Hawthorn raft project

[defra]

So this thread is for my hawthorn raft project.
I have used the search thing but ive never made a thread for this one.

This tree is sort of special to me because 8 years ago when i got infected with the bonsai virus and this was one of the first trees i collectes to start with...
I collected it as a long telephone pole from a trench next to a car park.
back then everything with a trunk branches and leaves was a potentional bonsai but it was Just a stick with no taper etc.
Someone gave me the advice of planting it in the ground and grow it out, i have followed the advice and planted it on its side to create a raft style.

Now 8 years in it grown well ive dug it up couple of times during the years and got rid of the original roots and it now is suported by its new roots that come from the "fallen" trunk.
Next year its going into a wooden box that Will help me with sellecting trunks and wireing etc because its hard when the tree is in the ground.

This is a couple years ago



This was yesterday


I will have to search for more older photos ill add then when i found them.

 

[defra]

Some more photos they are from old to new.

 

[defra]

This is about two years ago.

 

[defra]

So it was time for this one to get dug up because i need that space for benches ...
but also after it been in the ground since 2016 and the buds are really started to move and as i want to reorganize my garden it was time to put this in a box for a couple years and then see from there what growth i will get and what i will make of this in the future !
the roots coming from the layed down trunk are still sparse and funny as it is because my dog dug a hole in the soil next to it it covered the trunk some more with mud and i saw new roots forming there because of the tile below the soil above probably dried up to much in summer and all the roots grew straight down from where the tile ended, i cut the roots around the tile with a shovel and damaged the roots in the process i pruned them back pretty hard.
to balance the loss of the roots i also pruned back hard the tall long trunks and branches and lets see how it will respond
just pruned for profile removing inward growing branches and shortened the trunks according to their thickness and now it must recover from this work i have done.

following is some pictures to document the progress from here

the roots from two sides

without pruning much off yet this is couple years worth of growth and yearly cutbacks.

 

[defra]

i potted it up in a wooden box made of an old fruit basket i modified it a little bit but its a good fit and if it holds for two years it will do the job of getting it established in a pot
the result:

 

[Cadillactaste]

I love you found a way to make sweet lemonade/raft from such an early piece.

 

[defra]

I love you found a way to make sweet lemonade/raft from such an early piece.

Thnx, yes awesome to see where i started from now looking forward to development