 12", assuming the diameter of the trunk is 2 to 3 inches. It should bud SOMEWHERE on the 12", and when the new apex grows taller, there will be maybe a 6+" addition to what you leave. That will give you a lot to work with.

The diameter of the straight of each trunk is 6-7 inches.

 

[drew33998]

Go for it! If you have thousands to choose from then you have nothing to lose. Though I would say that even with those 4, you still have nothing to lose. I would think about sealing the chops with something. It's getting hot and you don't want it to bleed out too much sap. Looks like A Rubrum. It is known to be a notorious "hard case" for bonsai, because of the long internodes. But don't let that stop you

 

[M. Frary]

I like to chop for 6" height to every inch of diameter.
Say a trunk is 4" diameter the finished height of the tree would be around 24". I cut for taper right away anymore so the cut would be at around 8" . First cut should be 1/3 the height of the finished tree. Then grow the next section, chop again and so on and so forth. If not done this way you will end up with a stovepipe trunk.
For a tree 6" my first cut would be 12". Hope this helps.

 

[jeanluc83]

The maples look like red maple, acer rubrum. The good news is they are very easy to collect but the roots will take some time to sort out. They tend to send out a long root system to anchor themselves with very few feeder roots close to the trunk.

Here are some pictures from this spring of a tree that I collected last year. The tree had roots that were big and poorly placed and there were almost no feeder roots. Pretty much all of the fine roots you see were grown last year. Unfortunately it dried out when I was away last fall and didn’t wake up this spring.

 

[Poink88]

I like to chop for 6" height to every inch of diameter.
Say a trunk is 4" diameter the finished height of the tree would be around 24". I cut for taper right away anymore so the cut would be at around 8" . First cut should be 1/3 the height of the finished tree. Then grow the next section, chop again and so on and so forth. If not done this way you will end up with a stovepipe trunk.
For a tree 6" my first cut would be 12". Hope this helps.

Wow, I finally found someone who actually does it like I do!

I too cut 2x the trunk diameter IF it is straight. I may cut higher/longer if there is movement/character/taper/branches worth preserving.

I also use the same guideline for each branch.

Just to add...this is ONLY for plants that back bud easily.

 

[jeanluc83]

I've been on the lookout for a maple stump in the 6" to 8" diameter range with good root spread to chop down to about 12". I want to go for a hollow sumo style maple.

 

[M. Frary]

Wow, I finally found someone who actually does it like I do!

I too cut 2x the trunk diameter IF it is straight. I may cut higher/longer if there is movement/character/taper/branches worth preserving.

I also use the same guideline for each branch.

Just to add...this is ONLY for plants that back bud easily.

Might as well do it right the first time. Less screwing around later. I used to cut higher but they all need to be cut again to get proper taper. 1 year gone.

 

[Poink88]

Might as well do it right the first time. Less screwing around later. I used to cut higher but they all need to be cut again to get proper taper. 1 year gone.

You're preaching to the crowd brother...I've been saying that for years and I got hammered most of the time. I hope the reasoning get some traction.

BTW, 1 year (or more) WASTED is more like it.

 

[barrosinc]

Wow, I finally found someone who actually does it like I do!

I too cut 2x the trunk diameter IF it is straight. I may cut higher/longer if there is movement/character/taper/branches worth preserving.

I also use the same guideline for each branch.

Just to add...this is ONLY for plants that back bud easily.

I finally understood what this meant.

 

[BrianBay9]

Maples may not be the best material available to you in those woods. Not saying you should skip the maples if you like them, but have you had a look around for elm, hornbeam, hackberry, larch? They ultimately may be easier to work with than the maples.

 

[3rdfloordeck]

Here's an update.

Everything is sending out tons of new growth already!

I also dug down below the roots a full shovel length all the way around but left them all in ground.

Gallery: http://imgur.com/a/nhvJb

Too lazy and sweaty to sort out the gallery right now.