Tsuga Canadensis #2

[Cmd5235]

Starting a thread for this tree. It was purchased from a wholesale retailer for $80 usd. It was previously salvaged from a tree farm being developed, and this had been growing in a burlap sack in near total clay soil for several years. The initial tree weighed close to 150 pounds and was approximately 6 feet in height.



Once home, it got a bit of a haircut and a removal of some of the original soil, taking at least 80 pounds off the total weight.



I did very very little root pruning, and was not able to get all of the soil off this year. It’s now recovering on my bench.



The goal for next year is getting the rest of the clay soil out from the base of the tree and into more appropriate medium.

 

[Dabbler]

I love this tree, reminds me of my late father when he use to live in the mountains - It's too hot where I am to have one but that's a nice one!

 

[VAFisher]

Nice. I'll be interested to see how this develops. I have a small one that was collected as a seedling and I really enjoy working with the species.

 

[Cmd5235]

Thanks all. The apex is a bit of a mess, but I think cutting off the left leader and developing the current leader (with the scar) as a deadwood feature will work well:




The other tissue will be reducing some of the bottom branches/ turning them into deadwood as well. The tree is very left-side heavy for branching.

 

[Cmd5235]

A few better photos of the tree. Will definitely need some help with the styling of this one (@Gabler maybe I'll bring this to a workshop at some point). Plan is to just let it grow this year, see how it looks this winter. If it's okay, I'll cut it back hard, but I might let it go another year. It doesn't have foliage as far back as I would like, but it's not as bad as it could be. There are certainly a lot of crossing branches that I will remove (or cut back for deadwood).

The other two issues: the main trunk has a big section with no growth that I will have to disguise somehow. Also, the top is a mess, but there is the potential for a good leader and deadwood:

 

[Cmd5235]

A lot of dieback on the interior this year, which does not bode well for the styling of this tree. Granted, it needs better soil, I just didn't want to risk two repots within a year. Next spring it will receive a much lighter and lower organic mix and we'll go from there.

 

[rutulus]

This is an interesting tree. It’s not like the majority I’ve seen in the mountains of New England, which are straight and tall. But every once in a while you come across one growing on a steep hill, or among the granite, and it’s stunted with odd shapes. This reminds me a bit of that.