Beauty Elm Right In My Yard!!!

[MasonC]

Hey guys (especially jamie)
This is an elm that i dug from my yard last year. will give you details but i am busy right now.
bye!

[MasonC]

it is about 1.2m tall and 1m wide. because it grows off the root i never had to root prune. the root ball is naturally compact.
Love to hear what you think!

[MasonC]

i will be moving the smaller trunks a little and some foliage pads but hopefully it will turn out nice!

[Jamie]

beginnings of a great raft mate

get some movement into those trunks before you do anything, you will be happier to do it now than later down the track when they wont bend. dont worry bout pads right now. grow it out. het the movement then develop from there.
it will turn out sweet!

look forward to the next stage

jamie

[MasonC]

I also have a privet from the same place and age that grew right next to it! will post 2moz.

[MasonC]

hmm.....any ideas on how? even the smaller trunks are almost 1cm thick!

[Jamie]

hmm.....any ideas on how? even the smaller trunks are almost 1cm thick!

raffia or similar and thick as wire. 5-6mm wire. and possibly branch benders. the will get them moving.
little bits at a time, even if its just a touch each day will do it
anchor the wire well too, you dont want that moving while you are trying to bend!

your other option is cut back and grow, clip and grow, clip and grow. wax on, wax off as mr. miyagi would say to daniel san.

jamie

[MasonC]

hmmm......could i use just a few guy wires pulling in different directions?

[Jamie]

hmmm......could i use just a few guy wires pulling in different directions?

that could work to a certain degree, but not to the movement i am trying to talk about. i got movement from my 10mm (1cm) thick leader with two lots of 4 mm wire, 5-6mm should get them going as for the larger ones you might need to chop.

[MasonC]

hmmm........ok. i will do it this weekend. love this plant because the roots are very compact. basically the root ball is just one big root!

[Jamie]

hmmm........ok. i will do it this weekend. love this plant because the roots are very compact. basically the root ball is just one big root!

yea mate, well thats what a raft style is, you see heaps of them in nature with gums, i have been tempted to recreate one that i have seen near my place. the gum fell over a long time ago and rooted itself in and now has about 8 trees along it that were originally branches. i will have to stop and get a pic one day

nice stuff mate, look forward to it


jamie

[bodhidharma]

Hi Mason, dont go overboard on the bending it is a group planting so you can easily get away with not much bending. Positioning is more important. On the back trunk behind the main one, bend it so it fills the gap on the left hand side and straighten the main trunk a little more. Remember that this will grow and mature and , most of all ,thicken. In ten years time it will be completely different. Just my way of looking at it

[MasonC]

yer. i agree bodhi. i don't want to bend to much as it looks a little more natural with just a small amount of bending. yer. i plan on moving most of the trunks a little. all of them except the middle one.