Little celtis sinensis

[milehigh_7]

I was cleaning these up tonight and I thought I would snap a quick pic.

About a year ago I got some pretty good size Chinese Hackberry starters. I cut the entire tap root off in some cases this left very little rootage.

Then I stuffed them tight against the bottom of a 3" pot where they have been since. Here is what the top looks like with very little done but watering. In a few weeks we'll see the roots on these.

Right now I have about 20 left. I'm going to repot them into 5" bulb pans for the next year.

 

[Tieball]

Nice. My Celtis Sinensis, Hackberry trees, started about the same way...perhaps a bit smaller and thinner than yours....starting out at about 24” height and 3/8”-1/2” stick of a trunk. I let them grow healthy in some gallon sized pots. They did okay...healthy...but not significant growth. After a couple years I put them in the ground. Spread the roots out on tiles. Beyond that...watered and fertilized. Ground growing was like an adrenaline shot to the sticks. Trunks began building. Quickly. My sticks of 8 years ago now have 3.0” to 5.5” trunks at the soil level today. The more sun they get....the more they grow. Celtis loves sun. The trees with the thinnest diameter are in an area that gets to much sun shielding from a tall pine....resulting in maybe a half a day of full sun. The thickest trees are full sun...start of the day to the finish.

Photo here is one of the full-sun trees near the end of autumn after 8 years. At the base...below the mesh screen that keeps the soil in place when I water with a hose....the trunk is 5.5” diameter. When the soil is moved away from the trunk to expose the nabari...it will be about 7”-7.5” diameter. The blue around the edge is just a 2” band cut off a barrel....keeps the soil I wanted located closer to the trunk....and all together the mesh and the edge have kept the weeds away. I have a very sandy soil...beach sand below the surface. No shortage of draining. I planted the trees in a lot of a Turface and some aged pine bark. Because that’s what I did. I needed the soil area to stay moist during the day. It worked....while I worked. Very well. The growing ground is fenced in...I have a significant deer and rabbit population. This Spring coming up is planned to be the chopping year.

You’re on the right path....go for healthy growth. It doesn’t take to long.

 

[M. Frary]

shielding from a tall pine

Maybe bye,bye pine tree?

 

[Tieball]

Maybe bye,bye pine tree?

You’re right. I’m working on that plan.

 

[defra]

Nice i recently bought a big stump of this species cant wait till it starts to grow!

 

[just.wing.it]

I cut the entire tap root off in some cases this left very little rootage.

Then I stuffed them tight against the bottom of a 3" pot where they have been since

That's how it's done!