Collected American Hornbeam

[W3rk]

I posted about this once before in collecting, but figured I'd give it a thread for tracking progress. This is a great American Hornbeam that I collected early this year in March, with some nice curves, muscling, and thickness at the base (I believe this was because it grew at an angle on the side of a bank). This is after the initial collection.

I should have cut the tree back further/harder on collection but I was hesitant to remove the lowest branches - I wanted to keep those existing buds for insurance.

 

[W3rk]

3 months after collection and it has really leafed out nicely up top, pushing new growth and a number of back buds up and down the trunk, though most of them are higher up than I want for the next future cut back of the trunk. But it seems fat and happy for now, I'll just be letting it ride til next spring when I would hope to reduce it further.

Here are a couple of shots to show the trunk/base:

 

[Aeast]

Beautiful trunk line, hornbeam are awesome,

 

[defra]

Great find !
Nice

 

[W3rk]

Progress pic from June 24th - with my first good low branch for the future tree when it gets cut low. It started out completely vertical so I started to guy wire it out.

 

[W3rk]

Some good low back budding giving me the start of a few branches for the future tree.

 

[W3rk]

Growing season well over and leaves are about to drop. I got the start of 3 good branches down low to work with for the future tree. Unfortunately they are all on one side. Looking forward to getting this through the winter, removing the top, downsizing the pot/roots more and developing the branches.

 

[just.wing.it]

Nice!
Did you try to rotate the tree during summer?...to get more sun to the side with no branches?

 

[W3rk]

Nice!
Did you try to rotate the tree during summer?...to get more sun to the side with no branches?

All of my trees get fully rotated over time, except for this one. Because of its' size and location the best I could do was to rotate it around 180degrees or so. I'm sure that was a factor. Getting it scaled down more will let me correct that.

 

[Zach Smith]

Sometimes they don't give you buds/shoots everywhere or where you want. I have found that often you'll get buds in new spots (that lay dormant during post-collection recovery) in year two. There are likely buds in multiple spots on your trunk, that just didn't wake up for whatever reason.

 

[Tieball]

There are likely buds in multiple spots on your trunk, that just didn't wake up for whatever reason.

I think the trunk buds on Hornbeam trees I have collected just keep hitting the snooze button each season.

 

[Zach Smith]

I think the trunk buds on Hornbeam trees I have collected just keep hitting the snooze button each season.

Yeah, no guarantee a sleeper will wake up.

 

[W3rk]

Update pic, Survived the winter just fine. This is from about 2 weeks ago, leaves are unfolding all over now. It's getting closer to time to make a decision on my desired height and where to cut the trunk down to. There's a junction with a cool split/bend that I intend to try air layering soon (for practice because there could be something there for me to work with). After that I'll want to cut this down lower.

First pic shows what I think is roughly the best front, mostly due to that curve - and the root spread in that view also. Second pic. is to show more of the back, where I got my good lower branches from new back buds last year.
Front:


Back:

 

[_#1_]

These are some of the coolest native deciduous in the Northeast imo. Weird though as you're one zone ahead but the tree is a bit behind. Mine already started leafing out. How did you wintered yours?Mine was heeled into the growbed and mulched over about an inch or so. EDIT: NM your pic was taken two weeks ago, duh! lol

 

[defra]

Back looks good as front too imo

 

[Cuzza]

How have you gotten on through summer? Also, with hornbeams do you need to cut back to a bud or banch when trunk chopping or can you cut back to any point (with room for dieback) and expect budback? Dont want to kill one just because the lowest branch or bud is too high for a new leader?
@just.wing.it or anyone else?

 

[KiwiPlantGuy]

How have you gotten on through summer? Also, with hornbeams do you need to cut back to a bud or banch when trunk chopping or can you cut back to any point (with room for dieback) and expect budback? Dont want to kill one just because the lowest branch or bud is too high for a new leader?
@just.wing.it or anyone else?

Hi Cuzza (fellow Kiwi),
No experience with USA hornbeam, but Euro hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) you can chop where ever. Eg. 6-10 inches from roots and they will grow like nothing is a problem. I have a few and they are hardy as .
Charles

 

[rockm]

How have you gotten on through summer? Also, with hornbeams do you need to cut back to a bud or banch when trunk chopping or can you cut back to any point (with room for dieback) and expect budback? Dont want to kill one just because the lowest branch or bud is too high for a new leader?
@just.wing.it or anyone else?

THis depends on the species of hornbeam you're using...

 

[Cuzza]

Hi Cuzza (fellow Kiwi),
No experience with USA hornbeam, but Euro hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) you can chop where ever. Eg. 6-10 inches from roots and they will grow like nothing is a problem. I have a few and they are hardy as .
Charles

Thanks Charles! Yep, looking at acquiring a couple of European Hornbeam. But since they will be nursery stock I'm assuming the trunks will be straight as an arrow so the lower I can go the better.

Have you had any more luck with your azaleas? I'm still struggling to keep mine alive up here after repotting from nursery stock.

 

[W3rk]

How have you gotten on through summer? Also, with hornbeams do you need to cut back to a bud or banch when trunk chopping or can you cut back to any point (with room for dieback) and expect budback? Dont want to kill one just because the lowest branch or bud is too high for a new leader?
@just.wing.it or anyone else?

It's had a good growing season this summer. I tried to air layer off the top, but it mostly just caloused over, so I had to restart that a while back. Just keeping it healthy, working on the lower branches some - and I did get one more lower branch in a good location.

I need to decide where I want to do my hard cut to reduce the trunk for the future tree height that I want. I'll be doing that end of winter next year, along with root reduction and re-potting to a smaller pot.

I can't answer for sure about hard trunk chops as I kept this tree tall with a lot of viable branches when I collected it.