Hornbeam Sunday

[WNC Bonsai]

With spring rapidly approachnig I headed out this morning for another little collecting trip in my neighbor’s back 40. With a small stream running through it I knew there was a good chance for hornbeams and my search was rewarded with a small stand ready for the picking. The reciprocating saw made quick work of the roots but getting the top cut was a bit more difficult—now I remember why we called it ironwood when I was a kid. I came out with 2 nice specimens, both about 24”, nice taper, movement, and some nice muscle development.

The bigger one is 6” across at the soil level and 3” half way up. What really attracted me though was the deadwood at the base on what will be the front. I am not all that happy with the large branch on it but I was reluctant to lop it off . Should I go ahead and do that now or wait for it to establish and cut it next year? I had to put it in a 12” plastic training pot since my colander was too small for the roots and I didn’t have time or materials handy to make a box. Actually this plastic pot holds about the same amount of soil as the colander, due to its sloped bottom. Should I leave it in the pot or move it to a box?

The midsized one is 2 1/2” across at the soil level and 1 1/2” at top. That’s only about 1” taper over the 24” trunk, but the muscle evelopment is beautiful. I also potted up a couple small root sprouts that broke off the larger tree as I was digging it up. We’ll see if they survive. I dusted the roots with hormone and potted them up in a mix of 1/3 pumice, 1/3 permatil, and 1/3 pine bark. Only time will tell if they survive. My thanks to Zach Smith for the inspiration amd instructions.

 

[Zach Smith]

You might want to consider chopping them lower, especially the smaller one.

 

[BobbyLane]

the one with barely any root might benefit from some chopped spag moss in the mix and watered in with sea weed n rhizo. ive seen them struggle to recover or recover very slowly with more root than that.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

You might want to consider chopping them lower, especially the smaller one.

Should I go ahead and do it now or wait until they are recovered?

 

[Zach Smith]

Should I go ahead and do it now or wait until they are recovered?

It needs to be now. If you wait till there's root growth, re-chopping will most likely break the new roots off and kill the trees. If not now, it'll have to wait till next year.

 

[M. Frary]

—now I remember why we called it ironwood

I've seen sparks while cutting dead ones with a chainsaw.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

OK, got out the Dremel Saw Max and lopped the mid-sized one down to about 16”. Now it doesn’t look so much like a fence post. Any other suggestions out there?

 

[WNC Bonsai]

the one with barely any root might benefit from some chopped spag moss in the mix and watered in with sea weed n rhizo. ive seen them struggle to recover or recover very slowly with more root than that.

I have the Rhizotonic to dose it with and used a liberal coating of rooting hormone. There are numerous bud primordia scattered all over the trunk so it will be a race to see if roots can pop out fast enough to keep up once the buds start swelling and popping.

 

[Zach Smith]

OK, got out the Dremel Saw Max and lopped the mid-sized one down to about 16”. Now it doesn’t look so much like a fence post. Any other suggestions out there?

Yes, the bestest one of all. Except for watering and tossing on some fertilizer in a week or so, don't slobber over it. Move on to something else. Newcomers to collecting want to love on their new babies too much. The trees grow fine without all that much attention in the first year or two. If you decide to "work" on them too soon, the outcome may not be what you had in mind. (The only qualifier is, I like to wire the tender young shoots so they don't grow upwards and cause me trouble later. This is not that easy for someone just starting out; it takes practice.)