Woke up this morning to my cork bark chinese elm knocked off its bench and fully barerooted somehow. Its only a couple year old seedling so not the biggest concern, but I would still like it to live. A few other younger tridents were knocked down but atleast they only lost partial soil. The Chinese Elm was just starting to show some fall colors (maybe like 10% of the leaves are yellowing at this point). So my question is, what do I do with it now. I know they arent super hardy to begin with, but I mostly let them experience some minor freezes to get them to go dormant for winter. Will it lose its hardiness? Should I just bring it inside and keep it warm all winter? Or maybe just move it now to its winter location where it stays around 30-40 degrees most of the time? If I do bring it inside, will it just wake up from dormancy now instead of in Spring?
Halfway dormant Chinese Elm barerooted by animals
- Thread starter keithl
- Start date
Gabler
Masterpiece
Bump. I don't keep Chinese elms, myself, but I'm curious how this question will be answered.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
Leave it outside. Put it in a deepish container, backfill with bonsai soil, or simply plant it in the ground (and put up a barrier to prevent the rabbits/squirrels/rodents from eating it. Water it well. Continue with your overwintering plans. It will only lose hardiness if you bring it inside and it starts to push new growth.
Wulfskaar
Omono
I had to do an emergency repot on a 1.5 year old chinese elm in late summer/early fall and it didn't miss a beat. I think they are quite hardy.
Thanks for the advice. One follow up question. Should I avoid letting it get below freezing now that its really just a full repot with no root trimming?
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
Freezing above 25 F or so isn't really a problem. Prolonged freezing below that can be if the roots aren't protected in a cold stage situation, like an unheated garage or mulched into a garden bed.
I did same today with a little juniper that a squirrel knocked off its bench, broke the pot and dumped half the soil. I dumped it into a larger pot and buried the root ball with extra soil, buried the pot with the rest of the trees going into the mulch bed. Hopeful the recent cold minimized any stress on it.
B
B
Shibui
Imperial Masterpiece
Just having soil knocked out of the pot for a few hours is no problem. Few roots are likely to be broken so there's no real recovery or trauma. Just refill the pot with soil and treat it as you would normally.
As others have mentioned, Chinese elm is quite tough. In warmer areas they are root pruned any time of year and thrive.
As others have mentioned, Chinese elm is quite tough. In warmer areas they are root pruned any time of year and thrive.
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