Help with Yew Yamadori

[Pityocamptes]

We are planning on redoing the garden in the front of the house and there are a bunch of older yews (i believe common yews?) that we are going to dig up. I wanted to save these as yamadori. What is the best time and way to approach this? Some are quite large and many are fairly close together. Can I do it in winter, or wait till right before buds break?

 

[WNC Bonsai]

This is what worked for me.

The BIG yew project

Last year this time I talked my next door neighbor into letting me dig up three old yews growing in his yard. These are probably 30-40 years old and have been neglected for ages. Since he has two hounds that chew on everything he was very happy to let me dig them even though I wanted to wait a...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Eckhoffw]

Can you wait till spring? You may be excited, but you will save yourself some work by waiting. + spring will likely be a better bet for survival.

 

[Dav4]

Spring, as the buds swell.

 

[PonderingSage:]

Lucky you, thats a good find.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Pics?

 

[Potawatomi13]

Yard tree NOT Yamadori!

 

[Rivian]

Yard tree NOT Yamadori!

Yardadori

 

[sorce]

Pics!

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[Pityocamptes]

This is what worked for me.

The BIG yew project

Last year this time I talked my next door neighbor into letting me dig up three old yews growing in his yard. These are probably 30-40 years old and have been neglected for ages. Since he has two hounds that chew on everything he was very happy to let me dig them even though I wanted to wait a...

www.bonsainut.com

Thanks this is great info

 

[Pityocamptes]

Pics?

Pics!

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[Potawatomi13]

Unfortunately no foliage anywhere near lower tree/trunk. "Some" possibility for Literati maybe? Otherwise much grafting needed to make usable tree.

 

[leatherback]

Interesting material there.

Unfortunately no foliage anywhere near lower tree/trunk. "Some" possibility for Literati maybe? Otherwise much grafting needed to make usable tree.

nonsense.
Healthy yew will sprout foliage all-over old trunks once exposed to sunlight.

 

[Dav4]

These are long term projects. Yew (I suspect yours are Taxus cuspidata, the Japanese yew) can be aggressively pruned and be expected to bud back on old wood... that's why they make wonderful hedges, and I've never heard of anyone needing to graft. Ideally, this would be done while the trees are still in the ground, during the growing season, as collecting them will weaken them significantly. I have dug foundation yews and it took several years for them to recover from collection and start to grow lower on the trunk. If you're going to work with these, I'd plan on either transplanting to a nursery area in the yard or get them into an appropriately sized wooden box with good soil... collect in the spring as they break dormancy. I'd remove the trunks and branches that are absolutely not going to be part of the future styling, but leave plenty of green to fuel recovery. As the trees, gain strength, it'll be time to cut back lower on the trunk.and hopefully get growth where you need it.

 

[Pityocamptes]

These are long term projects. Yew (I suspect yours are Taxus cuspidata, the Japanese yew) can be aggressively pruned and be expected to bud back on old wood... that's why they make wonderful hedges, and I've never heard of anyone needing to graft. Ideally, this would be done while the trees are still in the ground, during the growing season, as collecting them will weaken them significantly. I have dug foundation yews and it took several years for them to recover from collection and start to grow lower on the trunk. If you're going to work with these, I'd plan on either transplanting to a nursery area in the yard or get them into an appropriately sized wooden box with good soil... collect in the spring as they break dormancy. I'd remove the trunks and branches that are absolutely not going to be part of the future styling, but leave plenty of green to fuel recovery. As the trees, gain strength, it'll be time to cut back lower on the trunk.and hopefully get growth where you need it.

thanks for this advice, i may do the prestyling for the nicer ones in the ground and try my luck at digging up the rest!