Plan to collect an American Elm

[Javaman4373]

I found an American Elm I think will be worth collecting on our farm. There is a very large elm on the edge of our property that I think has seeded smaller ones in the area and one looks good for collecting. It has about a 2 inch diameter trunk, nice roots, and one small branch about 10 inches from the ground. The trunk has some movement. My questions are (if the plan is to collect it next spring): 1. should some partial root cutting be done around it?; 2. should ithe trunk be chopped in June?; and 3. should it be given any fertilizer over this growing season. It is in partial shade with some large trees near by. I will get some photos for a subsequent post.

 

[Tieball]

Your plan to collect next spring should work well. That's when I usually dig American Elms…when the buds begin to swell and just begin to show green. You can remove a lot of roots when you dig it up. Routinely I remove at least 2/3 of the roots and I drastically cut back all the overly large thick roots. Typically I’m reducing a 9’ - 12’ tree down to 15” when I dig it up.

If you cut the trunk in June this year the tree should produce buds in several places around the trunk. A photo of the tree would be helpful. I’m not sure how low you’re cutting the trunk. If you’re planning to dig it up in spring 2024 the I’d suggest a chop that’s maybe 18” - 24” so you’ll get plenty of branching options already available when digging it up.

You can fertilize if desired, however, the tree is probably content with the natural earth providing what’s needed. Don’t over complicate.

 

[Tieball]

I’ve worked a lot with American Elms. If you bump into questions I’ll try to help where I can.

 

[Gabler]

Wait to collect and chop all at once. This is one of those cases where Band-Aid logic applies. If you chop it now, then the tree will have less energy in reserve next spring when you go to collect it.

 

[Javaman4373]

Here is what the tree looks like.

 

[Ininaatigoons]

Honestly you could still do all that this spring. It is still early enough. Also... If you want an absolutely powerful tree and could leave it where it's at. Dig a trench around it and leave the tap roots. Fill in with a little better looser soil and chop the top. Grow your next leader section for a couple years and then dig it. Put in large wooden grow box and your off to a good start.

 

[Tieball]

Thanks for the photo. It’s bigger than I imagined and it’s barking up nice. Seeing the size. I would just maintain it as is where it is right now. In the spring 2024 watch for bud swelling (not leaf opening) then at your collection time chop the trunk down. I would then prune the roots and take care of it from there. Don’t let the soil or the roots dry out after the root prune. It takes a few weeks before buds will form.

In my American Elm collecting i sometimes try to leave some branching buds that were developing on the tree. Other times I’ve just chopped the trunk, cut the roots and planted the tree. My recollection is that the bare trunk trees did better at sending out many new buds. Water well and be patient.

In the wild, like this tree, there are strong large roots. Shovel or use a reciprocating saw. The saw really does work best. Shovel or saw out a little then once the roots are rinsed out prune with more care. It’s best to be quite drastic in your root pruning, especially if there are any finer roots closer in to the trunk. I’ve cut large roots back to 2”-3”. It is best to do the drastic root pruning at collection time. Hopefully your tree has some finer roots close to the trunk. If the tree is in a place for easy access you can water it well through the summer this year.

 

[Ininaatigoons]

Of course Air Layering is another option.

 

[rockm]

DO NOT chop it and leave it in place. Plan to do that at collection next spring.

Here is what the tree looks like.View attachment 488682View attachment 488683

I'd wait until next spring to do anything with tree, including topping it. Do that ALL AT ONCE BEFORE BUD BREAK. In my experience dealing with elms, trying to collect post-leaves will kill the tree. Topping it and leaving it can also severely weaken it or even kill it. Trees in forests (and even in more open places) are competing with neighboring vegetation. Removing the top, pushes the tree behind that competition and allows them to speed up their growth and resource consumption at the expense of the chopped tree.

The advice of using a simple battery-powered reciprocating saw is excellent. Just saw the roots four or five inches out from the trunk next spring and angle down to get the tap root. Elms are so vigorous and strong you don't need to use the trench method. Digging them all at once, topping them about a foot above where you imagine the final height of your bonsai bare-rooting them of field soil then putting in decent regular bonsai soil produces excellent results.

I have collected elms out of season in late spring after bud break. All have died. I've also collected elms during early spring in the manner I've described and had 99 percent survival rate. Also I've watched Zach Smith of Bonsai South use this method as well when I accompanied him on a collecting trip in Texas a few years ago. He swears by it and he's been collecting elms, oaks, and other eastern U.S. species for going on 40 years or so.

 

[Ininaatigoons]

I will never argue against the more cautious approach and patience is a virtue especially in bonsai.

 

[rockm]

I will never argue against the more cautious approach and patience is a virtue especially in bonsai.

The implication is that digging a tree all at once is not cautious and somehow impatient. Quite the opposite, in my experience collecting them. Moving slowly with by-the-book approaches like trenching and gradual removal of field soil, or topping the tree and leaving it can lead to some bad places for elms (or a number of other species, including hornbeam for example). Understanding that elms bounce back very strongly if collected at the right time is not really impatient. It's knowing what the tree is capable of and using it.

 

[Shibui]

We have English elm down here but sounds like they respond very similar.
My preferred method is dig and chop as mentioned above. Additional benefit is you can use the long trunk as a lever to help get to some of the difficult roots under the trunk then chop short when it's out.
English elm suckers profusely from the roots so most smaller trunks near a big tree are sprouts growing directly from shallow roots. Sometimes they have a few lateral roots, sometimes none. It doesn't seem to matter as they are so resilient that trunks will recover with very few roots.

Another great feature of elms is that they will bud out from bare wood really well. They also usually produce a ring of buds right round the exposed cambium of the chopped trunk. I assume American elm does that too?
That factor means don't chop too high. I aim to trunk chop about where I would like branching to begin on the trunk - unless there's already good trunk taper and branching which we occasionally get where these have been constantly grazed by sheep or cattle. Grow the rest of the trunk and apex in the coming years.