Ulmus P. 'Hokkaido' clump - What would you do?

[Kanorin]

Here’s a better scale for the leaves

 

[JoeR]

Even if I want to ground layer next spring, I should put the tourniquet on now? I've never done a ground layer, but attempting my first air layer on a maple this year.

Is this more in the range of where to put the trunk chops to create a bit more asymmetry in the 3 main trunks?
View attachment 309341


Maybe, or maybe my close-up shots are making it hard to put to scale. It came well-labeled from Iseli nursery.

There are people who add a tourniquet a season before the airlayer, and people who do it at the same time as the air layer.

There's a fantastic Japanese shohin blog, I lost the link to it, that details great success with the former option. The reason they do it a season before is it adds extra swelling, leading to a better nebari flare. Ive mainly seen it done with maples.

I also wondered if this was seiju, but the picture with the dime definitely confirms its hokkaido IMO.

Hard to say from pictures, but yeah more or less at those marks. The beauty of seiju and hokkaido is that they can throw buds essentially anywhere, use this to your advantage

 

[leatherback]

Just let the tree be a plant for a bit. You have now removes a large part of the foliage. Foliage which would have driven your layer to create roots.
To be honest, I am not committed to layering this one. Clear the trunk of moss. Lower the substrate so you see the nebari. Take images from all around the tree agains a neutral background and cover up the roots again. Then spend the rest of the year looking at the images. Let the tree grow on you.

 

[Kanorin]

Just let the tree be a plant for a bit. You have now removes a large part of the foliage. Foliage which would have driven your layer to create roots.
To be honest, I am not committed to layering this one. Clear the trunk of moss. Lower the substrate so you see the nebari. Take images from all around the tree agains a neutral background and cover up the roots again. Then spend the rest of the year looking at the images. Let the tree grow on you.

Thanks for the advice! What's a good tool to use to take the moss off of the trunk? It doesn't want to come off with just my fingers.

Other than moss removal, I'm going to take this advice and let the tree recover and regain strength for the rest of the year. In a month or two I'll post an update with some pictures and take a look at the nebari to see what's there. Then we can start thinking about next spring plans.

Thanks for the input, everyone!

 

[TomB]

What's a good tool to use to take the moss off of the trunk?

Toothbrush.

 

[just.wing.it]

Here’s a better scale for the leaves
View attachment 309345

If that's a large leaf.....damn, what!

 

[chansen]

Before you can make any decision about ground layering or not, you need to repot and get a good look at the roots. There's likely more buried under there than you can see now. There's a good chance the front of the tree will change once you expose more roots, etc. No harm in cutting back like you've done, but be patient and see what's below the current soil line before you go any farther.

 

[M. Frary]

Here’s a better scale for the leaves
View attachment 309345

I stand corrected.

 

[Kanorin]

Clump got some better soil and a pot last week.

 

[JonW]

Clump got some better soil and a pot last week.
View attachment 365079

Looks good and recovered nicely!

I'd personally remove the thin, lowest two branches (one on left and one on right). They don't look proportional. The two middle trunks are very symmetrical - as you continue with some clip-n-grow, I'd think about directional pruning. Likewise, I'd avoid taking the entire composition in a symmetrical direction - you kind of have 2 main trunks and two side branches, almost like a mirror image of a twin-trunk. Avoiding symmetry is hard with 4 trunks, which is why traditional Japanese forest plants avoid that. Slight changes of the planting angle can help. You just don't want identical movement and distances between the trunks.