Timing of lifting trees that have rooted into the ground

[SeanS]

I have some tridents in pots that I placed on the ground this season to allow the trees to escape into the ground and speed up growth. It’s fall/early winter now and I’d like to work on them. Is fall a safe time to sever the escape roots and lift them or should I wait for spring?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Should be good to go right now.

 

[NateDyk47]

I have a similar question. I temporarily moved some trees to the ground while I rearrange/build new benches. I picked one up and it has already sent out a few roots. If the tree has only been on the ground a week or two, is there any issue severing those roots? I had assumed it could only hurt the tree if the root growth was significant.

 

[19Mateo83]

Unless it’s like a thick tap root escaping, you should be good to cut them anytime.

 

[chantat]

It kind of depends on how long you left it to root there and how much of the root system is actually in the ground. Generally, if it is >2 years then you might have some issues with health if you lift it in the middle of summer.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

No worries whatsoever.
We have a couple dozen tridents and JM in boxes on the ground. Pull them up every six months to prune the rooms off the bottom. Sin away!

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[SeanS]

Thank you everyone, as payment for your responses here are some photos of the 2 trident ROR projects in question. Please enjoy.
Both trees have only been on the ground for 1 season.

Multiple seedling (8 in total) fused ROR




Big boy ROR

 

[Shibui]

For those who are considering wiring trees while in grow boxes or in the ground please note that tridents even get away from @SeanS It doesn't take very long for fast growing tridents to swallow the wires. Hopefully that trunk is not a critical part of the design or that Sean can get enough subsequent growth to heal those wire marks.

 

[SeanS]

@Shibui luckily that wire scarred trunk is only there as a sacrifice and to supply graft whips that were carried out during the season. It’ll be getting the chop when I lift the tree

 

[Shibui]

I was confident you had a plan Sean. Just thought it was worth pointing out because there's lots of newbies that think wiring trees in grow phase is no problem.
Also glad to hear you had alternatives to get rid of the problem instead of spending years growing the scars out. I guess that's one of the benefits of having multiple trunks and/or leaders on developing trees.