Carving this large Elm root

[Mike254]

Hi,

I have an Chinese Elm that I've been working on with a very large unsightly root that has been cut off years ago by the previous owner. It is slowly healing over, but I don't think it will look good even when it does heal over.

Just looking for some advice on how to go about carving this back and how far back I should take it.

Thanks!

 

[dbonsaiw]

If you were so inclined, my guess would be that you can cut it back to the trunk. ?????

 

[TomB]

I’d consider ground layering above the root, to grow a whole new nebari. That will give the best outcome in the long term.

 

[Shibui]

No problem cutting the root back to the trunk. Plant the whole thing deeper so there is soil covering the whole wound. Roots will almost certainly grow from the cut and you can choose a couple of the best placed to replace this one. Pretty sure this was not covered properly when it was chopped last time or there would be masses of roots growing from that cut end.
You could try chopping the root again but bury it deeper this time to try for more roots. That will probably require a tilt to the whole trunk to get the new roots at the end of this root under the soil. You haven't given us a shot of the whole tree so I don't know if tilting is practical or possible.
Another option is to cut the thick root on an angle so it does not have the abrupt stop. Cut an angle so it tapers down to the new root. You'll still have an even larger scar for a few years but the abrupt change will not be so visually evident.

 

[Mike254]

No problem cutting the root back to the trunk. Plant the whole thing deeper so there is soil covering the whole wound. Roots will almost certainly grow from the cut and you can choose a couple of the best placed to replace this one. Pretty sure this was not covered properly when it was chopped last time or there would be masses of roots growing from that cut end.
You could try chopping the root again but bury it deeper this time to try for more roots. That will probably require a tilt to the whole trunk to get the new roots at the end of this root under the soil. You haven't given us a shot of the whole tree so I don't know if tilting is practical or possible.
Another option is to cut the thick root on an angle so it does not have the abrupt stop. Cut an angle so it tapers down to the new root. You'll still have an even larger scar for a few years but the abrupt change will not be so visually evident.

Thank you guys for the replies.

Here are some pictures of the whole tree. It is a little messy and needs pruning. The first picture is going to be the new front.

I understand the point about ground layering it, but that is probably more drastic than I would like to go with this tree right now even if it is ultimately the best decision for the long term. For now, I'd like to enjoy it without doing that.

I may end up cutting that root off completely, but I think I am leaning on carving it back to a gradual taper, and maybe even splitting it? I am slightly worried about the scar it will leave though and if it will ever blend in.

 

[RODERLO]

This is a wild idea.

What if you were to cut a wedge out of the underside of the rootstump, and bend it downwards. Re-expose the cambium at the end of the stump, because after bending it will be down under the soil again, ready to form new roots.

It’s basically a wedge cut trunk bend, but on a root.

Worst that could happen: the stump dies back and you have to cut it back to the trunk.
Best thing that could happen: you gain a nice new part of the nebari with functional new roots emerging from its tip.

An inbetween step could be to let the tip of the stump already form new roots prior to this procedure by packing it in spaghnum.
Then you can ensure there is enough sap drawing through the stump to heal the wedge cut.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

You could always do a ground layer and produce a whole new radial root system. I did that to a slippery elm that had an ugly surface root and now the tree has a great radial spread. Took about 8 weeks to develop the new roots.

 

[Shibui]

Picture of the tree shows it can probably cope with a slight tilt to bury the root a bit. The entire nebari can be buried a little deeper and those 2 measures should get the root down enough to cover the root.
I was going to negate the splitting suggestion as I could only see 1 root from the end of that thick root but new photo also possibly shows 2 roots from the end of the root in question which would make it more viable to split. Combination of angle cut and split is also possible.
Scars will take quite a few years to fully heal but should become less obvious much sooner.

 

[AshleyMammal]

My opinion would be to ground layer it for some nice radial roots and it really wouldn’t take all that long (in bonsai terms).

Where you carve up to is entirely up to you in terms of what you want the end result to be, I think you’re thinking subtle and Harry Harrington gives a couple of examples in Bonsai Inspirations 2:

^this is a JM he’s split


^this is a yew he’s carved based on real-tree inspiration: