Digging a somewhat big yew

[Tentakelaertje]

I dig it man! And so should you

 

[defra]

You go dig that monster!
Just to tease you,
I found a big yew in a little nursery close by today!
I bought and reserved it until I can pic it up:

 

[leatherback]

I found a big yew in a little nursery close by today!

Do show!
(Or do you mean the small one on the pictures?

 

[BobbyLane]

You go dig that monster!
Just to tease you,
I found a big yew in a little nursery close by today!
I bought and reserved it until I can pic it up:

View attachment 257616View attachment 257617View attachment 257618

be careful with that, ive had a few of these and killed them all. because of my eagerness to get in and thin them out, i usually find that once ive pruned them back, the inner growth is very weak from being shaded out for long periods. the result, browning foliage....weak branches that die off. this has happened to me a few times with conifers bought from nurseries. sometimes i get lucky

you can see already that the interior is very leggy on this

ive told myself to not buy anymore yews from nurseries

 

[defra]

Do show!
(Or do you mean the small one on the pictures?

Haha for me it's big enough

be careful with that, ive had a few of these and killed them all. because of my eagerness to get in and thin them out, i usually find that once ive pruned them back, the inner growth is very weak from being shaded out for long periods. the result, browning foliage....weak branches that die off. this has happened to me a few times with conifers bought from nurseries. sometimes i get lucky

you can see already that the interior is very leggy on this

ive told myself to not buy anymore yews from nurseries

Thank you for the heads up, it costed me 80€ so for me it's worth the gamble I guess!
I will try to take it slowly down in steps to try and prevent ending up with the same experience as you have with these kind of nurserie yew's
also buying this thing opened a door at the one man nurserie after explaining my hobby to the guy he took me to the back off limits for visitors all kinds of crazy plants neglected or crooked trunks which for him are unusable in the landscape but for bonsai people interesting stuff i went home with three free plants so even if it dies In the end I made a usefull connection for future projects!

 

[leatherback]

Yeah, get this strong first befor you do massive cutting back. Check for scale/dopluis too. I think I would open the tree up by removing individual branches, rather than cut back at this stage. I have also know the power of cutting back too soon..

Thank you for the heads up, it costed me 80€ so for me it's worth the gamble I guess!

Oh man, had I known you were looking you could have gotten a much better deal, unless I judge the size completely wrong... I have 4 or so yews left in my field from a hedgerow I dug up some 5 years ago. I have let them shoot out and every time they have shot up ~2 feet I have done rought trimming of the tree, reducing top growth, alloing the bottom more length & foliage. They have had their roots cut twice since then. In March I lifted one, to work on this winter (And I actually started 2 weeks ago with thinning and moving a few larger branches with guy wires. ~13cm wide base. This was right after trimming. It is growing all over now:

front


back

back off limits for visitors all kinds of crazy plants neglected or crooked trunks which for him are unusable in the landscape but for bonsai people interesting stuff i went home with three free plants so even if it dies In the end I made a usefull connection for future projects!

 

[defra]

Yeah, get this strong first befor you do massive cutting back. Check for scale/dopluis too. I think I would open the tree up by removing individual branches, rather than cut back at this stage. I have also know the power of cutting back too soon..


Oh man, had I known you were looking you could have gotten a much better deal, unless I judge the size completely wrong... I have 4 or so yews left in my field from a hedgerow I dug up some 5 years ago. I have let them shoot out and every time they have shot up ~2 feet I have done rought trimming of the tree, reducing top growth, alloing the bottom more length & foliage. They have had their roots cut twice since then. In March I lifted one, to work on this winter (And I actually started 2 weeks ago with thinning and moving a few larger branches with guy wires. ~13cm wide base. This was right after trimming. It is growing all over now:

front
View attachment 257704

back
View attachment 257705

Looks like propper material you are showing!
Actually I was not realy looking but happend to come across this and saw potentional
I think the trunk is between 10 and 15 cm in diameter and maybe another bit of trunk below the soil buying this makes me a customer and the opportunity to check out his not fit for the landscaping trees and shrubs once in a while

 

[leatherback]

I think you should go for it!
View attachment 257518

Yeah uhm..

I was at another Yew last Saturday. The trunk above the nebari was 2ft diameter.
I decided to pass on the opportunity. Thought my back is worth more.
Guess bigger yews are not for me.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

There's big, and then there is big.

I got rid of my trees that weighed in over 75 pounds, over 33 kilos, when I turned 40. Got rid of my trees weighing over 30 pounds, or 13 kilos when I got 55 years old and suffered thru back surgery.

At some point, you have to be practical about the size and weight of your trees. Unless you have paid staff, or apprentices.