Chuhin Broom Elm

I’m glad you feel as though you got something out of it.

Great progression thread! I am curious about one comment you made early on - about keeping a leader. Isn't the point of broom style to not have a leader? I thought you were trying to get the primary branches to all be more or less balanced(?)
 
First you guys are grafting shimpaku and ume... now maples and elms?? and why did you decide to cut off all the maple grafts that had taken?

Are you referring to the tree in the background? I think it is an optical illusion - there are certainly no maple grafts on his elm :)
 
Great progression thread! I am curious about one comment you made early on - about keeping a leader. Isn't the point of broom style to not have a leader? I thought you were trying to get the primary branches to all be more or less balanced(?)

Perhaps dominant trunk is the better word. Many brooms have one or more larger trunks that form the highest point of the canopy with smaller trunks arrayed around. That’s the look I was trying to go for.

S
 
This is a great thread, looking forward to following the progress of this tree. I have a Chinese Elm I'm working on now...
 
Hi Maros. No grafting. When I chopped the trunk, tons of shoots grew from the exposed cambium at the cut site. It was just a matter of selection. I used no cut paste after the chop because I was worried that it might inhibit growth of the adventitious buds. Chinese elms easily bud at the cut site.

Scott

The issue with the Chinese Elm I have that was chopped is that the wood has dried and hardened because no cut paste was used. My concern is that the new branches won't be able to thicken and fill that gap, so I'm wondering if I should do some carving of that wood to get the tree to fill in.

What would you suggest?

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1) add about two inches of soil to cover those roots!

2) it looks like it was an angle chop. Find where the live wood starts at the low end of the chop. (Don’t angle chop in the future!). Find where the live wood is all around the chop. Carve out some of the dead wood right at the edge of the callous tissue.

3). Using a grafting knife (or exacto knife) reopen the callous wound around the edge of the chop.

4) cover with cut paste.

5). From time to time, remove the cut paste and examine the callous. Make sure it’s still growing over the chop. You may have to repeat steps 3 and 4 several times a year!

6). Let the branches grow! The fastest way to close wounds is via rank growth.

7) once the chop is closed, you will have to chop the branches you let grow! Hopefully, they will be smaller than the big chop.

8) Start over at step 2 on the new chops. Each iteration should require smaller chops. Which close faster than big ones.
 
1) add about two inches of soil to cover those roots!

2) it looks like it was an angle chop. Find where the live wood starts at the low end of the chop. (Don’t angle chop in the future!). Find where the live wood is all around the chop. Carve out some of the dead wood right at the edge of the callous tissue.

3). Using a grafting knife (or exacto knife) reopen the callous wound around the edge of the chop.

4) cover with cut paste.

5). From time to time, remove the cut paste and examine the callous. Make sure it’s still growing over the chop. You may have to repeat steps 3 and 4 several times a year!

6). Let the branches grow! The fastest way to close wounds is via rank growth.

7) once the chop is closed, you will have to chop the branches you let grow! Hopefully, they will be smaller than the big chop.

8) Start over at step 2 on the new chops. Each iteration should require smaller chops. Which close faster than big ones.


Thanks for that Adair M, and the tree was angle-chopped when I acquired it, which isn't ideal. I always use aluminum tape on my chops and I always chop them straight. Then I focus on buds and branching from the trunk, clean up the chop site, apply paste, and go from there.

I've been considering "re-chopping" this tree in the late winter to expose fresh wood/cambium, and start from scratch.
 
Anything I’ve not repotted, I do the soji - the top soil cleanup. I remove the top 1/2” or so of old soil to get rid of weeds, old sphagnum, and fertilizer fines that have gotten into the soil. While the top of the roots are exposed I do a bit of cleanup - I remove any upward growing roots, any crossing roots and I inspect the grafts. Here’s what the elm looks like after the soji, but before I’ve added the fresh soil.

52FAF52D-2285-44A7-8611-9BAFD1439179.jpegCB5D7E94-AA27-43DC-87C5-1F364261AF95.jpeg2FC4760A-27DD-4B0E-A7FD-5410E1F0185B.jpeg2E896FCE-D4F9-4CB5-B1C1-75933ED0119D.jpeg
 
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