Question about yamadori aftercare.

[Javaman4373]

I have some hawthorn stumps I collected this spring and they are pushing buds. My question is should buds developing in locations that you are certain you will not keep, or buds producing two branches at the same origin, be kept or immediately pruned? One thought I have is that you might want all the foliage you can get to support new root growth. Versus, why waste growth that will never be retained in the future. One of these is illustrated.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Keep everything. Because it might collapse and die back later in the year. The more power it gains now, the better the outcome.
I found hawthorns to heal pretty nicely when cuts are done later.

 

[Cajunrider]

Keep everything. Because it might collapse and die back later in the year. The more power it gains now, the better the outcome.
I found hawthorns to heal pretty nicely when cuts are done later.

Strongly agree.

 

[Shibui]

I also tend to allow everything that emerges to grow for most of the first year. Root recovery is critical. At this stage, root growth is not definite. Many collected trees use energy stored in the trunk to grow new shoots but if roots cannot keep up the new shoots will eventually die. Some can keep going until mid summer before deciding to die with no new roots.
Excess shoots are not 'wasted'. They are helping the tree recover roots, energy and nutrients lost to the transplant. Those shoots will allow you to do more reductions, shaping, etc next season.
After mid summer, if growth is still strong I will sometimes prune, especially if unwanted shoots are competing with preferred ones or clusters are threatening to produce lumps but unless growth is particularly strong there's not much risk in the first summer.

 

[rockm]

Agree. Keep everything that the tree gives this year. You shouldn't think about design options until three years in. Priority is getting the tree in a stable, healthy state. The most dangerous time for collected trees is the spring a year after their collection. That is when they draw on reserves they've built up over the last year. If there's not enough gas in the tank to do that, they die, or portions of them die.

Budding out the spring immediately after collection is NOT a sign a tree has recovered from the destructive collection process. Many trees will push and even extend new buds on inertia alone-especially older trees. If you see a pause in new growth this spring, where the tree pushes new leaves, then sits for a while not doing any growing, it is working from inertia, trying to develop new roots.

 

[Cajunrider]

Agree. Keep everything that the tree gives this year. You shouldn't think about design options until three years in. Priority is getting the tree in a stable, healthy state. The most dangerous time for collected trees is the spring a year after their collection. That is when they draw on reserves they've built up over the last year. If there's not enough gas in the tank to do that, they die, or portions of them die.

Budding out the spring immediately after collection is NOT a sign a tree has recovered from the destructive collection process. Many trees will push and even extend new buds on inertia alone-especially older trees. If you see a pause in new growth this spring, where the tree pushes new leaves, then sits for a while not doing any growing, it is working from inertia, trying to develop new roots.

Last year I collected a bunch of hawthorns. Some of them were very good size. I did some severe root pruning and the trees pushed out very strong growth for the late summer and fall. Yet 1/4 of them failed to wake up this spring. When I checked, I found out that, despite the strong growth last summer and fall, the roots were sparse. After a couple hard freezes this past winter, some of the tree never budded out in the spring. Examination after they died showed that the newly developed roots died during winter. The trees never collected enough carbohydrate to store in the roots so the concentration of sugar in the roots were low, leaving them vulnerable to low temperature. Most of the trees that I buried in a grow bed under 6" of mulch survived the ordeal. Half of those I left in pots, thinking that they were vigorous enough, died on me. From now on, especially for hawthorns, I will let a collected tree grow as much as it wants at least for a year before I touch it.

 

[PonderingSage:]

Last year I collected a bunch of hawthorns. Some of them were very good size. I did some severe root pruning and the trees pushed out very strong growth for the late summer and fall. Yet 1/4 of them failed to wake up this spring. When I checked, I found out that, despite the strong growth last summer and fall, the roots were sparse. After a couple hard freezes this past winter, some of the tree never budded out in the spring. Examination after they died showed that the newly developed roots died during winter. The trees never collected enough carbohydrate to store in the roots so the concentration of sugar in the roots were low, leaving them vulnerable to low temperature. Most of the trees that I buried in a grow bed under 6" of mulch survived the ordeal. Half of those I left in pots, thinking that they were vigorous enough, died on me. From now on, especially for hawthorns, I will let a collected tree grow as much as it wants at least for a year before I touch it.

Cajunrider,
Did the buts swell, but never open up. I have some collected last yr that haven’t opened up yet, while others from the same batch are fully leafed out…getting a bit worried.
To the OP, l agree with everyone else above, but will run off the suckers at the base. My thought is to keep sap moving up the trunk.
I love the branch redirection technique, l do that type of thing too.

 

[Cajunrider]

Cajunrider,
Did the buts swell, but never open up. I have some collected last yr that haven’t opened up yet, while others from the same batch are fully leafed out…getting a bit worried.
To the OP, l agree with everyone else above, but will run off the suckers at the base. My thought is to keep sap moving up the trunk.
I love the branch redirection technique, l do that type of thing too.

No bud swell. Nothing at all. Trees lost their leaves during the winter and never budded out again. The roots shriveled and died. Worth mentioning was the fact that all the dead tree grew out strong branches, some as long as 14", yet they died after the winter.

 

[Javaman4373]

Last year I collected a bunch of hawthorns. Some of them were very good size. I did some severe root pruning and the trees pushed out very strong growth for the late summer and fall. Yet 1/4 of them failed to wake up this spring. When I checked, I found out that, despite the strong growth last summer and fall, the roots were sparse. After a couple hard freezes this past winter, some of the tree never budded out in the spring. Examination after they died showed that the newly developed roots died during winter. The trees never collected enough carbohydrate to store in the roots so the concentration of sugar in the roots were low, leaving them vulnerable to low temperature. Most of the trees that I buried in a grow bed under 6" of mulch survived the ordeal. Half of those I left in pots, thinking that they were vigorous enough, died on me. From now on, especially for hawthorns, I will let a collected tree grow as much as it wants at least for a year before I touch it.

Thanks for that info. I will be inclined to bring my hawthorns into the cool basement over the winter to avoid hard freezes of the new roots. I have done that successfully with my airlayered yew and a few junipers. We hit minus 20 F last winter