Root graft?

willhopper

Shohin
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I picked up a really nice sweetgum today. The guy I got it from really knows his stuff. This tree has some sick nebari but there is one spot in front where it could use another root. He told me I might want to thread graft a sweetgum seed there. And while I kinda got what he was telling me, I have a different question. Among the other impressive surface roots, there is one that crosses over another one. This root is the same size as the others. Is it possible to cut this root at the base of the trunk and move it to the bare spot I mentioned by grafting it there? I watched an Adam Lavigne video once where he cut roots off a willow Ficus and turned them into trees, and I saw a Bonsai Iligan video where he moved Ariel roots onto a trunk, so I wonder if this would be possible and better than trying to grow a root from a sweetgum seed.
 

willhopper

Shohin
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You meant to say seedling,I'm sure.
I've never done it but from my investigations and what I've seen on here and other places that's the way to go.

Yes, seedling. :) I got it right in my second post. :p

I do think I will go that way, but it’s hard to find sweetgum seedlings in my area. One of our club members today said I could move the root that’s near the empty space by gradually inching it over. May do that if I can’t find a seedling or a tree to airlayer. I’m not sure the branches on my sweetgum are large enough for the size I want.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

The Professor
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I would remove the crossing root sooner than later, next time you repot, get rid of it.

Personally I find grafting branches onto a tree difficult enough. Working to graft seedlings into the root zone really strikes me as a difficult task to do well.

I have no personal experience with sweet gum, but with a large percentage of deciduous trees, just keeping the area you want new fine roots to form buried at least half and inch deep in the media, and getting the tree itself to grow vigorously, often that is enough to get fine roots to form on their own. When repotting, pruning back the overly long, overly thick roots to remove the majority of the thick root's fine branching slows the thick root from developing and encourages the tree to invest more in new finer roots. You haven't had the tree very long. You could just try the above and see what happens.

Anyone with sweet gum experience - do they air layer or ground layer reliably? Do cuttings root reliably? I want to hear actual experience, not ''internet knowledge'', if you don't own a sweet gum, or haven't owned one in the past, don't answer.
 
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