Southern Hackberry project

[Dav4]

This is a Southern Hackberry, or sugarberry, that I picked up at the Silhouette Show in Kannapolis, NC, last December. It's an older tree with very nice bark that's been in training for a bit. It has fairly well ramified branches, but the root base needs some serious work.



This was the last of my deciduous trees to break dormancy, and I had a free morning today, so...


These trees are apparently in the Elm family... the sure do like growing roots, and I'm counting on this one to grow a bunch more where it currently doesn't have any. The roots were drastically reduced, the trunk bottom was flattened and screwed to a board and the roots arranged with nails. Root hormone was applied along the areas of the base where roots are needed, and it was planted back into the mica pot. I've got a bucket full of roots that will hopefully sprout and I'll keep these for root grafting next spring if needed.


Sugarberry are new to me, but it'll be fun learning about them while I work on this one and hopefully continue to improve it.

 

[JudyB]

I like the branch structure you have on this tree. Are these related to Chinese Hackberry? Roots look very similar.

 

[Anthony]

Judy,

Celtis family

Good Day
Anthony

 

[Dav4]

I like the branch structure you have on this tree. Are these related to Chinese Hackberry? Roots look very similar.

This one is Celtis laevigata, and the Chinese Hackberry is C. sinensis. I assume they're very similar but couldn't tell you how.

 

[Giga]

Very nice tree, looks great

 

[Dav4]

I think I will call this tree 'Lazarus'...

This spring, several of my newer and larger trees had issues breaking dormancy, and this was one of them. Many new buds pushed... but only a few very small leaves- as in a centimeter or less in size- were produced, then the growth stopped entirely. The tree sat there, with these anemic, tiny leaves, for about a month, then they started to blacken. I placed the tree in the shade, hoping that would help. Unfortunately, my pointer decided he didn't want the tree where it was and knocked it over, completely emptying the pot of soil. I didn't find the tree until after work, at which point the roots had completely dried out. I replaced the soil and watered it in, but was resigned to it's fate, and it didn't disappoint. A week later, all the foliage was dead. I left it in the pot but stopped watering it. Knock on wood, we had a wet May and June, because I noticed 2-3 new shoots growing from the lowest branches the last week of June. Soooooooo, I started to water it again, and placed it on the benches where it would get watered when I left on vacation the first week in July. While I was gone it really started to grow, with branches further up toward the trunk beginning to push now. Getting excited about this one again, I added moss to the soil surface along with some plantone and moved it into full sun. That's when my newest pup, an 18 month old rescued French Mastiff named Groot decided he liked the taste of plantone, knocked the tree off the bench, essentially bare rooting the tree again and breaking some new shoots and bigger branches as well. Amazingly enough, the tree didn't seem to mind much, though it stopped pushing new buds at that point and it looks like the apex is lost. The rest of the shoots have continued to elongate to the point where I felt it was safe to cut the strongest back and wire some out. I've lost years of development on this one, but now it's has a really cool background story to explain why it looks like hell.

 

[JudyB]

Go Groot Go!!!

 

[Wilson]

Dogs and trees, always nosin in the pots! My boy was way to interested in my dry ferts this year! Your tree still looks good!

 

[Dav4]

Dogs and trees, always nosin in the pots! My boy was way to interested in my dry ferts this year! Your tree still looks good!

Well, it's alive which is better then dead, I guess. Several branches, along with the apex are dead and will take years and years to regrow... which is fine... because all the ramification was lost as well and will take years to develop again. Hey, at least the root development is now on par with the canopy development, which was my biggest concern with this tree when I bought it....

 

[Dav4]

Go Groot Go!!!

Groot's having a rough weekend. We established early on that he's a runner, so we decided to have an invisible fence installed along our front yard AND in several locations inside the house. Groot doesn't like to be reprimanded... or shocked... and he's been getting a bit of both over the last few days since training started and the trees were fed again. It's for his own good but he is such a sad sack right now.

 

[JudyB]

That face couldn't look any sadder. He certainly has taken over your hearth, what a sweetie.

 

[VAFisher]

Haha, he definitely looks a little grumpy. Glad the tree made it.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Yay for the tree. French Mastiff! I saw a whole pack of 'em o'er the weekend. The breeder I visited told me that they could be sad for days when reprimanded. Such sweet and gentle giants.

 

[sorce]

sad for days when reprimanded

Awwww....

It don't look that bad Dav4!

The dog on the other hand.....

Awwwww....

Sorce

 

[Cadillactaste]

What a sweet pup! Sorry about the tree...but will surely tell a great story one day...of hardship. Glad it's still going. Shows it is a very hardy species for what it's been through.

Had no idea one could place invisible fence in their home...we had the company place it around our boarder where the pups go. The beeping along was enough for our biggest bulldog who weighs 70 lbs. When it was finally turned on...one shock and he drug me across the lawn to get to safety. So his homework was...safe zone areas only. Not to allow him to get shocked. Because the beep alone had him backing up. He's great now, but was afraid to leave the house at first...our other bulldog...he pushes the line. He's finally trained...but the most stubborn. We have a pet gate in the house...still. But the door is left open for the most part unless we leave. They like to eat the soil on the tropical hibiscus in the sunroom. Larry the one in my avatar...is the one interested in bonsai as well.

 

[Dav4]

What a sweet pup! Sorry about the tree...but will surely tell a great story one day...of hardship. Glad it's still going. Shows it is a very hardy species for what it's been through.

Had no idea one could place invisible fence in their home...we had the company place it around our boarder where the pups go. The beeping along was enough for our biggest bulldog who weighs 70 lbs. When it was finally turned on...one shock and he drug me across the lawn to get to safety. So his homework was...safe zone areas only. Not to allow him to get shocked. Because the beep alone had him backing up. He's great now, but was afraid to leave the house at first...our other bulldog...he pushes the line. He's finally trained...but the most stubborn. We have a pet gate in the house...still. But the door is left open for the most part unless we leave. They like to eat the soil on the tropical hibiscus in the sunroom. Larry the one in my avatar...is the one interested in bonsai as well.

You can purchase small disc emitters that generate a field that triggers the collar, and you can adjust the effective radius of the field from 1.5 to 6 feet, as well as tuning them to a specific collar. We're using them to keep the dogs from getting into each other's food bowls and to keep them separate during the day when only my 82 year old Mother in Law is home... the dogs rough house to point they get into fights and she's unable to really control them.

 

[Dav4]

This was Groot later that day... hiding in the pug's crate... hadn't been corrected all day, either

 

[Cadillactaste]

Poor Groot...

Ahhh I see, a different company of invisible fence. Glad it's working for you inside as well as out. Peace of mind.

Shoot...we were to teach the pups to go out of the yard without their collars. NO WAY WILL THEY HAVE IT! So...we have to put them in the golf cart to leave the yard. Our fence corrects for 15 ft. out if they cross the line. Nothing but total correction outside their safe zone. We can't even pull the golf cart up and have them exit the yard. We must pull into the safe zone while collars are off of course. To get them out of the yard. They don't hesitate then...up into their favorite ride.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

I've got to get myself a pooch like that. The hackberry, I've got already.

 

[JudyB]

I want to adopt him...
I've got a thing for dogs with big heads...