What do I have?

All this and I'll ask if you've researched thread grafting yet?
The way you're twisting the two together, you could go with a series of thread grafts starting at the base, and then a new graft every season or two.

As it is, even if the trunks fuse, they'll never actually be one tree like grafting. Just two trees grown into each other.
Thread grafting would work into your current practice and design, and achieve an actual single tree.
 
I will absolutely look into thread grafting, and consider how to work it into my design.

As it is right meow, even if it is technically just two trees that have grown together, as long as they fuse... providing a single, outer layer of uninterupted bark shared by multiple trunks... I do not care if it is technically one tree or two. I think that by spiraling the lilac around the ash, once they fuse (IF they fuse), you will get lilac buds/branches forming from lots of seemingly random spots along what it otherwise "clearly" an ash tree.

Both ash trees and lilac go through similar stages with how their bark matures... from smooth to textured, as they each age. If they fuse, it will probably be hard to tell the difference between the two. There probably won't even be much of a distinguishable line one could follow where the lilac has fused into the ash. Just an oddly shaped, kind of triangular, trunk with a honeycomb cross-section should one ever chop the entire trunk once it has fused (IF it ever fuses).

Ash bark:
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Lilac bark:
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It's not a perfect match, but even given a best case scenario, this tree(s) of mine will never be pretty. Lol.
 
The lilac bushes around here don't have bark anything like that, but they're probably a very different variety adapted to our hotter, drier climate.

If you leave them ungrafted, there's a decent chance that one will overtake the other, and completely swallow it up, killing it eventually.
Just something to consider.
 
I have considered one overtaking the other.

Right meow, the ash tree has two winters in that pot... she is, established. I do not feel that there is any danger trimming the ash tree back this summer to give priority to the lilac sapling. Said lilac sapling started with a root ball 1/4 the size of the ash's root ball (when I put the ash in the pot two years ago).

I figured that if the ash and lilac do, in fact, fuse... then the ash roots and lilac roots are both working together to keep the same organism alive. If they are sharing the same out layer of bark, then both root systems are pumping for both trees. I would prefer to keep some of the lilac's roots, as like a backup generator for the ash tree.

Something about combining the two systems intrigues me... the fact that they each wake up and go dormant at such obviously different times means that both will have some adjusting to do once it becomes a shared system. Someone is waking up early, and someone is going to bed late. But with their powers combined (we get Captain Planet!).

Seriously, though, when I repot her into something smaller (in, like, ~3yrs) I will absolutely trim roots as necessary... even if that means removing the lilac roots, entirely... turning it into a graft.
 
Fusing on the outside WILL NOT combine them into one organism. If you cut it in half, you would still see bark separating the two trees, no shared resources. They would just be sharing space.

To make them one organism would require the grafting.
 
And researching I shall go. Thank you for typing slowly, because I cannot read very fast. I do appreciate your patience in explaining that to me. I'm dumb sometimes.

I figured the bark on the inside would kind of just get squeezed away, or possibly rubbed away with finite movements between the trunks, or even just naturally eliminated because it's inside the tree. I knew it would have a honeycomb cross-section, each trunk having its own core rings until the whole thing starts producing its own triangular-ish rings inside the shared layer of bark.

IF they do fuse to the point of sharing an out layer of bark, will it produce new mickey-mouse-shaped rings that go around the outside of all three trunks?
 
You might get shared bark in that areas of bark will intermingle, but each tree will forever have it's own bark. That's what fusing really is; the bark fusing together.
If it's all one outer layer of one type of bark, that means one tree swallowed the other and the other will eventually get squeezed to death.
Any rubbing or the like that would wear the bark down would also prevent fusing. You can scrape the bark off so that the cambium layers touch, and they will fuse, but that would be the definition of a graft.

Please take all this with a grain of salt. I'm no expert in fusing trunks and have yet to actually attempt grafting myself. Just haven't had occasion to need to yet.
 
You are correct, regardless of not being an expert. Grafting is what I am after.

I should properly define what I am referring to when I say "fuse"... the actual term is INOSCULATION. In nature, this phenomenom results in grafting. Movement between the two trees or limbs causes the bark to rub away, exposing the cambium, which then heals together... this is what I was talking about. This is what my intentions were when I wrapped T2 around T1. And it is my intention to insoculate the lilac into the ash tree.

I will invest in a set of double-sided fingernail files that I will use to remove the bark where things touch... but only before I wrap it all up in raffia to wire it. So, like, the end of next year... ish.
 
Ah, well then you might know what you're doing.
Sorta.

I've definitely engaged more ridiculous experiments, so go for it!
And keep us updated.
 
I have been consistently cutting back the ash tree's first push in order to give the newly introduced lilac a chance to get itself established. This continuous hasassment has resulted in reducing the ash tree's vigor, and I think it is time to let her recover. The lilac was given a running start to the point it has become detriment to the ash tree's overall health, and said lilac will have to fend for itself from now on.

I did rotate the pot 180° from its previous position, to give the lilac full priority of the sun... everything the ash tree pushed thusfar has grown towards the sun, so between that and my constant pruning, there is a huge opening on the other side to expose sunlight to the lilac's main foilage. This change in direction will encourage movement in everything the ash tree has already grown, as well as encouraging her [the ash tree] to push new growth in completely new locations. 20230615_204329.jpg
 
The ash tree's growth so far this year has been interesting to watch.

To continue with my earlier naming convention for the sake of consistency... T1, the original trunk, has not necessarily bulked up much in the sense of increasing in diameter. T1 is the oldest portion of the tree, so changes are expected to happen slower, but she has nearly eliminated/healed the spiraling, grooved scars left by my very first attempt at wiring her. You can still see traces of rust stained into her bark, but the concave evidence left from that steel wire choking T1 has all but disappeared.

T2, on the other hand, has bulked up considerably... probably doubling its average diameter across its entire length. This increase in diameter has completely closed many of the gaps between itself and T1. I am pleasantly surprised at the progress T2 is making. As T2 is a whole year younger than T1, it is cool to watch the bark develop in juxtapose to the older trunk.

I have already found that I have to watch out that the lilac does not get choked between T1 and T1... there is plenty of room in the gap for the lilac's tiny trunk to not be crushed or choked... but I have the lilac going over the top of a branch on the ash tree further up, which holds the trunk of the lilac into a specific spot or corner of the gap betwix T1 and T2. With T2's rather unexpected increase in diameter, the particular corner of the gap closed enough that I had to gently pry the trunk of the lilac free to get any movement, whatsoever, out of the lilac's trunk.

Even though fusion/grafting is the ultimate goal, I want there to be a little wiggle room between the ash and lilac for this first, introduction summer.
 
So, umm, this happened (and it's awesome)...

I have really just embraced that this is going to be an ugly tree... ash trees do not make very good bonsai trees, and I am very inexperienced (borderline incompetent) in all things related to growing trees in pots.

I figured I could at least make it interesting... and I think I am off to a good start.

The separate "trunks" are fusing together in multiple spots, which is very cool... so thrilled about this, actually. Inosculation was a main objective in mind when I started twisting the two "trunks" around each other. I even used a two-sided fingernail file to remove the bark between the "trunks" in spots where they were crossing or touching each other.

It worked!

I keep saying "trunks" because the younger "trunk" is actually just a branch off the main trunk of the tree. I did make a raised step to bury the base of this branch in some soil, trying get some roots to grow from that branch... making it two actual trees... kind of. I would love to develop these into some aerial/exposed roots later on.

Eventually, this will be a cascade bonsai... which is just now starting to become obvious. I will repot it next spring into a training pot... it has been in that same pot/soil since I dug it out of the ground a few years ago.
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There is a spot where a smaller branch off the main trunk was completely swallowed by the second "trunk"... it is extremely cool the way the smaller branch continues to grow, with its base completely consumed in this area of fusion between the two "trunks".
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I figure the inosculation between the two "trunks" will eventually just make it into one oblong, twisted trunk that has a double helix kind of shape. And the fact that one "trunk" is over a year older than the other "trunk" should make for interesting bark as it ages... a spiral of less mature bark.

I am going to continue to twist and fuse the tree along its entire length, and I have some branches tied together already.

When I repot it into a training pot next spring, I will keep the raised step to promote root growth to develop into aerial roots... or at least try to. While it is in the training pot, I will actually get real bonsai tools and practice real bonsai techniques... in juxtapose to the seat of the pants ADHD hack and slash abuse I have been doing the last few years.

Regardless, when I finally place her in a real bonsai pot (~2027), she will be raised quite a bit... there is at least another 4" more trunk unseen under the dirt... and this should allow me to plant her with a good amount of forward lean to reach out and overhang past the edge of the pot. I would love for the aerial roots to hang down, descending into ground, as the tree leans over the edge.

I have this kind of fantasy image in my head of a foggy forest illuminated by the full moon... all the trees are mutated and twisted like Dr Seuss meets Tim Burton meets Alice in Wonderland... and a tree leaning over a hunchback hag or witch standing in some water. In fact, I will probably paint a DnD hag miniature to put under my ugly tree.
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