American beech styling ideas

[David wv]

This American beech, I collected 2 years ago. It has 4"-5" base, and has been growing untouched. I am just looking for ideas on what direction to go with this tree. I'm am not a fan of the type of broom style where the trunk splits into two leaders of equal size. I just don't want to create one of those trees that has that ugly Y, that stands out. I guess as long as I keep one of the two smaller, it may look okay? Any advice on which branches should go, upper and lower branches? My gut is telling me, the lower branches should go to highlight the trunk, making a broom style type tree. But a more experienced eye might see how they could be used and add to the design. Any ideas or advice or suggestions, would be appreciated.

 

[David wv]

Also, any thoughts on pruning back to dormant (not swollen) buds this time of year? Also if anyone has experience with American beech, how to handle them to get good internode length and ramification.

 

[BobbyLane]

Its not what I would do, I would keep the two pronged top. this is based on what you said you dont like. I would also keep the low branches
heres an Elm pulled from the net with a two pronged top and low branches brought up

 

[BobbyLane]

Two pronged top I did on an elm, if done properly, you dont get an ugly Y shape as you put it. this is what id do on the beech

 

[BobbyLane]

so id keep the low bits and the top bits, heres a beech n hornbeam. straight trunks two pronged tops.
if you want to build it to look good from different angles, you dont make the sloping cut to one leader. theres nothing to help heal the resulting wound underneath it apart from a shoot near the base.

 

[David wv]

so id keep the low bits and the top bits, heres a beech n hornbeam. straight trunks two pronged tops.
if you want to build it to look good from different angles, you dont make the sloping cut to one leader. theres nothing to help heal the resulting wound underneath it apart from a shoot near the base.

I like that, I love a natural looking tree. I just don't want the Y to stand out, looking like a slingshot. Would you say to avoid that, I should keep them from looking symmetrical, growing the one that's higher on the trunk, bigger? And possibly wiring the other a little more outward than upward? And I agree, if I did the sloping cut, it might start rotting all the way down to the lower branches on that side. Hopefully it doesn't do that anyways.

 

[BobbyLane]

I like that, I love a natural looking tree. I just don't want the Y to stand out, looking like a slingshot. Would you say to avoid that, I should keep them from looking symmetrical, growing the one that's higher on the trunk, bigger? And possibly wiring the other a little more outward than upward? And I agree, if I did the sloping cut, it might start rotting all the way down to the lower branches on that side. Hopefully it doesn't do that anyways.

Yep that would be a good plan, so having one main leader and the lower one more of a branch and the lower branches rising to help form the canopy. depending on the roots you can play around with maybe getting more lean or movement into the tree. Looks like there might be a decent base under there, if its pretty even all around I would stick with the current angle, but if its more heavy on one side then you could try leaning away from the the heavy side.

 

[David wv]

Yep that would be a good plan, so having one main leader and the lower one more of a branch and the lower branches rising to help form the canopy. depending on the roots you can play around with maybe getting more lean or movement into the tree. Looks like there might be a decent base under there, if its pretty even all around I would stick with the current angle, but if its more heavy on one side then you could try leaning away from the the heavy side.

Yeah, I think it has great surface roots, specially for a collected tree. But they are large roots, probably ¾" of an inch or around 19mm. I had to cut them back pretty hard, it didn't have many fine roots closer to the trunk. So I hope those surface roots sprout new roots. Next repot, I will see if I lean it a little more. American beech is a finicky species compared to most deciduous trees or European beech from what I understand. Long stringy roots, slow growing, only one flush a year. I've been experimenting on other American beech I have, on how to get a reliable second flush but I haven't had any luck.
Anyways, thank you for your advice.

 

[rockm]

Also, any thoughts on pruning back to dormant (not swollen) buds this time of year? Also if anyone has experience with American beech, how to handle them to get good internode length and ramification.

"how to handle them to get good internode length and ramification."

That's the challenge isn't it? Ramification is slow with the species. As you probably know, they only push new growth once a year. IF you're lucky you can get a second weak flush in mid-summer, but it's not reliable. You can increase backbudding by removing the terminal bud on every branch before they open in the spring. That might push more budding back on the branch, but it can be spotty. Backbudding can be stronger with hard pruning of branches into year-old or older wood.

Removing the terminal buds can also force shorter internode length, along with pinching new growth to one leaf as leaves emerge.

I had a collected American Beech for almost 20 years. I got it into decent shape, but it was a long haul. I got rid of it because it became a bit too labor intensive for me.

Some folks find them easier to work on and get better results. I don't know how to achieve the tight internode and ramification like the beech below at the National Arb.. but someone does.

 

[David wv]

Some recent pictures of the tree. Just did a repot into a box and took some pictures of the root base before covering it back up with soil. Otherwise I haven't done much to it.

 

[David wv]

A few more and a picture of the chop sight that I don't know what to do with. I don't want to end up with a hollow trunk tree if possible. Any suggestions, on the chop or anything?

 

[Japonicus]

Nice nebari
Where I grew up here in Huntington on a ridge
American beech grew freely except on the South and West parts of our property regardless of shade or Sun. They loved the North and top sides of ravines but refused the South side of hills. One was tagged largest circumference in the state before it died. None of them had low branches., but the beech and oaks provided a lot of shade for most vegetation below them. The low branches just doesn't look natural to me.
Not saying it never occurs in open areas but in person I've never seen one similar.

 

[BobbyLane]

This tree has a nice wild look to it, which I would try to enhance/embrace. The root base is killer for Beech. and you have a nice, thick central leader there. I would try to keep all the current branches, however, given that the central leader is becoming dominant I might do some branch selection at the top. Could just keep options open for now and more styling ideas will pop up as the tree grows. I would look at Marosbonsai trees for inspo/ideas, he has a few trees that look similar, mainly Hornbeams. I hear this species is slower than the European counterpart, how many flushes are you getting without intervention? The scar may never heal, given the growth rate.

This was a good watch recently, regarding wounds/scars

and this

I have a Beech I chopped a few weeks ago, its begun callusing aggressively around the chop. I have put cut paste around the edge of cambium. But not the heartwood, because I may do this.

Not saying you should create a hollow, but to begin with, tidy it up, you can put Grey paste around edges of the cut after concaving it, with a carving tool maybe. Something like the roto ball does this perfectly, looks more natural than a flat saw cut

 

[BobbyLane]

The current lean looks good and the low branches are adding power to that base!

 

[BobbyLane]

Going back to your question about removing low branches, yes its one direction you could go. This is a good Beech broom.

Going to leave it up to you now, feels like im yapping to myself here

 

[David wv]

Going back to your question about removing low branches, yes its one direction you could go. This is a good Beech broom.

Going to leave it up to you now, feels like im yapping to myself here

Na, I'm listening and appreciate any advice. I just haven't had time to reply to comments. Super busy at work, long days. I did snap a picture of the tree, hopefully a little better image of the tree as a hole. I will post it in a minute

 

[David wv]

This is what I consider the front, I think it is overall best and hiding the cut point. Hard to really tell anything because of the leaves.

 

[David wv]

View is slightly to the right of my front.

 

[David wv]

The back of the tree, you can see the low branches better. You can see that there are no branches for 10 or so inches between those low branches and where the upper branches are near the chop. So there isn't much sap flow on the backside of the tree between the low branches and the chop point. If I were to remove the low branches, could it cause the whole back side of the trunk to die and rot?

 

[David wv]

And in case someone was wondering, those are just fertilizer teabags halfway buried in the soil.