Triple trunk field elm from cuttings

[Fishtank307]

Hi! I wanted to share this little project I've been working on the past 3 years. In the fall of 2019 I took a bunch of cuttings from a field elm. The following year I made 2 clump-style plantings. One multi-trunk planting (of which only 3 survived...) and one triple trunk planting. The process was simple: take the rooted cuttings, bind them together, stick them in a pot and let them grow.
I'm pleased with the result of the triple trunk elm, as the trunks fused nicely and it developed a nice nebari.

All the cuttings in the spring of 2020:


Binding the cuttings together with aluminum wire, wrapped in electrical tape:


Potting them up, making sure the roots are spread out. Sadly, I kind of neglected this group planting, so some of the trunk died.


One of the plantings in early spring of this year, 2022. This planting was a great success! The three cuttings I bound together two years ago all survived. Last year I was able to remove the wire and with this repotting, I found out the trunk had fused together. The trunks are also fattening up a bit!


After combing out the roots:


Some of the roots are getting big...


So I cut them:


The surface roots are sorted out. Still plenty of feeder roots left:


And the root ball is nice and flat;

 

[Fishtank307]

Then I potted them up:


Covered the cut roots with cut paste and spaghnum moss:


The end result for now:


Two clump-style elms, a work in progress:

I also wrote a blog post about repotting this little triple trunk elm:
https://www.paludebonsai.be/blog/877168_triple-trunk-elm-repotting

This has to be one of the most rewarding projects I've been working on! Seeing the trunks fuse like that in just 2 years is just amazing! They may look like sticks in pots right now, but I think the base and nebari are promising

 

[19Mateo83]

That is a pretty sweet triple! It’s fun to see the progression and your process.