Cutback time for collected Elm

[Srt8madness]

Dug this out of some local woods in Spring. Nothing special but was just looking for some starter level elms to work on.

I guess I kept a good bit of roots, you can see how they have started exiting the drain holes. I feel like this tree has enough strength to handle some summer pruning.

Wondering what direction to go. Wait until spring and trunk chop low for taper and movement? Remove everything on the right and use the straight section for taper? Just cut back some of the tree and let it grow till Spring? It had an awful ugly/funky change of direction.

 

[RaginCajun]

I would let it grow unchecked until fall, at least. I dont prune a freshly collected tree of any species the first summer. I just let them grow the first yr out of the ground

 

[Shibui]

I also wait a year for most collected trees but if they are growing well enough to have roots out the bottom of the pot that's well enough established for me and I'm happy to start pruning. Not sure that I would do a whole trunk chop at this stage though.

Wait until spring and trunk chop low for taper and movement?

From what I can see this is probably the best option. I don't see many options in the rest of the trunk.

Remove everything on the right and use the straight section for taper?

Straight up does have taper but nothing else going for it.

Just cut back some of the tree and let it grow till Spring?

Is there any point cutting for the sake of cutting? All growth will feed the trunk and new roots. I'd just leave it until sprung trunk chop.

I guess I kept a good bit of roots

IMHO this is often a mistake. At some stage you are going to have to go back and shorten those long roots. By that stage the tree will have more branches to feed. I find the best time to cut roots hard is when it is first dug. That's when you are usually chopping a lot off the top too.

 

[rockm]

What Shibui said. There's no reason to cut anything and every reason to let it alone to gain strength and more heft. That will lead to better design options in the future. As it is now, not much to work with.

 

[Srt8madness]

Let 'er rip it is! Will build it from the ground up. May not look like much now, but its a few years old and thrives in my climate. Thanks all, will revist in spring.

Shibui, great point about the roots, will see what they look like come Spring.

 

[Tieball]

I agree with the replies.

If my tree. The timeline I would likely follow….healthy wild growth. The tree doesn’t have a lot of interest right now in my view. I would let the tree fully grow out. Keep it well watered. Grow out for at least two to three full seasons. The tree may be 10’ to 12’ tall by then. Then, probably in 2026 or 2027, I’d see what’s grown, thickened and what the trunk base looks like. Then if I was satisfied with the trunk, a much thicker trunk than right now, I would treat it as if collecting and prune off about 70-80% of the roots, prune off any branches, chop the top down to a preferred point, and start building new controlled branches.