Taxus development

[my nellie]

Thank you for posting.

New video on G Potter repotting a Taxus at the end of july in UK and his reasons for doing so

It was to my great surprise that G. Potter did not sprayed with water while working the rootball, even in summer.
I listened when he said that the soil is dry and powdery and this makes things easier but I wonder... didn't the roots need hydration during the process?
What do you think?

 

[Paulpash]

Thank you for posting.It was to my great surprise that G. Potter did not sprayed with water while working the rootball, even in summer.
I listened when he said that the soil is dry and powdery and this makes things easier but I wonder... didn't the roots need hydration during the process?
What do you think?

Remember Yew have very fleshy roots which can hold more water.

 

[my nellie]

Thank you @Paulpash

 

[BobbyLane]

how it looks today, its healthy seemingly at least.
lost a branch here n there but nothing major. grew a little, but at least the tree hasnt deteriorated, maybe next season is when it becomes 'established'


theres some dead branch stubs on the other side that will be jinned and hollowed and a few dead surface roots that will go down the same path...
winter work maybe

 

[BobbyLane]

Few shots of this Taxus

 

[leatherback]

Looking happy. I hear the rattling of wire..

 

[BobbyLane]

Looking happy. I hear the rattling of wire..

yeh its looking healthy, the branches are nice n stiff too.
i wont be doing any wiring until next season. but i may do some deadwood work on the thick branch stubs...
both of the identical stubs left n right side are dead, i want to strip them and hollow them out. they will make for epic deadwood features. give the tree added girth and power

 

[leatherback]

Still not convinced it is healthy then?

 

[BobbyLane]

Still not convinced it is healthy then?

its healthy, but id like let it grow, cut back and induce backbudding first, so will allow branches to extend and thicken then cut back and wire. or better still allow everything to get woody.

 

[leatherback]

Interesting to see your approach to be very different from mine. I prefer to wire taxus young. Let them turn woody. Then allow the branches to run and cut back!

 

[BobbyLane]

ive killed a few yews and wiring the green growth has never turned out that well for me

 

[leatherback]

ive killed a few yews and wiring the green growth has never turned out that well for me

Something about too green to carve comes to mind..

 

[BobbyLane]

Something about too green to carve comes to mind..

carving dead bits will have no affect. permitted tree is wired in securely.

 

[leatherback]

carving dead bits will have no affect

I was referring to you having bad experience wiring green shoots
Just being nasty I guess

 

[BobbyLane]

little bit of work on the dead stubs

 

[BobbyLane]

This is a nursery yew i picked up about a year ago about this time. it was pruned and bare rooted you could say, because most of the old soil was removed by hand and from dipping the root ball in a water butt! but the majority of root ball was kept and intact and the tree went into another container of similar size, but with fresh soil....

only cost be about £10. it was the best of a bunch of bargain bucket trees that had been reduced to clear
20170929_183822 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20170929_183809 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

some character
20170929_183633 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20170929_183246 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

in oct of last year
2017-10-15_03-17-40 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-10-15_03-19-34 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20171015_160449 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

into its new home, i began some dead wood work on it, ive seen the roots, so i was careful of the live areas, i knew which roots were feeding a specific area, so i knew it could do a little on it
20171015_160543 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20171015_161122 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

This area was done by simply tearing away slivers of wood, i didnt want that subtrunk, so it became a feature
20171015_160805 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

so i knew i could safely strip the root which was feeding it

this one
20171015_160848 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

20171015_161636 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr


20171015_161658 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_5782 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Many of the Yews ive worked on didnt survive. This is one that did though and this was picked up as nursery material and the root work and initial removal of nursery soil was done not long after purchase, around October FWIW
Really aggressive, rugged looking tree from nursery stock.