Giga
Masterpiece
Alternating leaves, and the bark looks a match, I'd say american elm!
Is this American elm?
- Thread starter GGB
- Start date
GGB
Masterpiece
Thanks so much guys! After all your posts I don't even know that I care to colect a seedling anymore. I kind of want to get a hold of a decent trunk and try my first broom style with one of these. Save myself a couple years
Melospiza
Shohin
If both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves are rough and sandpapery, it is a slippery elm, which is also a great native tree!
CasAH
Chumono
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
GGB
Masterpiece
Thanks again, I'll check both sides of the leaf tonight and snag a chip of bark
Lazylightningny
Masterpiece
I had one little sprout come up in my grow bed a couple of years ago, and it already has nearly 1" trunk. I have no idea where it came from. The roots are so prolific they'll grow up your nose if you stay in one spot too long.
Giga
Masterpiece
True but I have a few american elm and this matches from the pictures provided, alternating leaves, bark match, reddish tip. I use to live in PA and familiar with native species as most my tree's are native. I always love a second opinion as well as were not always right. Once he gets the leaves and bark we can be 100%
Zach Smith
Omono
Yeah, it's definitely American elm. You can watch for those ground-level shoots or any fast-growing branch and you'll see often quite-large leaves, up to 5" in length, with that classic extended tip and the asymmetric sides. I think American elm has the largest leaf of any native elm ... but they reduce to under 1/2" with diligent pinching. I call it the champ for leaf-size reduction. Wonderful for bonsai.
Giga
Masterpiece
And they grow like a mad man! If I control growth to one leader it can easly push 18 ft in one year
Lazylightningny
Masterpiece
I pruned the roots on mine very aggressively this spring. It had a lot of large roots that I wanted to cut back to start building a nicely ramified root ball, but it left few feeder roots. Frankly, I wasn't sure if it would even survive. Not only did it survive, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the leaves reduced very nicely, to 3/4" or so. This was not my intent, because at this stage I want big power leaves, but it showed me that leaf reduction is possible. Leaf size this year was a sacrifice to get the roots going. So, the first priority is a good root system, while allowing undisturbed growth.
GGB
Masterpiece
So maybe a seedling is an okay place to start? I'll be walking past the mother tree again today. I thought the ground was littered with seedling but they're actually all suckers
Giga
Masterpiece
GGB
Masterpiece
I did the bark test today and it was red the whole way through, @CasAH said that was an identifier for slippery, and both sides of the leaves are fuzzy.
All the "seedlings" were in fact suckers. But I found a little guy growing up between the side walk. Regardless of the species I'm happy to jump into the genus. Slippery elm is still a PA native, I did notice there was a whole row of purposefully planted elm trees. It seems weird to me that a land scaper would choose slippery elm over american.
All the "seedlings" were in fact suckers. But I found a little guy growing up between the side walk. Regardless of the species I'm happy to jump into the genus. Slippery elm is still a PA native, I did notice there was a whole row of purposefully planted elm trees. It seems weird to me that a land scaper would choose slippery elm over american.
Giga
Masterpiece
It's American Elm due to the shiner leaves and more pointed teeth
