American Hornbeam-Carpinus Caroliniana

[alpineart]

These are a few of the hornbeam i have be working for the last 3 seasons ,

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Seed grown , they were wired in their second season , flat cut like an olive then planted out . . I then selectively root pruned and trimmed them last winter and returned them to a new grow bed . More than happy with the Narebri at the point after a basic trim

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, however i think i can improve them a bit more . A good wash of the root mass

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I have then cut the roots back hard again this time removing all the major roots

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and leaving a selected few

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. Some of these had the sacrifice branches removed during the growing season while others were left untouched . I have again selectively trimmed them for the final time then planted them out into a re-worked grow bed

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. Time will tell if the results will be as good as this season .

These are 2 year old seed grown stock , they will be treated differently to the above stock and have the roots trimmed only and flattened out during planting . No room in the old bed so i will have to knock up another growing area .

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All of the smaller trunks here had wire place around the trunks the rest had a hook and hold wire the aid movement . The correctly wired trunks are half the size of the manipulated trunks so i have learned that wiring does slow these bugger's down by at least 50 % . Better movement is obtained with good wiring at the expense of girth .

All of these will get a basic wire to help continue the movement up to the apexes while dormant . Surprisingly the buds have began to burst as they were sitting in the sun today .

Cheers Alpineart

[Meagi]

These are looking real nice mate great size for 3 seasons
There is some real rippers in there .

[alpineart]

Hi Meagi , mate they didn't look as good in the ground as they were set little deep and the weeds concealed them , I have planted them out higher this time around , if they begin to settle i will top dress with compost . The bases are about 40mm with trunks from 20-30mm thick .

The 2 year olds will get there heads up quick without a flat cut like the first batch , so they should catch up to the 3 year olds , here's hoping anyway . I should be fit enough to keep a close eye on all the material , after last seasons effort which was look from a distance .

Cheers Alpine .

[boom64]

Hi Alpine, Great little collection you have. Hope they do the right thing for you...Interesting what you say about wiring slowing down girth, wonder if this holds for all species. Regards John.

[alpineart]

Hi Alpine, Great little collection you have. Hope they do the right thing for you...Interesting what you say about wiring slowing down girth, wonder if this holds for all species. Regards John.

Hi Boom64 , i cant say i have come across this issue in any other material i have treated as in controlled trials . Even the root mass on the wired trunks was smaller , all grown in the same beds and water fertilizer was the same .

The first batch ie 3 year old's were all wired the same , the bigger trunks had the sacrifice branches the slightly smaller trunks had balanced growth .

The young ones will run riot for possibly 2 seasons depending on where i place the new grow bed as the roots grow up to 600mm either way of the trunk .A wide 2 meter bed would be ideal but with 20 odd trunks it would have to be at least 20 meter's long , way too much digging and i don't have hired help or a rotary hoe .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Well i had a bright idea to remove the Japanese Maples

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and extend the grow bed to accommodate the rest of the Hornbeams . I dug down where the walkway was and back filled with the composted soil . The clay/shale was utilized in the front of the bed

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, now its 1.0 wide rather than 600mm . This was leveled out

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and the smaller hornbeams were planted back

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.

I found another bundle laying around so i have made up 10 root over rock /root on rock configurations

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. These will grow downwards so the room won't be required for the root spread . To top off the day i managed to rip into a few Japanese Maple and plant them out

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. Making progress slow and steady .

Cheers Alpineart

[Meagi]

That third Japanese maple is a ripper mate ...
I've been to yours a 1/2 dozen times and yet missed so much you've got so much to look at and like mate
Amazing all your efforts and its really starting to show !
Cheers

[alpineart]

Hi Meagi , those weeds conceal the truth . Even i don't see too much from a distance , not until you dig them out do they show the true results . I found 6 JBP covered in a carpet of creeping weed , obviously i wasn't in a good frame of mind when i planted them .

Cheers Alpine

[Dario]

Hi Alpine, good to see you posting again, I assume your leg is now much better than it was
How long did it take for that second maple that is fused to get to this stage?...and were they planted as seedlings or were they a little older before you plaited/braided them ?
Cheers, Dario.

[alpineart]

Hi Dario , mate the legs still fractured and it doesn't look like it will fuse completely in another 6-8 months by then it should be good.

The fused Japanese Maple is now 2 years/seasons plaited with 2-3mm 1 yo whips , then planted into a grow bed . Becuase the whips are not as easy to work with as Tridents it's twice as thick in width as it is in depth . This and the big multi trunk Japanese maple were put together at the same time , both are doing well . I did lose 1 but then i lost a lot of material with this injury .

Got myself a new labourer for the rest of the grow beds , its too bloody hard trying to dig them over several times with a shovel and not load bear the leg too much for too long . Still got 2 arms 2 feet and a heart beat , might not work too well but i consider myself lucky .

I met a young man tonight with no legs and by the heck he inspired me beyond comprehension , i will never complain about my injury again , makes me fell very blessed i just broke one of mine .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

I have decided to re-use a big tray /dish {weight Issues} and this is the best I could come up with . Needing some room in the grow beds as well I ripped a few Hornbeam ROR trunks out

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. I managed to find 4 larger ones and utilized a smaller trunk and added a rock to it .A quick trim and positioned into the tray

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after back filling they were re-trimmed

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wiring will be done hopefully before bud burst .

Cheers Alpineart

[Thymetraveller]

Cool group!
I like the sense of movement.

[alpineart]

Hi Thymetraveller , mate these will improve with some wire on them and another trim , its good to start getting a few out of the ground and into pots . I have quite a few left to dig and hope to put a starter clump style together , 10 trunks in 2 pots is better than another 10 tree's in 10 pots , more room on the benches and in the grow beds .

Cheers . Alpine

[alpineart]

This is the last of the hornbeams dug this morning

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.A quick trim

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and arrangement

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then into the pot

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another trim and its done and dusted . A clump style forest has been in the pipeline for some time , eventually these bases should fuse together given a few years of growth .

Cheers . Alpineart

[alpineart]

This was chopped back to 2 fine shoots , last in the line of Hornbeams here so a little extra reduction was done

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. It has a 60mm base which should make for a nice sumo shohin if it grows.

Cheers Alpineart