The 2023 Yamadori/Collecting Thread

[Hartinez]

Chunky Siberian elm with EXCELLENT bark I chopped last summer. Coming home spring.

 

[Cajunrider]

Chunky Siberian elm with EXCELLENT bark I chopped last summer. Coming home spring.
View attachment 468526View attachment 468527

Under your hands they will be great bonsai .

 

[Dermot]

About today..... 3 blackthorn and 1 Scott's pine.

All taken from boggy ground. The roots ran laterally but very few feeder roots. Fingers

 

[19Mateo83]

This little winged elm is on my list. It’s only about 10 inches tall with a 1.5 inch trunk.

 

[jazvessels]

I found this guy in a creek bed near my home in DFW area. I suspect it to be a red cedar as those are very common. The rock around it is actually fairly soft and can be broken with a hammer and chisel. But that's still a lotta rock. I suspect that exposed root above it is the same tree. Before I attack this does anyone have tips advise? How much root do I need to get?
.

 

[ChefB]

Nice trees! @Cajunrider

 

[bluone23]

Pinus Sylvestris from a stone quary.
“Plug and Play”

 

[Gabler]

I found this guy in a creek bed near my home in DFW area. I suspect it to be a red cedar as those are very common. The rock around it is actually fairly soft and can be broken with a hammer and chisel. But that's still a lotta rock. I suspect that exposed root above it is the same tree. Before I attack this does anyone have tips advise? How much root do I need to get?
.View attachment 468654

That tree isn’t a good candidate for collection. Also, I don’t know what DFW stands for. Isn’t that a shoe store? You should put your general location in your profile so you get more useful advice.

To start, eastern red cedar trees are frustrating to work with and make poor bonsai. They tend to produce coarse juvenile foliage when pruned, and their overall growth habit tends to be leggy. Look for Carpinus, Ulmus, certain Pinus spp., and other species you’ll see commonly grown as bonsai. I’ve tried growing them, as have many others. It just isn’t a good idea.

Also, you’re gonna have trouble keeping that tree alive if you collect it. Look for trees with lots fine roots near the base of the trunk. Some trees can survive a hard root chop, but most need fine feeder roots to take up water and minerals. Try to avoid trees in sandy soils. You won’t get a compact rootball in sandy soil.

With conifers, look for specimens with lots of foliage low on the trunk. You won’t be able to chop off most of the foliage at collection like you can for deciduous trees, so you’ll need a tree with a small enough foliage mass that you can transport most of it.

 

[sevan]

Here's my first out of the ground for the season - a small Chinese privet. It is a little early here in Atlanta, but the buds were starting to push and I have lots more to dig yet, so I decided to go ahead with it. While I had lots of roots to work with, the tree came out of the ground with a very nice root spread, so I decided to take everything off below that. With privet being an invasive weed here, I suspect it will bounce back just fine. If not, I wanted these all cleared off my lot anyway.

 

[johng]

I collected more than 100 trunks of Chinese elm over the weekend...it was a lot of work but got some really nice material...it took a couple days just to get them all potted up.

 

[Kanorin]

I collected more than 100 trunks of Chinese elm over the weekend...it was a lot of work but got some really nice material...it took a couple days just to get them all potted up.

I'm exhausted after digging up and potting up 5 trees. Hats off to you!
Nice branching on them already.

 

[jazvessels]

I found this guy in a creek bed near my home in DFW area. I suspect it to be a red cedar as those are very common. The rock around it is actually fairly soft and can be broken with a hammer and chisel. But that's still a lotta rock. I suspect that exposed root above it is the same tree. Before I attack this does anyone have tips advise? How much root do I need to get?
.View attachment 468654

 

[jazvessels]

I got a substantial amount of fine roots from part of the trunk buried in soft mud. I only had to cut the "tap root". It may never win a prize but if it survives it will be my first Yama.

 

[Cajunrider]

View attachment 469175
I got a substantial amount of fine roots from part of the trunk buried in soft mud. I only had to cut the "tap root". It may never win a prize but if it survives it will be my first Yama.

That actually looks pretty good. Best of luck.

 

[PonderingSage:]

Envious of your early start.
Those look great!
My 1st trip this weekend… although I’m sure winter will once again return… l can hope for an early spring

 

[Gabler]

Envious of your early start.

I certainly won’t be starting before March. For the beech tree I posted, possibly not until April, since beeches are so late to leaf out. I have little success collecting unless I wait until the moment before the tree wakes up. I actually have better success right after leaf-out than if I collect in late winter, though I avoid that if at all possible.

 

[Srt8madness]

Thanks! I hope it lives but I'm not expecting anything. I had to saw off a lower part of the trunk because there was a double nebari. Closed it up with candle wax, same with the top.
Got some kelp and now we wait. And chopstick some more over the next days.

Forgive my inexperience, but what is taking you hours/days to do with a chopstick?

 

[Srt8madness]

That tree isn’t a good candidate for collection. Also, I don’t know what DFW stands for. Isn’t that a shoe store? You should put your general location in your profile so you get more useful advice.

To start, eastern red cedar trees are frustrating to work with and make poor bonsai. They tend to produce coarse juvenile foliage when pruned, and their overall growth habit tends to be leggy. Look for Carpinus, Ulmus, certain Pinus spp., and other species you’ll see commonly grown as bonsai. I’ve tried growing them, as have many others. It just isn’t a good idea.

Also, you’re gonna have trouble keeping that tree alive if you collect it. Look for trees with lots fine roots near the base of the trunk. Some trees can survive a hard root chop, but most need fine feeder roots to take up water and minerals. Try to avoid trees in sandy soils. You won’t get a compact rootball in sandy soil.

With conifers, look for specimens with lots of foliage low on the trunk. You won’t be able to chop off most of the foliage at collection like you can for deciduous trees, so you’ll need a tree with a small enough foliage mass that you can transport most of it.

DSW is a shoe store, DFW is a metroplex with nearly 8 million people, and around 4 times the land mass of Delaware.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Forgive my inexperience, but what is taking you hours/days to do with a chopstick?

Chopsticking the soil so that it fills all the air pockets.
I had a pine I dug 2 years ago that didn't put out any growth and started to weaken. When I transferred a chopstick with soil fungi into its pot, the chopstick just shot down to the bottom of the pot. Turns out that I didn't properly chopstick it underneath the trunk. So when I did, it perked up a week or two later and it started producing buds.
Never making that mistake again.
Better to spend that extra hour, water, and do it again next day just for good measure. The roots are still in stasis anyways.
It can make a huge difference.

 

[ShadyStump]

I have more than enough trees to occupy me, so not planning much this year.
Still keeping an eye out for a good scrub oak when I'm in the woods, and have some experiments I hope to continue concerning a particular stand I discovered.
My friend has some trumpet vine in his yard that needs removed, so I'll be doing that in spring. Not great stuff, but should still be fun.

Of course I'll wind up finding others along the way. Always trying to get some fruit cuttings going.