Littlleaf Linden Progress

[JasonG]

Here is a field gorwn Linden (Tilia cordata) that I dug from the field around spring of 2006, I think! This was about 14 foot tall at the time of the dig and went into a 16"x16"x5" growing container for 1 year. I then found this pot last year and put the tree into it for now. I know it isn't the best pot, but it will work for now.

The past 2 years have been regrowing branches and trying to develop ramification. The branches are coming along but the ramification will take years! The wood of Linden is very soft, infact the old cuts I could push my finger into farily easy. So I broke out the power tools and carved in hallows where ever there was a scar from an old cut. This went very fast since it was so soft. In a few years time the hallows will turn dark grey/black and will make the holes look even deeper and spookier then they are now.

The trunk has good taper, good movement and is full of character and age. Branches are coming along and the apex will need some attention this year to help fill in and make it fuller. But for only a few years in training it is coming along pretty nice.

Trunk is 5 inches at the soil and from the top of the pot it is 18 inches tall. Let me know what you all think, good bad, suggestions, etc.... you won't hurt my feelings

First picture is before last night and the others are a few hrs later.....

Thanks, Jason

 

[JasonG]

Here are a few photos of the hallows on the trunk....

Thanks for looking,

Jason

 

[agraham]

Pretty nice,Jason.

1st a question....How long was it in the field?

and then a comment.....it appears to have a pretty noticeable reverse taper about halfway up the trunk.Will you try to hide this or fix it?

thanks,

andy

 

[grouper52]

Great material, Jason. I imagine you could have a fascinating tree and cure the reverse taper (and the wintertime blues) by going at this thing big time with power tools for a few hours.

Will/grouper

 

[Chris Johnston]

Pretty nice,Jason.

1st a question....How long was it in the field?

and then a comment.....it appears to have a pretty noticeable reverse taper about halfway up the trunk.Will you try to hide this or fix it?

thanks,

andy

It is a shame that the reverse taper is visible from every angle except the one that takes all movement out of the trunk. It shouldn't be too hard to correct this, though, would it Jason?

 

[Anonymous User]

Some creative carving and a little time would do wonders here, perhaps?



Will

 

[Walter Pall]

My experience with linden is that they are very fast growers. One can fatten a trunk just like it is done with trident maples. I would let the lower branches grow freely for a year and cut back the upper branches. Then in late fall 2008 or early spring 2008 I would cut back the lower branches too and then repeat the same in 2009. After that the trunk will have fattened in the lower region and the scars will look very different. This will be a good linden eventually. I am not so sure whether carving now will improve it in the long run. The reverse taper will go away while the trunk fattens considerably.

 

[JasonG]

Thanks for all the replies.... I appreciate it!

In person the reverse taper isn't that noticable.... I mean you can see it slightly but looking at the pictures it seems to bring it out a bit more. If I were to carve on this spot I would carve on the left side of the tree where there are some of the bigger chops that I hallowed out. It wouldn't be a huge undertaking to do it, but still a good sized job.

Here is a picture I just took with the tree rotated to the right about 15degrees or so..... It seems to help with the reverse taper but the branches would all need to be re adjusted which would take 10 minutes..

What do you think of this angle?

 

[Chris Johnston]

I like the trunk but it looks like the crown is moving away from the viewer significantly. Is that true?

10 minutes? Are you nuts? That's way too much time! you'd better let me take care of it for you.

 

[art-rodriguez]

little leaf linden

Thanks for all the replies.... I appreciate it!

In person the reverse taper isn't that noticable.... I mean you can see it slightly but looking at the pictures it seems to bring it out a bit more. If I were to carve on this spot I would carve on the left side of the tree where there are some of the bigger chops that I hallowed out. It wouldn't be a huge undertaking to do it, but still a good sized job.

Here is a picture I just took with the tree rotated to the right about 15degrees or so..... It seems to help with the reverse taper but the branches would all need to be re adjusted which would take 10 minutes..

What do you think of this angle?

hey jason
looks real good at this angle !
look forward to see it soon in person.

 

[Jay Wilson]

My experience with linden is that they are very fast growers. One can fatten a trunk just like it is done with trident maples. I would let the lower branches grow freely for a year and cut back the upper branches. Then in late fall 2008 or early spring 2008 I would cut back the lower branches too and then repeat the same in 2009. After that the trunk will have fattened in the lower region and the scars will look very different. This will be a good linden eventually. I am not so sure whether carving now will improve it in the long run. The reverse taper will go away while the trunk fattens considerably.

Walter,

We often hear that trunks won't thicken while the tree is in a small pot.

Do you have any thoughts on this?

 

[Walter Pall]

Jay,

there are a few species which thicken enormously in the ground. Too much really. They are better developed in a container. Trident maples and linden come to my mind.

 

[Jay Wilson]

ThanKs Walter.