My hard chopped elm showing buds!

[Pigskin Pete]

I chopped this one from about 7 ft on June 5 after buying it from a big box store.

Saw one bud two days ago and now I see several emerging.


This is only my 3rd chop (a bc, a loblolly pine, and this elm) but each time the tree has responded similarly. I can see it begin to heal or respond to its wound. Nothing else really happens. Then 10-14 days post-chop, buds start popping.

Is this a typical timeline for most trees or just coincidence? Seems like the tree needs time to "realize" or respond (chemically? hormonally?) that it's top got lopped off. I wonder if it varies by genus or is fairly uniform since I've noticed the same pattern over three different types of tree.

I guess it goes without saying that the response would be different for trees that don't respond to hard chops with back budding of any sort...

 

[leatherback]

I find it varies.

ENjoy the view while you like it. In 3 more weeks you are back asking what to do about all these sprouts emerging from the trunk!

For next time, you could probably have cut quite a bit lower and also have a good result. (I know because I am looking at an elm I choppered [way] too high 2 years ago and I am not in the dilemma whether or not to fix my stupidity)

 

[rockm]

I chopped this one from about 7 ft on June 5 after buying it from a big box store.

Saw one bud two days ago and now I see several emerging.
View attachment 552718View attachment 552719

This is only my 3rd chop (a bc, a loblolly pine, and this elm) but each time the tree has responded similarly. I can see it begin to heal or respond to its wound. Nothing else really happens. Then 10-14 days post-chop, buds start popping.

Is this a typical timeline for most trees or just coincidence? Seems like the tree needs time to "realize" or respond (chemically? hormonally?) that it's top got lopped off. I wonder if it varies by genus or is fairly uniform since I've noticed the same pattern over three different types of tree.

I guess it goes without saying that the response would be different for trees that don't respond to hard chops with back budding of any sort...

Trees aren't animals. They don't respond as animals do to wounds. The tree has been busy compartmentalizing the wound and the resting buds depend on a build up of hormones that used to go up the tree. It's not an instantaneous response. The tree doesn't "know" anything. Roughly, as I understand it, The new growth is a response that is a result of the usual hormone and nutrient circulation not being what it was. TImelines vary. Elms are typically quick (particularly this time of year the height of the growing season), some species are slower.

 

[Pigskin Pete]

For next time, you could probably have cut quite a bit lower and also have a good result. (I know because I am looking at an elm I choppered [way] too high 2 years ago and I am not in the dilemma whether or not to fix my stupidity)

I was scurred......

 

[Pigskin Pete]

I like threads with some follow up so here we go. We have lift off!
The thought bow it let it run til late fall then clip it back. Next spring I'm going to focus on getting it into a pot about half this size.

 

[Tieball]

Keep the tree watered. Most likely…..you will have a bush of a tree by the end of July.

 

[Pigskin Pete]

ENjoy the view while you like it. In 3 more weeks you are back asking what to do about all these sprouts emerging from the trunk!

You weren't kidding, just a week short!