bray
Sapling
A tree that I wanted to get some input on and also to share my acquisition. I was visiting family and friends in Texas last spring (2024). A friend had this elm at their backyard fence that had been chopped, cut, and wacked on for years trying to kill it but it wouldn't die. The main truck was split down to just below where I cut the trunk off. I dug it up and cut it down to fit in a box to mail it to myself. The picture below shows a circle of where I cut it down to fit in the box. Should have put something in the pic for scale but main trunk is 2" wide, height of the tree that went into the box was 10". Trunk height was probably another 10" before I cut it down. Probably not how I would have trimmed the tree had I not needed to get it in a box for shipping but it is what it is. Everything outside of the circle grew in the 2024 growing season. Not too bad of growth considering I dug it up after the tree had leafed out but it was early in the growing season. Not only that the box was in shipment for a week. There were a few more shoots on the tree, but I cut off those going down, those going up and a few others that I knew would not be used. My plan for this year is to smooth out the transitions where the trunk cuts are to begin their healing and probably wire the first few inches of the branches to get some wiggle in them other than that let it grow grow grow for strong root growth.
Now to the question. When I was growing bonsai previously in my life and I would do trunk chop of this diameter, I was never really happy with the flat spot that was left. Flat is flat and trees are not flat. In the picture below is there a reason I cannot cut at the blue line and nibble the edge of the cut (the red line) to slope the edge in and round everything off a little. I hope that makes sense. Will this prevent healing? It seems like I tried it before, years ago, but I am not sure. Anybody have any examples (pics) of your efforts you could share. Note: lines are not exactly where I would cut just examples cause I see now they are not lined up to the trunks next section correctly but you get the idea.
Not great material but it was given to me for the cost of shipping and with some proper growing I think it could be a nice tree.
Thanks for your time and any input you could give.
Now to the question. When I was growing bonsai previously in my life and I would do trunk chop of this diameter, I was never really happy with the flat spot that was left. Flat is flat and trees are not flat. In the picture below is there a reason I cannot cut at the blue line and nibble the edge of the cut (the red line) to slope the edge in and round everything off a little. I hope that makes sense. Will this prevent healing? It seems like I tried it before, years ago, but I am not sure. Anybody have any examples (pics) of your efforts you could share. Note: lines are not exactly where I would cut just examples cause I see now they are not lined up to the trunks next section correctly but you get the idea.
Not great material but it was given to me for the cost of shipping and with some proper growing I think it could be a nice tree.
Thanks for your time and any input you could give.
