American Hornbeam #1 Progression, Caleb C.

[Caleb Campbell]

I collected this nice little hornbeam on December 29, 2020 from my woods, had pretty good surface roots and a really nice radial nebari. Washed the roots and placed it in an 11 inch pond basket. The cuts I made on the major roots are too far away from the trunk in hindsight, which will set me back when/if I decide to hack them closer to the trunk in the future. I was too afraid to lose the feeder roots
attached to them.



Leafed out in late March, and here it was on April 14:


Lots of healthy growth, recovered very nicely from collection. As you can I wired in the leader which came about right where I wanted it. The wire damage the very vigorous leader so I removed it shortly after.

 

[Caleb Campbell]

Here is the leader before and after I chopped to it, June 9th and June 25th, 2021:

.


And here is the leader today, August 20, 2021:

 

[BobbyLane]

Nice base on the tall one and well placed basal branch, i would keep that.

 

[Caleb Campbell]

Nice base on the tall one and well placed basal branch, i would keep that.

Yes I plan on keeping it as kind of a double trunk, I think the proportional difference in the two trunks will work well. Here is a sketch of what I'm going for, probably premature but we'll see:

 

[BobbyLane]

that looks doable, but even if the low right side branch didnt pop, you could design a nice asymmetrical tree with whats developing there. the base will improve too with that low branch.

 

[Caleb Campbell]

that looks doable, but even if the low right side branch didnt pop, you could design a nice asymmetrical tree with whats developing there. the base will improve too with that low branch.

Yes I like that idea, that may actually look even better. Will have to improvise when the time comes to branch select but I can get it roughly there I believe. Thank God the deer don't care for my hornbeams like the do my elms

 

[Caleb Campbell]

Update (Dec. 7, 2021)
Did some fall pruning, getting rid of bad branches and nodes with multiple branches that would've created nasty scars and inverse taper. The original secondary trunk was way too parallel with the main trunk/leader, so I got rid of it and went with the new leader, going to go for maybe a single pad pretty low there. I think I am finally seeing the true structure of the future tree. Leader is making good progress. Will carve down the main chop sometime next season, gonna get a die grinder at some point.

Also as you can tell, I buried the pond basket in the ground as kind of an experiment. Inspired by Telperion's method of burying fabric pots to transition from air pruning to faster ground growth without having to repot every time. The grow bags supposedly squeeze the roots as they get larger, similar to air pruning. The pond ponsket's holes are much larger though, so I don't know if it will still have the root pruning effect in the ground.

 

[PA_Penjing]

Cool tree, I definitely wouldn't wait too long to carve those wounds. The thickening leaders are what's going to do the bulk of the "healing" of the wound.

 

[Colorado]

Sweet hornbeam!

 

[TN_Jim]

Agree with @PA_Penjing.
Also, have found success with such hornbeam chops via a saw, followed by electric sander with 60 grit shape up angle and round edges then paste. They like the sander, make angled chop slightly higher and work it down, just a thought

Since I’m blabbin’..If mine (image).. you’re going to get good growth as planted, would beware and watch wire

 

[Caleb Campbell]

Agree with @PA_Penjing.
Also, have found success with such hornbeam chops via a saw, followed by electric sander with 60 grit shape up angle and round edges then paste. They like the sander, make angled chop slightly higher and work it down, just a thought

Since I’m blabbin’..If mine (image).. you’re going to get good growth as planted, would beware and watch wire
View attachment 411434

Thanks Jim, great tips. I would love the ease of a die grinder but I won't wait till I can afford it, so I'll give your method a shot.

Sorry if I misunderstand, but are you proposing for me to wire that little branch? Or do you think that that little branch is a wire? Or are you just saying to be careful if I wire? Haha

 

[TN_Jim]

Thanks Jim, great tips. I would love the ease of a die grinder but I won't wait till I can afford it, so I'll give your method a shot.

Sorry if I misunderstand, but are you proposing for me to wire that little branch? Or do you think that that little branch is a wire? Or are you just saying to be careful if I wire? Haha

I would chop all the way to that little branch and gently and loosely wire it in the direction you want. This will build taper that otherwise would be irreversible down the road if you didn’t cut all the way down to that branch. Look how much growth you got in a year -I would put all my eggs in that one little basket of a branch rather than those above it (also thinking tightening internodes with such fast growth).

Will try to get some photos of some hornbeam chops I’ve put a sander too. I’m afraid of the grinder honestly, the 60 grit has more finesse and control or something.

 

[Caleb Campbell]

I would chop all the way to that little branch and gently and loosely wire it in the direction you want. This will build taper that otherwise would be irreversible down the road if you didn’t cut all the way down to that branch. Look how much growth you got in a year -I would put all my eggs in that one little basket of a branch rather than those above it (also thinking tightening internodes with such fast growth).

Will try to get some photos of some hornbeam chops I’ve put a sander too. I’m afraid of the grinder honestly, the 60 grit has more finesse and control or something.

Okay I see, and yes that branch looks like the prime candidate for my next chop.

I'd love to see those chops

 

[TN_Jim]

Okay I see, and yes that branch looks like the prime candidate for my next chop.

I'd love to see those chops

some sanded chops. just smoothed and rounded off with more natural rollover than blunt chop alone..
devils advocate and newer approach to me, last one left about 3” and kinda peeled it back layer by layer trying to mimic a trunk break without tool marks. think all examples are around size of the material you have.

would appreciate others criticism or any advice on this approach

apologies for flashlight photos

 

[TN_Jim]

 

[Caleb Campbell]

View attachment 411449View attachment 411449
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I see the calluses roll over pretty well with that method. On this tree I'm petrified of the callus swelling and spoiling the taper, because I want it to be a pretty short tree. Don't want to have to grow my leader out forever. I may go at it with a dremel or my knob cutters to concave the chop a bit, so the callus rolls over as flat as possible

 

[TN_Jim]

I see the calluses roll over pretty well with that method. On this tree I'm petrified of the callus swelling and spoiling the taper, because I want it to be a pretty short tree. Don't want to have to grow my leader out forever. I may go at it with a dremel or my knob cutters to concave the chop a bit, so the callus rolls over as flat as possible

you should be equally worried about die-back

whatever your approach, I recommend doing all at once and overselling against desiccation directly at the cambium

I have had the same worry and not so much this issue as with J. Maple or trident. Not sure the 45* angle is as aptly sound with American hornbeam depending on the shape or movement of the tree or such.
…like this little monster (below) chopped and bare rooted last winter -have seen nothing like this from American hornbeam

 

[TN_Jim]

supposedly Japanese maples grow slow

 

[GreatLakesBrad]

Sweet tree! Love the start. Nice work!

 

[Caleb Campbell]

Carved the chop today. Just used my hand tools. Branch splitter proved very useful, couldn't have done it with just knob cutters. They call it ironwood for a reason

Tried to give the leader as much breathing room as I could, while trying to prevent the callus from rolling over and bulging too much. Each cut was a tough call, don't wanna kill that leader and ruin this tree completely, but don't wanna leave too much and realize I have to restart in 3 years. Lemme know what you guys think. It's one of my first time's carving a chop, and since the leader is off to the side it was a little weirder than I thought it would be.

Should I carve it more and "hollow" it out? It's relatively flat actually, just curves on the edges, picture is kind of misleading.