Trying To Make A Broom

[Mellow Mullet]

I have way too many projects, but after reading @markyscott 's post on his broom, I kinda got hooked. I hope Mrs Mullet doesn't put me in time out for starting another project.

. I have had this elm that was in a batch of seedlings (I mean really just a seedling, only about two inches tall) that I picked from a parking lot several years ago while I was waiting on Favorite Minion to finish shopping. I had placed it in a nursery pot and stuck in the corner of the yard and forgot about it and it grew to over twelve feet tall (that’s a six-foot privacy fence in the background). Last year I decided that it was the perfect candidate for a broom project. Knowing that the roots were probably a mess and unusable as they were, you know the ones I am talking about, the giant tuber roots that elms make that grow straight down before they start dividing; so, last spring, I applied a tourniquet with heavy-gage wire at the base and built a retaining wall to raise the soil level in the pot above the wire.





It was placed back into its corner and forgotten about, except for water, until this Spring. I decided it was time for the “big reveal”. The mesh fence was removed and the roots were combed out to what I had. The results were not really that spectacular and were not exactly what I had expected. Oh, it made plenty of roots, just in the all the wrong places, I was robbed of my dream of a perfectly flared nebari. All of the superfluous roots were removed to see what would be left to work with and examine what happened and what could be done better next time. Moral, ring the bark too when applying the wire.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Now, I regret that I got completely caught up in the project and neglected to photograph some key elements to make it easier to explain what I found, so I will try my best to explain. What I should have done was cut a ring around the bottom of the trunk (just like and air layer) and then added the tourniquet for an added safety measure. The tree just absorbed the wire tourniquet, which made a real nice flare by the way, and just threw out some roots around the part of the trunk that was buried.

Here are some pictures of the process. I started by shortening the tree (I think that picture is actually on of the ones above), not the final chop, just cut it some to make it more manageable. Then sawed off the lower portion of the roots with the saws-all.The final cut was made with a hand saw, you can see the wire tourniquet swallowed inside the trunk, a good ¼ inch all the way around.













The remaining roots, such as the were, were cleaned up and the trunk was dusted with rooting hormone and then screwed to a plastic cutting board. This is where I was really caught up in the moment and forgot about the camera. The entire assembly was potted up in a training pot, we’ll see what happens, hopefully it will be good.



All of that work was done on February 17th of this year, fast forward to just yesterday, March 29th, and we have this. Not too shabby up top, a little thin on one side, but I think I can work with it.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

It's broccoli!

 

[Cadillactaste]

What's one more project...surely she won't notice. ? Gotta love when one inspires you.

@Smoke with his exposed root cuttings...I have 2 projects underway...and another in the works. For neagari style direction.

I must admit...brooms are interesting. Will enjoy following along.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

It's broccoli!

I need some cheese...

 

[Mellow Mullet]

What's one more project...surely she won't notice. ? Gotta love when one inspires you.

@Smoke with his exposed root cuttings...I have 2 projects underway...and another in the works. For neagari style direction.

I must admit...brooms are interesting. Will enjoy following along.

It was written as humor, she is really good to me, in spite of worrying about losing some fingers, she helped hold the pot while I used the saws-all.

 

[Cadillactaste]

You gotta keeper there John!

 

[0soyoung]

It's broccoli!

I need some cheese...

Squeeze of lemon, some dry dill, and a pat of butter.

But, do you know how/why it sprouted from the cambium ring instead of popping buds on the side of the trunk? Seems like this is the ideal beginning (out of the ring) for a broom.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Squeeze of lemon, some dry dill, and a pat of butter.

But, do you know how/why it sprouted from the cambium ring instead of popping buds on the side of the trunk? Seems like this is the ideal beginning (out of the ring) for a broom.

I don't know why it did, it actually sprouted a few from the sides first, I left them on until I saw them coming from the ring just to be safe, then cut them off. I did this same procedure to a smaller elm and it has not sprouted from the ring, only on the sides, so far.

 

[0soyoung]

I don't know why it did, it actually sprouted a few from the sides first, I left them on until I saw them coming from the ring just to be safe, then cut them off. I did this same procedure to a smaller elm and it has not sprouted from the ring, only on the sides, so far.

I have a bunch of zelkovas, half of which I ground layered. The roots of these all sprouted from the ring after the layer was harvested (well, one died). I was thinking that maybe it had to do with chopping in fall, so I chopped about half of them last fall. So far they are just popping normal buds.

Maybe later mine will also pop from the ring and your smaller one too - suppose?
I suspect it ain't gunna happen, but no idea why.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

I have a bunch of zelkovas, half of which I ground layered. The roots of these all sprouted from the ring after the layer was harvested (well, one died). I was thinking that maybe it had to do with chopping in fall, so I chopped about half of them last fall. So far they are just popping normal buds.

Maybe later mine will also pop from the ring and your smaller one too - suppose?

I hope it does, I have not looked at it very closely the past few days.

 

[AaronThomas]

I applied a tourniquet with heavy-gage wire at the base and built a retaining wall to raise the soil level in the pot above the wire.

Curious… And I apologize if this is a stupid question but did you do anything else… Did you have to remove bark from the tree or was the tourniquet enough? I think I would like to give this a try

 

[KiwiPlantGuy]

I hope it does, I have not looked at it very closely the past few days.

Hi Mellow Mullet,
Cool project to work on.
I have read from a thread or two about one of the gurus applying a “hose clamp” around the top chop. I haven’t tried this yet, but apparently it stops the swelling as the tree grows the branches all from same point. Also something about carving out some of the core wood at top chop to make room for the branch swelling also.
Are you planning on doing this exercise with your top ?
Also I might be tempted with your trunk to try another ground layer, as the girdle should improve nebari success.
Good luck and I will follow along with interest.
Charles

 

[M. Frary]

I have a bunch of zelkovas, half of which I ground layered. The roots of these all sprouted from the ring after the layer was harvested (well, one died). I was thinking that maybe it had to do with chopping in fall, so I chopped about half of them last fall. So far they are just popping normal buds.

Maybe later mine will also pop from the ring and your smaller one too - suppose?
I suspect it ain't gunna happen, but no idea why.

Every elm I've ever chopped sprouted from the cut. Hawthorn too.
I do all of mine in spring as buds swell. Chop,dig and wait. They will push buds out of the trunk too. Give it some time. Once an elm recovers from the collection it's pretty unstoppable.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Curious… And I apologize if this is a stupid question but did you do anything else… Did you have to remove bark from the tree or was the tourniquet enough? I think I would like to give this a try

I have done it before on a maple with just a wire, not cutting of the bark. You have wrap the wire around the trunk twice and the tighten the hell out of it until it really bites in. This is the first time I had tried it on and elm, if I had it to do over again, I would use the wire and and ring the bark.

Oh, there are no stupid questions, always ask, that is how we learn. Also, it is better to ask before and get a reasonable outcome than to ask afterwards when it doesn't work out. I used to be involved in the safety department at work (a chemical plant), there were an number of accidents, one serious, that after the investigation, it was discovered that if someone would have just asked a simple question, the whole event would not have occurred. So my motto is----Ask first!

 

[M. Frary]

I've did a couple layers from elms. I ringed the bark. No tourniquet. I still got some flare but more importantly I got roots all the way around.
Elms need to be ringed quite wide. They can bridge small gaps.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Hi Mellow Mullet,
Cool project to work on.
I have read from a thread or two about one of the gurus applying a “hose clamp” around the top chop. I haven’t tried this yet, but apparently it stops the swelling as the tree grows the branches all from same point. Also something about carving out some of the core wood at top chop to make room for the branch swelling also.
Are you planning on doing this exercise with your top ?
Also I might be tempted with your trunk to try another ground layer, as the girdle should improve nebari success.
Good luck and I will follow along with interest.
Charles

Thanks Charles, I had seen the hose clamp, too, and some without it. I have also seen where the clamp prevented swelling where the branches emerged but the tree swelled below the clamp, making it look even more funky, so I decided to go with no clamp. If it turns out bad, I can always chop it again. After the new growth starts to harden off, I plan to thin it out to four or five shoots so maybe it won't be too much of a problem. I don't think I will need to carve it, I think the new branches will close the wound nicely. This is an experiment for me so there may be a "plan B" down the road.

I wish that I had taken a photo of the bottom after I screwed it to the board, it had a nice subtle flare, much more that what is visible above the soil. It is buried at least two inches under the surface. If I am successful in getting some roots around it, it should turn out nice. We will see next spring and you are right, alternative measures may have to be taken.

 

[AaronThomas]

This is the first time I had tried it on and elm,

My first time will be on an elm as well... thanks for the info! I wonder if the tourniquet helps substantially with developing more of a flare than cutting the bark? Look forward to trying this!!!

Ask first!

Agreed and Done! Thanks

 

[Adair M]

I’m the source of much of the hose clamp method.

If it start to swell below the hose clamp, it was too tight and/or left on too long. Other methods are wrapping with raffia, it wrapping with the black plastic “rope” the Japanese apprentices are using now instead of raffia.

Drilling the core out with a forsener bit is best done before you get new buds. It’s kinda hard to do it without damaging them.

You WILL get swelling at the base of the new shoots. Wrapping and drilling etc will allow YOU to direct the swelling, and not the tree. Let to its own devices, the tree will swell out and make a bulge, EXACTLY how you won’t want it. You must be proactive to prevent this swelling, er... I should say,, direct the swelling so that it doesn’t bulge out. Instead, it bulges in. And so there must be room on the inside for it to bulge, which is why we drill out some core. It gets filled when the tree wants to bulge out, but can’t because of the restrictive measures we’ve taken.

Once it bulges out, unfortunately, there’s no good fix, you just start over.

 

[KiwiPlantGuy]

I’m the source of much of the hose clamp method.

If it start to swell below the hose clamp, it was too tight and/or left on too long. Other methods are wrapping with raffia, it wrapping with the black plastic “rope” the Japanese apprentices are using now instead of raffia.

Drilling the core out with a forsener bit is best done before you get new buds. It’s kinda hard to do it without damaging them.

You WILL get swelling at the base of the new shoots. Wrapping and drilling etc will allow YOU to direct the swelling, and not the tree. Let to its own devices, the tree will swell out and make a bulge, EXACTLY how you won’t want it. You must be proactive to prevent this swelling, er... I should say,, direct the swelling so that it doesn’t bulge out. Instead, it bulges in. And so there must be room on the inside for it to bulge, which is why we drill out some core. It gets filled when the tree wants to bulge out, but can’t because of the restrictive measures we’ve taken.

Once it bulges out, unfortunately, there’s no good fix, you just start over.

Hi Adair M,
I have a question for you regarding this broom growing technique and I am hoping your answer won’t be “IT DEPENDS” lol.
When applying hose clamp or plastic tape ( insulation tape work?), I am wondering at what stage of the new growth you can remove the clamp??
One full season? Or sooner mid season etc? Yes, it depends on growth rate from an individuals climate, but some advice would be useful.
I guess with some experience I will find out myself, but if your answers saves me and/or others the effort, it’s worth while for everyone.
Thank you for your in depth answers,
Charles