Small Elm - Weird dark trunk

[imluisnunes]

Hi everyone, I bought this week this small Elm with 13 years, I fell in love with it at the store and only I brought it home I noticed more clealry the dark patches on the trunk that dont’ seem to go away easily with a toothbrush clean, is this the trunk wood rooting? Thanks in advance.

 

[Mayank]

That tree is super cute .
Where are you located?

 

[Mayank]

Try to get the moss off the trunk

 

[imluisnunes]

That tree is super cute .
Where are you located?

Thanks, I’m in Portugal!
Do you think this is only moss and not any other issue? While I did just a bit of cleaning I sew some bugs moving in the base of the bark.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Use a toothbrush and vinegar to lightly brush the moss off, the vinegar will kill what remains. The bugs probably won't like it either

 

[Shibui]

My old eyes can't see the trunks close enough in the photos so not entirely sure what the 'dark patches' are.
Chinese elm bark normally ages to dark so possibly normal? It is normal to have variations in bark color.
After pruning Chinese elm can exude jelly like sap which may dry to darker patches. It will disappear in time.

Chinese elm here has few problems so I doubt there will be a problem here but some better res close shots would help a lot.

 

[Michael P]

Chinese elms often have patches of different colored bark. It is a characteristic of the the species. I don't see anything in the photos that looks abnormal. Could you take a close-up?

 

[AlainK]

I second what MichaelP wrote above. Nothing to worry about. Todo bem (or something)

It's a very nice little tree, with a lot of potential and different options. You might want to repot it in a couple of months though, even if the little pot is very nice and make a nice picture overall, I can understand you bought it

 

[imluisnunes]

Hi guys, thanks for the help, I'm now rested that this is normal and went and did a trunk clean to remove the greenish tones from the moss, below I added some new photos of the latest updates.

I would like to get feedback on that back branch that is crossing, it's kinda ugly, any idea what to do with it? Any other consideration? Thanks again for the support, this is my first small tree and I'm loving it

 

[HorseloverFat]

That does not look abnormal.

...nice photography quality.. something you enjoy, I can see.

Regarding the branch/trunk structure.... when removing a crossed branch, you are removing a completely alternate possibility, often relating back to different visual points on your tree with VARYING emphasis depending on these possibilities.. consider BOTH ends before eliminating what the eye “does not like”

Visually, hypothetically, find your favorite trunk line... consider multiples.. from different angles to more accurately narrow down your “moves”

Then, once you have that trunkline set, in your mind... you can start removing branches that do NOT work with the design. slowly..observing the “effect” after each prune.. Then you will have your trunk and branches.

Observe the branches you do have.. correct 3’s(or higher) to 2’s(or1’s).. correct vertical secondary branching...

Take it slow.. this is a wonderful specimen.. that looks like it will “give much back”

...or something like that... s’just what I’d do.

Nice Tree!

 

[ConorDash]

Yeah that is a nice little tree.

Question is, what do you want from it? What do you wanna do? WHat do you want it to look like?