must collect now, need help!!!

[Coach]

Update: must collect now, need help!!!

Ok, these trees are dead come Tuesday. My cousin works for a landscape company in the Austin TX area and he and his crew are pulling old landscape and installing new this coming week. There are about 15 J Boxwoods and 10 or so dwarf Youpon Holly. They were all planted in 1993. They are trash if I don't take them. I actually only have time and space to collect 3 or so. It is 100 degrees everyday here. I know it's the worst time to collect and that the chance for survival is nominal. BUT I scouted the material today and I saw some sweet stuff. I tried to take pics of a few nice pieces (my photos don't do them much justice and I only had 30 mins to look, probably even better discoveries if I take my time out there). I tried to give an idea of scale in the pic of the Holly with all the deadwood. The Holly to the right of the the one with the interesting deadwood has a 5+ inch base. I plan to take both of those. Just about every boxwood on the property has a 2 plus inch trunk and gnarly nebari (see pic one for example). Sorry about the red flags impeding the view of the trees. These are free to me if I am willing to show up Tuesday and dig. Problem (other than the crazy heat)...I'm a total rookie and have never collected material for bonsai purposes. How wide do I dig? How deep? How quickly do I need to go from ground to pot? Soil? Should I use root stimulator? After pull care? Shade, water schedule? More? Wasted cause???? Remember these are trash if I don't try. Thank you VERY much for any advice you have.

 

[Rose Mary]

Boxwood are pretty hardy, certainly worth a try. They take root chops pretty well without blinking. Any chance you could water well ahead of time to soften soil? Take garbage bags with some wetted soil mix to put them to keep roots from drying out. Be ready at home with pond baskets or pots and your mix to plant them in. Keep in shade and mist foliage daily for a week or two. Good luck!

 

[toadmyster223]

I work with a landscaper... there are boxwood growing out of our dump that were completely buried at one point. Boxwood and burning bush must be the hardiest shrubs I know of

 

[Coach]

Rose Mary- unfortunately I can't water first...location is 45 mins away one way...but, soil is actually fairly soft (I was able to move the trees pretty easily back and forth when jostling the trunk. These are in beds at a condominium complex with an irrigation system. Hopefully they will be watered by chance the morning I collect Thank you

 

[Rose Mary]

That box actually looks like it will be easy to dig, if the others wiggle it likely will be a piece of cake. Try to collect early am so YOU don't get too hot. Lol

 

[Coach]

Good advice RM...how wide and deep would you dig around that boxwood?

 

[Poink88]

I've dug several of both and here is what I usually do.

Boxwood, cut hard as possible but leave leaves on ends of branches. I keep the rootball in their original soil.

Yaupon Holly, chop really hard back, apply cut-paste, almost totally defoliate, wash off all old soil and treat entire tree & soil with anti-fungal.

Good luck!

 

[Coach]

Thank you Poink...it means a lot to get advice from someone who is as active in Bonsai as you are and lives in the same area

 

[Poink88]

I can't recall collecting around this time so not sure if it will work. I do think it is fine since trees are basically dormant now due to the heat. As we cool down to low 90's they should "wake up" and start growing. It could be a good time to collect actually (almost like spring).

Do let us know how they do.

 

[Alain]

I collected a boxwood in my yard few times ago.
I used a pitchfork and dig in circle around it then just lifted the piece of ground and brought it like that to my working area.
You, you would have to put it in a bag as said, may be wrap the piece of soil in a wet towel before bagging it.
Then I removed the soil, cleaned up the roots with a water spray, did a drastic root pruning because I had to do a drastic branches/leaves removal and potted it directly in a bonsai pot.
This was my 1st collection/bonsai attempt and I had to re-pot it 6 times
And the pretty little bugger is growing leaves since...
They are indeed rather strong fellows

 

[Wee]

I dug 4 large Yaupons around the end of Sept last year....All but one pulled thru. I did have to protect the new growth from freezing temps all winter long. See the link below for the thread I made from that dig....I'll add some resent pics from this week.

First post when I collected them....
http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?12721-Yaupon-Holly

Here is a 7 month update....
http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?14680-Large-Yaupon-Holly-(7-months-collected-)

I didn't chop them back as far as I wished I had and I left most of the soil intact....? I just ran out of time trying to get them all done in one day.....It was almost a 2 hour drive one way for me.

One thing I did that worked real well was take some old shirts and stuck the rootball down inside and wet them good....Then into a plastic bag.

I would collect the healthiest ones with nice trunks first and watch for the under ground irrigation lines.

Good luck with the dig...
Brian

 

[Coach]

Wow Brian, thank you...it's like you already went through EXACTLY the process I'm about to, and it's documented so well. I learned a ton through your post and everyone's advice to you along the way. Awesome stuff!

 

[Coach]

update:

Well didn't go as planned. I got a call from my cousin the landscaper and he said he wasn't completely overhauling the beds after all. He said he would be happy to pull the one large ya upon I liked and that I could come by and pick it up (not a bad deal). The plant was pulled at 10am yesterday! Unfortunately his schedule and mine got crazy and he had to take it with him in the bed of his truck Overnight and All of today!!! He said he kept the root ball moist the past 30+ hours...yikes. I just chopped and potted it tonight. I might have potted future deadwood I know but I really like the trunk and it was dead if I didn't take it anyway. I have pics of before and after. I tried to chop very aggressively. The pot is deep but it's half full of pebbles to help drainage (bad idea?) I wanted to bring the roots up without inspiring them to grow straight down??? Idk...remember I'm a rookie. I had planned on a shallow(er) pot but I couldn't make myself cut any more roots. If you would be so kind, please check out the pics, tell me what I did wrong and or what you think, and more importantly what I can do to try to save this tree. Sorry the pics are grainy, took them all tonight. Yall are awesome...Thank you

 

[Wee]

Did you seal the cuts....? I just used water proof wood glue and that seemed to work pretty well....I'm sure cut paste would be better.

The time it spent out of the ground may hurt it I'm not sure, the amount of root work and foliage taken off looks good.

Give it a month or so and see if it pops new growth.....Depending on your winters the new foliage may need protecting from freezing temps if it doesn't harden off.

Brian

 

[Coach]

Thank you Brian...I will seal tonight and let you know in a few weeks or so if we make it

 

[Txhorticulture]

I bet it does fine

I bet it comes back fine. As for sealing cuts, the bonsai experts here do it as a matter of course. However, i know it is somewhat controversial among arborist. The argument is, by sealing a wound, you are sealing in pathogens and giving them a protected environment to grow. I think the trend among them is not to paint or seal wounds, but to let nature take its course. Trees after all have been breaking apart for millions of years and should be adapted to it.

Anyway thats a nice looking plant. I'm sure it will be great bonsai