Collected Elm

[Don Blackmond]

Yes, but I'd make the apex chop flat for now. Not a whole lot of risk of dieback with elms, but better to be safe than sorry, and greater guarantee for growth where you want it.

 

[small trees]

True. I planned on cutting it flat at first, but I kept messing with it in paint to try to induce movement and taper. I'll keep playing around with the bigger trunk to see if there is anything there, but I do like this shorter image a lot more than I thought I would before I started working on the virt.


Oh, one more concern. Obviously with the tree just being collected the roots aren't where they need to be, but if I do end up going with that virt, I'll need to ground layer the tree I assume. This is where the roots currently are:

I suppose it could be left as is and the transition to the smaller trunk could be made more slowly, but that would leave a huge scar on the tree and make it hard to get any branching on that side.



edit with virt:

 

[small trees]

2 weeks later, budding everywhere..

 

[M. Frary]

Aren't elms wonderful?

 

[mcpesq817]

A friend told me that American Elms are not symmetrical at the base of the leaf. Take a look here:

http://www.carolinanature.com/trees/ulam.html

 

[Poink88]

IF you want it to heal over, this is the way to go.

Personally, I avoid major trunk chops like this now...you reduce your options tremendously if you plan on carving later. I leave a bit of a snag now and re-chop later if needed.

 

[small trees]

A friend told me that American Elms are not symmetrical at the base of the leaf. Take a look here:

http://www.carolinanature.com/trees/ulam.html

I have concluded that it's a Chinese elm based on the lack of springtime flowering and the proximity of a mature Chinese Elm.

IF you want it to heal over, this is the way to go.

Personally, I avoid major trunk chops like this now...you reduce your options tremendously if you plan on carving later. I leave a bit of a snag now and re-chop later if needed.

I thought I would let it grow unchecked this year and then make a chop next year. Bad idea?

 

[Poink88]

I thought I would let it grow unchecked this year and then make a chop next year. Bad idea?

Let it be this year...NOT telling you to do it now.

I am just saying that IF you chop, how matters depending on your goal.

 

[GrimLore]

A friend told me that American Elms are not symmetrical at the base of the leaf.

The quickest way to ID an American Elm is when it starts pushing "RED" buds.

Grimmy

 

[small trees]

I carved out the tree today according to my favorite virt. I learned two things.


1) This tree has incredibly hard wood.

2) I need a die grinder.


I left a half inch or so on the new top that will come off in the future. The big cut is a little rough but I'll clean it up another time when I'm not tired out. I need to change the angle of the cut to make it curve in the opposite direction but I had an alumni baseball game earlier today and I'm about to pass out.

I put a tourniquet on the tree and buried it a little deeper in order to hopefully be able to layer it sometime soon.