AusBonsai

Hi Guys,
Looking at collecting a couple of sizeable Desert Ash from the local area.
Trees are growing between a cyclone wire fence and a foot path. Because its going to be a little tricky digging I'm worried I might not get a massive amount of roots. So my question is how hard can you root prune a Ash? . I'm hoping similar to a Chinese Elm or Trident. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

You can prune Dessert Ash roots quite hard, harder than Chinese Elm so don't be too concerned. Still try and get as many roots as you can and soak the stump in Seasol before you plant it but you shouldn't have too many problems. I've seen collected Dessert Ash with no fine roots at all that survived.

Show us pics when you've collected them!

Matt.

I'm with Matt. You actually need very little root to transplant an ash. Even if you end up with virtually no roots don't despair. Plant the stump anyway because it is likely to surprise you.
My advice varies a little from Matt though - no need to bother

try and get as many roots as you can

. I'd go even further and cut off any surplus roots, especially vertical ones, and shorten lateral roots so they will eventually fit into a bonsai pot. there's never a better time to cut roots short than when you first collect a tree That includes if you have to cut off all fine roots.
Also I've never bothered with soaking in seasol. If it makes any difference I can't see it. Note: Seasol does not do any harm so use it if that makes you feel good. I just can't see that it does anything positive and is therefore a waste of resources and time.

Seasol does not do any harm so use it if that makes you feel good.

Seasol always makes me feel good, but I'm not dealing with commercial quantities of stock! The only collected Ash I ever lost was the only one I didn't soak first. Hardly proof as my sample size is a grand total of 6 collected Ash, but it makes me feel like I'm helping!

Matt.

Cheers guys for your advice.
Obviously like most trees when they have been root pruned it's a good idea to remove the appropriate amount of foliage ?
Thanks in advance.
And I'll be sure to post pics

A lot of people who dig up Ash trees leave too much trunk and too many branches. Depends on the trees you've found but chop the trunk low and remember that you can grow a new apex and major branches pretty quickly. If you remove all the branches and chop the trunk the tree will respond by sending out new buds all over the tree.The ash tree you see as my avatar was chopped at the first bend in the trunk, the rest was grown from scratch.

Sorry - short answer is to remove most or all of the foliage.

Matt.

Obviously like most trees when they have been root pruned it's a good idea to remove the appropriate amount of foliage ?

I'm possibly being a bit pedantic here but ash in Melbourne should be leafless at this time of year I think? Maybe you mean to remove branches, etc.

Like Matt, cutting the top back quite hard when collecting has always been my approach but I'm interested that there seems to be more and more people saying leave more on top to provide food for new roots. I will start trials of that method soon.

I agree that most people leave too much on top when collecting trees but that is not about balancing top and roots for survival. it is more about the final shape of the bonsai. There is no point keeping long straight sections that have no place in the finished design. Unless the tree has really good bends and taper, cut back to where you want the trunk to branch or bend, even if that means just leaving a stump - Matt's avatar is a good example.
Note that the above does NOT apply to conifers which need foliage to survive so you should leave -plenty of green.