Huge base, skinny trunk pondy

[Francesco84]

The good: Killer base and bark. Tall and elegant yet masculine at the same time due to that base- it was literally carved out of the rock. I also love that sucker emanating from the base. Its almost a mini version of the entire tree...
The Bad: Branches are long, sporadic and foliage is mostly at the tips. There is a straight, uninteresting part of the trunk, just past the halfway mark.

Questions: Do I keep the first branch on the right? It's thicker than most and might be hard to bend downwards and its also very sparse. It is pretty flexible given its thickness though, so might not be totally out of the equation. As per the left, secondary trunk, the first brank on the left has a lot of shoots and budding while the top part of the trunk is very sparse, so do I nix that as well and use the primary branch as the leader? Not sure... Hate chopping stuff on old trees...

 

[clem]

hello, your yamadori is very nice, & promising.
If i had it, i'll probably go this way ->

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Your tree overall is very sparse. How long has it been since being collected? I found that in my area it takes older Ponderosa pines at least 3 to 5 years to really adapt after being collected. You can start wiring branches right away, but I would not remove any branches. Give your tree time to get vigorous. Once they settle in, they will back bud. Maybe not where you need it, but sometimes exactly where you need it. I found branches irregularly but often enough to be a "thing", will back bud even into branches in the 20+ year old range.

The awkward foliage is why a number of people graft Japanese White pine, or JBP, or Limber pine foliage onto the Ponderosa. Grafting would be a long term project, but this trunk could benefit from that. I'd graft into the existing branches rather than the lower parts of the main trunks.

I would definitely not remove any branches. Wire them out, but don't remove them, you need all you have.

 

[Meh]

The good: Killer base and bark. Tall and elegant yet masculine at the same time due to that base- it was literally carved out of the rock. I also love that sucker emanating from the base. Its almost a mini version of the entire tree...
The Bad: Branches are long, sporadic and foliage is mostly at the tips. There is a straight, uninteresting part of the trunk, just past the halfway mark.

Questions: Do I keep the first branch on the right? It's thicker than most and might be hard to bend downwards and its also very sparse. It is pretty flexible given its thickness though, so might not be totally out of the equation. As per the left, secondary trunk, the first brank on the left has a lot of shoots and budding while the top part of the trunk is very sparse, so do I nix that as well and use the primary branch as the leader? Not sure... Hate chopping stuff on old trees...

Nice tree. The lower trunk is the best feature IMO, so I would consider removing basically the entire top half of the tree eventually (even more drastic than clem's virt) once it has a few years to grow strong following Leo's advice. Basically I would build the whole tree out of this:

 

[Forsoothe!]

I like this better...

Wire the top live branch to the top stump to get it more vertical and finish it next year. Lots to work with, IMHO.

 

[Wilson]

I agree with @Leo in N E Illinois just feed the tree for now, and make design decisions when there is good vigour in the tree. You should be able to add movement in the upper trunk if you decide to go with a taller tree.

 

[Francesco84]

hello, your yamadori is very nice, & promising.
If i had it, i'll probably go this way ->
View attachment 297609

I like it very much. Similar to what I was thinking in some ways. Thanks!!

 

[Francesco84]

Your tree overall is very sparse. How long has it been since being collected? I found that in my area it takes older Ponderosa pines at least 3 to 5 years to really adapt after being collected. You can start wiring branches right away, but I would not remove any branches. Give your tree time to get vigorous. Once they settle in, they will back bud. Maybe not where you need it, but sometimes exactly where you need it. I found branches irregularly but often enough to be a "thing", will back bud even into branches in the 20+ year old range.

The awkward foliage is why a number of people graft Japanese White pine, or JBP, or Limber pine foliage onto the Ponderosa. Grafting would be a long term project, but this trunk could benefit from that. I'd graft into the existing branches rather than the lower parts of the main trunks.

I would definitely not remove any branches. Wire them out, but don't remove them, you need all you have.

Hi Leo,

This was collected in SD in Oct 2017. I believe it was put into a pot the following year if I not mistaken. Sounds like I am going to leave everything for now, wire and feed to gain more vigor. Grafting is definitely an option Id entertain. Thanks, Leo!

 

[Gaijin]

I would remove the upper 2/3's of the right. Use the left and Maybe some of the bottom right and what's at the base (for the time being). You can bend the doggy out of these ponderosa's.....that's what I would do with left. Make a compact tree out of it. The upper 2/3's of the right has no use for design purposes.

Like others have said....now is not the time. It needs to gain vigor.

 

[j evans]

Nice tree. I think that it might be interesting, if you can get enough growth out of the left trunk, to remove the right side entirely. Hard to tell in photo what the left side is doing.