I'd Greatly Appreciate Your Input

[just.wing.it]

Yesterday I had a chance to stroll through a buddy's new property, about 4 acres of woods with a creek through it, for the purpose of finding potential trees to collect.
I was pleasantly surprised to find many native Hornbeams.
I only tagged 4 trees but I'm sure more will show themselves in the future.

My question is in refrence to collection of Hormbeams....

What is the best time?
I'm thinking of chopping and digging at the same time right when buds are swelling.

I plan to do my best to make these trees work out, so I will build some containment structure for them, if not a small greenhouse, to keep humidity up after collection.

I want to get myself one of those Root Slayer tools too!

Thanks for your time!

 

[rockm]

Early spring--late March into early April. Optimally you want to collect as the buds are JUST about to burst into new leaves.

Chopping and digging at the same time is the way hornbeam is collected. Chop three inches or more ABOVE where you plan the final trunk height to be.

Hornbeam aren't dug up as much as they are sawed out. I have always used a pruning saw to sever all surface roots, then dig underneath the trunk with a hand trowel. I sever all roots I find within six inches (ideally less) from the trunk. I keep pushing the trunk towards one side expose more roots. Some folks just use a sawzall with a long blade to saw around the trunk five or six inches out. They trunk is basically a lever to break roots too (just make sure you cut them clean once the tree is free enough to remove.

I take the tree home immediately. Put it into a tub of water for an hour or so, however long it takes to get the planting container and soil ready. I plant the tree into straight bonsai soil, insuring it is tied down tight and doesn't move. I move the tree into partial shade preferably off of the ground on a shelf or stand. Bud typically appear in a couple of weeks. Don't mess with it to see if there are new roots. When buds appear its typically a sign new roots are forming.

A couple of words of caution--older trees can throw new buds just from inertia and no new roots to support that growth. Leaves and even shoots can extend to four or five leaves, then collapse in a couple of days. That is inertia. If that happens, bagging the trunk with a plastic bag can help. What you want is a SECOND flush of new growth to come along shortly after the first push. That insures new roots are present.

Also, even though these are native to around here, they require protection in the winter. As in a place that stays between 25 and 32. I've had issues overwintering them in harsher winters.

 

[just.wing.it]

Early spring--late March into early April. Optimally you want to collect as the buds are JUST about to burst into new leaves.

Chopping and digging at the same time is the way hornbeam is collected. Chop three inches or more of where you plan the final trunk height to be.

Hornbeam aren't dug up as much as they are sawed out. I have always used a pruning saw to sever all surface roots, then dig underneath the trunk with a hand trowel. I sever all roots I find within six inches (ideally less) from the trunk. I keep pushing the trunk towards one side expose more roots. Some folks just use a sawzall with a long blade to saw around the trunk five or six inches out. They trunk is basically a lever to break roots too (just make sure you cut them clean once the tree is free enough to remove.

I take the tree home immediately. Put it into a tub of water for an hour or so, however long it takes to get the planting container and soil ready. I plant the tree into straight bonsai soil, insuring it is tied down tight and doesn't move. I move the tree into partial shade preferably off of the ground on a shelf or stand. Bud typically appear in a couple of weeks. Don't mess with it to see if there are new roots. When buds appear its typically a sign new roots are forming.

A couple of words of caution--older trees can throw new buds just from inertia and no new roots to support that growth. Leaves and even shoots can extend to four or five leaves, then collapse in a couple of days. That is inertia. If that happens, bagging the trunk with a plastic bag can help. What you want is a SECOND flush of new growth to come along shortly after the first push. That insures new roots are present.

Thank you sir!
Thank you very much!

 

[rockm]

A couple of finer points:

Don't leave any field soil on the root ball. Rinse everything off.

Don't chop the tree until all the roots are cut. The tall trunk can be used to leverage and break off stubborn roots you have trouble reaching.

 

[just.wing.it]

A couple of finer points:

Don't leave any field soil on the root ball. Rinse everything off.

Don't chop the tree until all the roots are cut. The tall trunk can be used to leverage and break off stubborn roots you have trouble reaching.

10-4 on that!
How about the final chop?
Are you a proponent of angled chops or flat?... or, it depends.

 

[rockm]

Angled, but that's down the road a bit and can depend on what you wind up with as far as new buds and branching possibilities.

 

[TN_Jim]

I collected two on April 3 of last winter. Chopped flat. We got some late snows and they faired well in dappled light on west side of house.

Eventually I brought them into full sun.
Also, these two are thirsty!
I wish I would’ve rotated them more -as I think light affected new bud locations.

...these have easily become among my some of my favorite trees even just within less than a year.

...& That slayer is definitely on the wish list!

Here’s a thread where @rockm and several others helped me immensely w/ mine (and likely even kept them alive).
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/carpinus-caroliniana-ironwood-hornbeam.32971/

 

[W3rk]

Yesterday I had a chance to stroll through a buddy's new property, about 4 acres of woods with a creek through it, for the purpose of finding potential trees to collect.
I was pleasantly surprised to find many native Hornbeams.
I only tagged 4 trees but I'm sure more will show themselves in the future.

My question is in refrence to collection of Hormbeams....

What is the best time?
I'm thinking of chopping and digging at the same time right when buds are swelling.

I plan to do my best to make these trees work out, so I will build some containment structure for them, if not a small greenhouse, to keep humidity up after collection.

I want to get myself one of those Root Slayer tools too!

Thanks for your time!

Rockm will have more and better advice, but here's a link to a thread on a hornbeam that I collected last year. I collected the tree maybe mid to late March, it was still quite cold, the buds were showing signs of moving but this was well before any bud-break. After collection I ended up storing it in my garage for another week or two until we were safely clear of overnight freezing temps.

A couple of things I learned. I was extremely cautious and did not chop the roots, or the top, back as much as I could have. I'd call this "insurance" - there was no harm in this other than keeping the tree a bit unmanageably large for me. This spring I will likely cut the roots and top back further and re-pot it smaller. I did also leave it in a lot of its' own soil - which was arguably bad (heavy and clay like) - but I had mixed that in with a lot of DE, in part because I was hurrying too much at that point. But it did not cause any real saturation or drainage problems.

I also got pretty lucky with this tree, the best parts of the trunk were hidden beneath the soil line. And it wasn't just a matter of clearing out leaves, I had to go down a couple of inches in the soil to really find it. It has this great curve because I found it growing on the edge of a bank.