Two Elms Become One
Posted: June 25th, 2018, 2:48 pm
I had a shohin sized Chinese Elm I planned to make a tidy little broom out of.
Before I'd even really started with its training I was bored of the idea, so I thought something a little more drastic might be in order. We see a lot of nice little shohin brooms, but considerably less more dynamic, multi trunk, mini trees. So I thought I'd give it a go.
I knew I had a bunch of little elms sitting around taking up space that would work as a second trunk, so I decided to start by getting the main trunk out of its pot and soil to see what I was working with and where I could probably form a union. Maybe a liiiiitle more... I had to remove a big chunky piece of root/trunk to get it to this point so realistically that would have to become my point of contact. Also removed any braches on that side of the tree as I wouldn't need them once the second trunk was in place.
What have I got that might fit in?
You'll do. Tentatively sandwiched together to see the potential. Not bad but definitely gonna have to remove some material to get it to sit nicely. I forgot to take any photos of the next part, but using my dremel I carved a nice big hollow out of the side of the main trunk to nestle the smaller trunk in. I also removed areas of the smaller trunk where necessary to make the cambium of each tree touch. Or close enough anyway.
Some wire was placed to bring where the new apex on the smaller trunk was going to be into place, and a guy wire was used to crank the low heavy branch on the main trunk up to create a third trunk in the future.
I ziptied the two trees together to make sure I was happy with the result (not that I could really turn back at this point). Then buried a couple of screws in the base where they wont be seen to secure them together forever. Potted back up in a nice coarse mix and left alone to recover. While it looks rather contrived as it stands today, the bases should fuse together into something quite dramatic, after which I can rip into the top of the tree to give it more movement and taper. If it survives.
I knew I had a bunch of little elms sitting around taking up space that would work as a second trunk, so I decided to start by getting the main trunk out of its pot and soil to see what I was working with and where I could probably form a union. Maybe a liiiiitle more... I had to remove a big chunky piece of root/trunk to get it to this point so realistically that would have to become my point of contact. Also removed any braches on that side of the tree as I wouldn't need them once the second trunk was in place.
What have I got that might fit in?
You'll do. Tentatively sandwiched together to see the potential. Not bad but definitely gonna have to remove some material to get it to sit nicely. I forgot to take any photos of the next part, but using my dremel I carved a nice big hollow out of the side of the main trunk to nestle the smaller trunk in. I also removed areas of the smaller trunk where necessary to make the cambium of each tree touch. Or close enough anyway.
Some wire was placed to bring where the new apex on the smaller trunk was going to be into place, and a guy wire was used to crank the low heavy branch on the main trunk up to create a third trunk in the future.
I ziptied the two trees together to make sure I was happy with the result (not that I could really turn back at this point). Then buried a couple of screws in the base where they wont be seen to secure them together forever. Potted back up in a nice coarse mix and left alone to recover. While it looks rather contrived as it stands today, the bases should fuse together into something quite dramatic, after which I can rip into the top of the tree to give it more movement and taper. If it survives.