I know what you mean, I dug one of these giants out of my parents yard last weekend that got hit by last year, and the previous years cold... It had died back to about a foot off the ground, and they wanted to get rid of it. I figured I would either make a Sumo style, or plant it in my yard.
I was lucky in the fact that I was able to cut most of it off, seeing that it was dead... But when I went to dig it up, I found a 2 foot deep completely fused together root system!!! The thing was giagantic and extremely heavy. I new it was a very large bush/tree, but I really did not expect to find that...
So, for now I planted it in a very large plastic storage bin, almost up to the level of where it was original planted to... mainly to help it recover, but over time I want to start lowering the planting level to expose all that root!!!
I have to say though, the really bad thing about bougies, is that whether dead or alive those damn thorns still hurt... going through shoes, gloves, etc. As for your tree, what are your plans for it? Are you going to leave it rather large, remove any of the trunks? I remember seeing some taller ones on Miami Bonsai site, in their specimen page... and then there is always eric wigert's trees...
Awesome material !!!!
