Metasequoia glyptostroboides trunk split advice needed

[Thymetraveller]

These trees are amazing!

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I bought this as a whip in November last year in a 2" pot. Five months later and it's 120cms tall and about 4cms at the base!

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I'm thinking to give it another year, or even rwo before I start chopping.
I have an idea about where I would like to take the tree:

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A deep "cave" starting at the roots. My question is when should I start creating the hollow? Should I start now with a deep shari? Or sould I let the trunk get to the girth I want, and then carve it out?
Grateful for any advice!
Cheers
Tt

[shibui]

My initial reaction was to leave the trunk to thicken before hollowing. If you start now it will just grow over as the tree grows. If I'm going to show the dead wood I use this technique to grow layered and fluted areas of dead wood by progressively widening the area as it partly heals but you are going to carve out the wood so no advantage.

While considering this I have realised that if you scar the base now it will probably thicken more quickly as it heals which may be a bonus for this project. In my experience it is likely to thicken more at the sides so you are likely to end up with a trunk wider than it is deep because it will be thickening at the sides and back where live wood is but not at the front where you have scarred. Complicated concept so hope that makes sense.

unsure whether one way will be better than the other in this case.

[Thymetraveller]

Thank you for the swift reply, Shibui!

I think I understand what you are saying...

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If I scar the red zone, the trunk will thicken at the green zones. Is that correct?
If so, when can I get cutting?
I'm planning to pot it up into something bigger when the leaves drop. Would it be best to do it then?
Much obliged!
Tt

[shibui]

You can remove bark any time of year. In spring and summer when the sap is flowing strongly the bark will lift off the wood easily. Autumn and winter with little sap flow it tends to stick tight so you'll have to cut and scrape to get it off.

[Thymetraveller]

Thank you Shibui!
I'll get scraping....

[dark1]

Hey Mate,
Like where you are going with this. The future sketch is amazing and I would like to see if you have done the carving yet, please post more pic's. Are you actually going to split the trunk or carve it creating a hollow trunk style. I have in the past used the split trunk method to increase trunk girth and taper by cutting up from the base and inserting a wedge of timber in the split. Hammer it up from the bottom and make sure the wedge of timber is a little smaller than the tree thickness and the bark will grow over in a short time, giving you a fatter tree in a couple of seasons.Split trunk or hollow trunk that is the question.

Cheers, dark1

[Thymetraveller]

Hi Dark 1,

I have decided to give this one another year's growth before I make the split. The rate these things grow is scary, and want to see how much girth I can get before I get splitting.
This has been my first winter with this species too, and I want to get to know it a little better. It looks a little like an abandoned Christmas tree on a log pile in March at the moment!
Thanks for you tips on how to split! I'm looking forward to getting to grips with the technique when the moment arrives.
I'll keep the thread updated, so stick around for the long haul!
TT