Big Boi Cedar Elm clump

[Rodrigo]

I had a Cedar Elm clump do something like that. It was a bunch of seedling that grew together. When I cut the tap root, one came loose while the others remain fused. I applied a scew to keep all together.

It's not all bad. You get to a chance to rearrange them or put them back like before.

Didn't think of the screw idea but I'll be remembering that for the future!

I had to pot them a little too linear for my likeing because of the thick roots I left but next repot I'll be rearrange them a bit closer.

 

[Tieball]

That was a lot of roots you uncovered....however, I’m guessing that’s exactly what you expected. Seeing those roots, the thick ones especially, reminds me why I prune off thick roots to a short stub length when collecting.

 

[BackyardBonsai]

That is pretty aggressive with the root work. I would probably wouldn't go that far but I guess that is a must if you want to put it in a pot.
BB

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

That was a LOT of work. My back hurts just thinking about it.

This grove has huge potential. Looking forward to its future.

 

[Rodrigo]

That was a lot of roots you uncovered....however, I’m guessing that’s exactly what you expected. Seeing those roots, the thick ones especially, reminds me why I prune off thick roots to a short stub length when collecting.

Yup, exactly what I expected. Especially knowing how long they'd gone without being touched and the type of soil it was in.

I would've definitely cut back the thick roots had I collected it from the wild but I had to work with what I had

 

[Rodrigo]

That is pretty aggressive with the root work. I would probably wouldn't go that far but I guess that is a must if you want to put it in a pot.
BB

Yeah it was a little aggressive but knowing how healthy they are, and the fact that they're cedar elms, we were pretty confident it'll bounce back.

It also wasn't necessarily that aggressive on purpose. We removed all of the old soil and then cut the very long roots that only had feeder roots at the tips and this is what we were left with. It may take a bit longer to start moving but it'll be ok and I'll probably not repot for 2 years to make sure it recovers fully

 

[Rodrigo]

That was a LOT of work. My back hurts just thinking about it.

This grove has huge potential. Looking forward to its future.

Yeah it took a total of about 5 and a half hours from start to finish. Another two clumps from the same grower were repotted a week earlier and they took 7 and 8 hours to do so I guess we got "lucky"

The following day I helped a friend do his and we found about two dozen onions growing in the soil under the tree! Anyone ever seen that before?

That's not even all of them!

 

[Tieball]

Well.....onions...I have not found those in root-balls yet. That’s a new one to me. I usually just find lots of old acorn pieces and weed roots intertwined with the roots.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Yeah it took a total of about 5 and a half hours from start to finish. Another two clumps from the same grower were repotted a week earlier and they took 7 and 8 hours to do so I guess we got "lucky"

The following day I helped a friend do his and we found about two dozen onions growing in the soil under the tree! Anyone ever seen that before?
View attachment 285449
That's not even all of them!

Yes. I have found onions. They grow right by Cedar Elm I've collected. Your trees don't look too aggressively worked in my opinion. Do you think the hours were so long because of all the old native soil that was not originally removed?

 

[Rodrigo]

Yes. I have found onions. They grow right by Cedar Elm I've collected. Your trees don't look too aggressively worked in my opinion. Do you think the hours were so long because of all the old native soil that was not originally removed?

Intersting, that makes more sense now. I'm not sure where these were collected.
We were definitely surprised to see them, especially that many!

I'd say was 80% the old soil not having been removed. We had to get all of that out before we started cutting roots and it was all nasty muck, not even the pressure hose helped. Once we had the soil off, it was then untangling the circling roots to see what was what, which also took some time

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I have allowed our local wild garlic to seed into some of my larger trees. They are "supposed to" repel certain pests. They are small enough to not be serious competition for medium and larger trees especially in grow out containers. And I use them much as one would use chives in cooking, trim off some fresh leaves, chop into salads, sauces, etc.

 

[rockm]

More root removed than I would have done all at once and I am pretty aggressive in reducing elm roots. Probably won't be an issue (fingers crossed) though. Watch top growth carefully, you MAY get some dieback on finer growth up top as the trees recover. The garlic cloves are pretty common. Those are pretty aggressive in colonizing pots. I also get acorns planted deeply in pots every spring by squirrels and chipmunks.