Miracle happened…should I collect now??

[ChrisKussun]

I was devastated to see this when I went to check on my best candidate for next season



But by miracle!! One of the only trees that were not uprooted or squished was the one I was planning to collect!

What should I do!? And if I collect it now(which is probably what will happen) should I go about it differently that when collect in spring? I really want to take it before they finish clearing the land which might happen this week:/

By the way this tree is a Silver Maple in Quebec

 

[rockm]

Seems to me you have no alternative other than to dig it now. Of a great time for it though. Don’t expect stellar results. It may pull through it may not

 

[rockm]

Should say. NOT a great time to collect

 

[ChrisKussun]

Thanks! I will be going tomorrow hoping they dont clear it during the day…hoping it will survive the collect and the upcoming winter

Should say. NOT a great time to collect

 

[BobbyLane]

Improving the success rate of Yamadori

I have been using this technique now for over ten years and I have finally decided to share what I have learned. The technique is known as ‘sweating’ and is used extensively in arboretorial circles…

yamadori.co.uk

 

[baldone]

I would get as much root ball as possible and put it in large pot. If they clear the lot its dead anyway. Save it!

 

[Jetson1950]

The pictures are hard to tell, but that looks like it may be a Freeman Maple. Some of the leaves have a Red Maple look to them. Freeman being a Silver and Red maple cross hybrid.

 

[DirtyZ]

I say go for it. I dug up 5 smaller maples a few days ago from my bosses yard, he was wanting them gone asap so I had no choice to wait til spring. Rolling the dice but like others say, you have no choice if it’s going to get razed anyway.

 

[ChrisKussun]

Thanks for everyones motivation lol!!
Good news!! The tree was still standing today! I successfully collected it and was sweating like crazy had to go up a 40m slope back to the car carrying the tree between cut down trees…all that with my work boots on

Anyway pruned the roots to fit in the container I had cause of time restraint, but I managed to buy some sphagnum moss at a local farm on the ride back home

Improving the success rate of Yamadori

I have been using this technique now for over ten years and I have finally decided to share what I have learned. The technique is known as ‘sweating’ and is used extensively in arboretorial circles…

yamadori.co.uk

Here are pics of the roots after pruning (fairly good amount of fine roots) and pics of the setup! Used the Bag Method Mr. BobbyLane suggested although I used a white bag…my thought being more light was needed since I left baby branches on it…

Also should I keep those branches for survival due to the time of collection or prune the longer ones and unusefull ones right now?…I’d rather not stress it too much and prevent it from photosynthesizing in a moment it is used to doing so…

Maybe I’m overthinking it too so your opinions are welcome!

 

[ChrisKussun]

I say go for it. I dug up 5 smaller maples a few days ago from my bosses yard, he was wanting them gone asap so I had no choice to wait til spring. Rolling the dice but like others say, you have no choice if it’s going to get razed anyway.

Hope they make it through!! I have been told maples are resilient so our fingers are crossed a tad looser

Btw the leaves were slugs’ buffet hence all the holes in them

 

[pandacular]

Best of luck, looks like you made the best of an unfortunate situation. Really good trunk, hope it makes it.

 

[KateM]

Looks good!
I would also seal the cuts.
Wood glue will work in a pinch, if you don't have cut paste.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Recommendations to save good rootball were ignored! Maybe in spite of this tree can survive with excellent after care

 

[Shibui]

Recommendations to save good rootball were ignored!

Which recommendations do you feel were ignored? Looks like the recommendations supplied by @BobbyLane were followed closely - with the exception of the white plastic bag instead of black.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Where is the cut paste?

Large pruning wounds on maples should always be sealed. Large wounds on collected deciduous trees should always be sealed. You are putting it in a plastic bag to maintain humidity so the tree doesn't dry out... but you aren't sealing the wounds - which is the primary way the tree will dry out.

 

[Paradox]

Which recommendations do you feel were ignored? Looks like the recommendations supplied by @BobbyLane were followed closely - with the exception of the white plastic bag instead of black.

The article Bobby posted states to "collect as much root as possible". The argument can be made that there should have been more effort to preserve more roots than what was.

As you know, more roots=better chance for success.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Which recommendations do you feel were ignored? Looks like the recommendations supplied by @BobbyLane were followed closely - with the exception of the white plastic bag instead of black.

Collecting with much roots

 

[ChrisKussun]

Recommendations to save good rootball were ignored! Maybe in spite of this tree can survive with excellent after care

I know there are not much roots but honestly I did not prune them much…I simply took off large extending roots so it could fit in my pot ( almost no fine roots were taken off and the bigger/downward roots I pruned off did not have any or almost none…

Where is the cut paste?

Large pruning wounds on maples should always be sealed. Large wounds on collected deciduous trees should always be sealed. You are putting it in a plastic bag to maintain humidity so the tree doesn't dry out... but you aren't sealing the wounds - which is the primary way the tree will dry out.

In the article BobbyLane suggested, it was explicitly written NOT to seal the wounds…

What are the pros and cons of each so I can take an informed decision!

Thanks again for sharing your opinions and expertise!

 

[leatherback]

This should be fine.

I would not have made these short cuts that short to be honest. You know there is a big risk of lots of drying in at cut sites, and now you have not left anything to dry in. Always when collecting leave more than you need.
The roots are fine.

The sweating is great when collecting in cold miserable winter. I feel it is not great in summer. THe tree is fully active and knows it needs more roots. With warm weather it will do that on itself. I would probably just remove any leftover foliage (if that) and just plant it and put it in a sheltered spot. If it is dry hot and windy you might put the bag over but open just to raise humidity. But I would seriously avoid the whole keep as hot as possible which Tony advocated with the sweating bag setup. That really is meant for early spring later winter collects, afaik.

 

[Shibui]

The article Bobby posted states to "collect as much root as possible". The argument can be made that there should have been more effort to preserve more roots than what was.

Did you read as far as point 4?
'Clean cut the major roots as close to the trunk without spoiling the nebari'
IMHO that's exactly what @ChrisKussun has done. It is also something that I find effective when collecting most deciduous. By all means save any thinner roots with feeders but the thicker ones that have no feeder roots can safely be cut back close to the trunk. The cut ends is where we have exposed cambium. I've seen, year after year, that exposed cambium is where the vast majority of new roots emerge so it does not matter if the cut ends are closer to the trunk or further away.
If you check the transplant photos you'll also see that there's still a number of smaller roots left so I'm assuming the Op has kept as many smaller feeder roots as possible and shortened the thicker roots as per the article.