DaveNuts
Yamadori
As purchased from a club member 3/25.
Previous owner had used slate to fill a gap under large root in the rear.
Repotted 3/25 - no photo at that stage.
5/25 affected by some kind of leaf miner or fungus? Not really sure. Pruned the worst affected leaves, and treated with antifungal spray. Condition didn't worsen over the growing season.
1/26 clear view of the gap beneath the elevated rear root. Its about 1.8cm thick. There's a similar root right at the front, roughly 1.3cm thick. Its gotta come off but I'm scared. The tree is fairly old and I'm told these dont like root disturbance. I chickened out and carved the underside away, leaving about 50%.
1/26 the rear root stays, despite the unsightly knuckle. Change of front to hide the gap, and to get the big root into the wide base. The protruding front root is clearer in this picture too.
The flat(ish) first and second branches now present a challenge. The guy wire that was pulling the left branch forward and down has to come off.
Guy wire off, and now pulling that lowest branch forward and up slightly. Growth is very leggy still, just let this recover from its repot in 2025 so no pruning for refinement. Lots of branches have big Ss in to bring them back towards trunk. Hopefully i get some good backbudding in 2026 so I can shorten and improve taper in branches.
The apex has also got 5mm aluminium to bring it forward. Still doesnt lean forward enough for my liking, but i honestly dont think it'll budge any more.
Pretty much completely wired out. The thick branch at the back just below the apex was half dead, so I think that'll be replaced by the thinner one above it.
First time fully wiring out a tree this big, took me about 5 hours in total, with a lot of deliberation in between.
Aim for this spring is to get this growing vigorously and pinch to promote activation of backbuds, view to prune back to new growth in summer and bring the branches in further.
Any tips welcome
