European Hornbeam

BobbyLane

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Hi folks, i thought i'd start this progression on this Hornbeam purchased from fairly cheap garden centre stock,
got quite a few Hornbeam now and will move some on soon and keep the ones with better potential. imo this one has a lot of potential as a tall, elegant Hornbeam.

But this is just the beginning....i see taper, natural but subtle movement in the trunk, a fantastic nebari and fibrous root mass...there are dormant buds waiting to pop on the right side

20170317_165854 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

the root mass was pretty compacted and took a while to tease everything out
20170318_160838 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20170318_164323 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

I was left with a flat and fibrous root system,
20170318_174033 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20170318_171450 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

good radial spread, hornbeam do this often when established in pots, this one had been sitting in the garden centre tub since 2014
20170318_172927 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20170318_174026 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

IMG_4045 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

chopped down from a much larger tree, this will be the leader, ive left everything on it for quicker transitioning and callusing, it will be eventually be cut back to a shoot lower for taper
IMG_4046 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

natural movement
IMG_4050 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Tight nodes
IMG_4051 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

well positioned dormant nodes, the tree should pop like crazy anyway, this side will be faced towards the light while the stronger side will be slightly shaded for a bit,
IMG_4052 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

IMG_4057 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4060 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4062 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr


IMG_4054 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

2017-03-19_03-39-37 by Bobby Lane, on Flick

will update as i go along
 

Cattwooduk

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Nice! I guess I should have another look in my hornbeam hedge at work and see if there is anything else I can play with, this has inspired me with a wider idea of collection material and what can be made with it.
 

Tieball

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Nice work. How tall is this tree to the top of the chop? And....trunk diameter just above soil level?
Really nice root pad you have happening. It's refreshing, especially at this time of the year, to see a well done root pruning job.
That Nabari is looking.....Mighty fine!
 

BobbyLane

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Hi folks, yeh been looking for an informal, tallish, elegant Hornbeam for a while, so really looking forward to developing this. the superb nebari is a bonus, its good to start with a great base and Hornbeam naturally produce fluted, sometimes muscular trunks that extend into radial roots, if i was collecting Hornbeam this is the type of thing i'd be looking for. its approx 15in to the chop and base is approx 2.4in above soil level....

This is another one ive started working, i want to train it as twin trunk like a tree ive seen
20170321_115507 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

it didnt have much going on for it apart from a perfectly formed radial spread, this can happen when they've been kept in the plastic pots a while, kind of layer themselves sometimes

I used branch splitters to carefully split the trunk, the two leaders will be trained up as trunks,
IMG_4091 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

use foil to protect live edges while burning away fluff, i didnt feather the edges because i want them to roll right in and become more convincing as two trunks
20170321_163939 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4092 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

what to look for
IMG_4093 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4094 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

back end
IMG_4107 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

will likely reduce the right trunk to get some variation in the tree
33445458491_02e0ffd7fe_z.jpg6 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

This one will have its roots teased out and placed on a tile and ground grown for quicker development. there is still the option of chopping low and creating a powerful trunk with more taper and movement. there is lots of nodes at base and even around the nebari

3 nodes here
2017-03-21_08-54-33 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-03-21_08-54-56 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-03-21_08-55-29 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
 
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sorce

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Bloody nice roots!

@Victorim this is how you may be able to proceed with your HB.
Split.

Sorce
 

ConorDash

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Hi folks, yeh been looking for an informal, tallish, elegant Hornbeam for a while, so really looking forward to developing this. the superb nebari is a bonus, its good to start with a great base and Hornbeam naturally produce fluted, sometimes muscular trunks that extend into radial roots, if i was collecting Hornbeam this is the type of thing i'd be looking for. its approx 15in to the chop and base is approx 2.4in above soil level....

This is another one ive started working, i want to train it as twin trunk like a tree ive seen
20170321_115507 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

it didnt have much going on for it apart from a perfectly formed radial spread, this can happen when they've been kept in the plastic pots a while, kind lof layer themselves sometimes

I used branch splitters to carefully split the trunk, the two leaders will be trained up as trunks,
IMG_4091 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

use foil to protect live edges while burning away fluff, i didnt feather the edges because i want them to roll right in and become more convincing as two trunks
20170321_163939 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4092 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

what to look for
IMG_4093 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_4094 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

back end
IMG_4107 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

will likely reduce the right trunk to get some variation in the tree
33445458491_02e0ffd7fe_z.jpg6 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

This one will have its roots teased out and placed on a tile and ground grown for quicker development. there is still the option of chopping low and creating a powerful trunk with more taper and movement. there is lots of nodes at base and even around the nebari

3 nodes here
2017-03-21_08-54-33 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-03-21_08-54-56 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-03-21_08-55-29 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Oh wow yeh those radial roots are awesome.. I can imagine how amazing they could look in a number of years. Sounds like sticking on board and ground growing will certainly do that! Very interested in how this goes :).

The beech I got from you, is it's root ball likely to be similar to this in how compacted it is? It's in a rather tall big tub and bottom drain holes I can see roots so... I'm gonna think yes lol. My temptation to repot before next spring is immense.. but I will wait :).

That first tree, set of pics, I love the trunk. You got it right when you said elegant.. even if it needed chopping, I'm not sure I could do it. I'd just have to make it work lol cos it does look great. That slight movement in it, really looks great.
 

BobbyLane

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Oh wow yeh those radial roots are awesome.. I can imagine how amazing they could look in a number of years. Sounds like sticking on board and ground growing will certainly do that! Very interested in how this goes :).

The beech I got from you, is it's root ball likely to be similar to this in how compacted it is? It's in a rather tall big tub and bottom drain holes I can see roots so... I'm gonna think yes lol. My temptation to repot before next spring is immense.. but I will wait :).

That first tree, set of pics, I love the trunk. You got it right when you said elegant.. even if it needed chopping, I'm not sure I could do it. I'd just have to make it work lol cos it does look great. That slight movement in it, really looks great.

Hi Conar, the roots on the Beech aren't special, but dont be disheartened, you have to be quite lucky to get this type of spread on Beech trees collected or pot grown. Its in a Hornbeams genes to produce fluted root bases like this unlike many other species. next time youre in the garden centre or anywhere for that matter, you know what to look for now;)

Here's a Beech i picked up at a hedging nursery that has a pretty good base under the soil. but i was lucky to see it and i had to cut the roots back pretty hard to get it into the pot, it may or may not pull through
2017-01-31_07-38-39 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

2017-03-19_09-18-53 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2017-03-22_10-55-49 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

has nice, natural, sinuous movement, elegant tree in the making, just hope it pulls through. ive had Beech die on me before after root work and ive heard other enthusiast have the same issue with Beech.
 

ConorDash

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Ok that's interesting. Beech seem to have great trunks, I like their look and texture. I hope it pulls through, it looks good.

Couldn't you have root pruned less, put in a larger pot to increase likihood of living?

And I wasn't saying my beechs roots were special, but your one here do look good to me. Or at least they are the start of something great.
My ones base is good, personally. I like it :).
 

BobbyLane

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Ok that's interesting. Beech seem to have great trunks, I like their look and texture. I hope it pulls through, it looks good.

Couldn't you have root pruned less, put in a larger pot to increase likihood of living?

And I wasn't saying my beechs roots were special, but your one here do look good to me. Or at least they are the start of something great.
My ones base is good, personally. I like it :).

I could of pruned less yes, saying that, its not been cut back as hard as others ive had, so we'll see. i dont really have a lot of space for too many big tubs though, i usually just stick surplus stuff in the ground to grow on.
 

ConorDash

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I could of pruned less yes, saying that, its not been cut back as hard as others ive had, so we'll see. i dont really have a lot of space for too many big tubs though, i usually just stick surplus stuff in the ground to grow on.

Yeah I remember :). Well I hope it pulls through man, it really looks great. Maybe I just found I have a secret fancy for beech trees... lol.
 

Giga

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The top post - it looks like a great start. My only constructive criticism is that the wire work needs a little attention. That screw is not needed, the gauge is too thick, and the coils are way to tight. Other then that all these tree's are going to be fantastic down the road. I look forward to there progress.
 

BobbyLane

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The screw is being used as an anchor point. i could of wrapped the wire around the top of the trunk but i didnt want to obstruct the area where new buds and callus will form. new buds around the chop could give further options.a lesser gauge wouldnt have been strong enough to bend that section of trunk. without the bend, the tree looks like its tilting over, so i wanted the apex to be in line with the sloping cut. at this point the wiring is just basic, but its done what i wanted it to do. the tighter coils were put there to get as much upward movement as possible without the force appearing un natural.
 

ConorDash

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Ozzy was English? Ha, i didnt know that.. Couldnt exactly tell from his... "accent"...

I would honestly love to see you do a 5 tree forest Sorce and assign each brit a tree, name the trees and we can check on their progress over time lol.
Sorry Bobby, went a bit off topic. Sorce's fault.
 

defra

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Very nice bobby gonna follow this one with interest got a hawthorn and beech tree too both repotted and chopped recently :)
 

Cattwooduk

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Ozzy was English? Ha, i didnt know that.. Couldnt exactly tell from his... "accent"...

I would honestly love to see you do a 5 tree forest Sorce and assign each brit a tree, name the trees and we can check on their progress over time lol.
Sorry Bobby, went a bit off topic. Sorce's fault.

You what Conor?! Ozzy is Brummy how could you not tell from his accent!! Go listen to some Sabotage right now sir!

I've got this one on the watch list as well, I'm going to try nab myself at least a couple more Hornbeams this week if I can and be a bit more daring with them as I went pretty cautious with the first 2.
 
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ConorDash

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You what Conor?! Ozzy is Brummy how could you not tell from his accent!! Go listen to some Sabotage right now sir!

I've got this one on the watch list as well, I'm going to try nab myself at least a couple more Hornbeams this week if I can and be a bit more daring with them as I went pretty cautious with the first 2.

It was before my time, didn't listen to any of his stuff. And when I said accent I meant cos he talks like he is high, lost his voice so his accent is nearly unrecognisable.
 
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