Splitting the trunk on a blue spruce to correct reverse tape

Reece · Post by **Reece** » July 28th, 2015, 7:15 pm

Madness or doable?

I'm talking the base and the root ball....

Thanks.

Reece.

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Josh · Post by **Josh** » July 28th, 2015, 7:29 pm

I believe it could be done. Maybe show a picture so we can see what your talking about.

Josh

Watto · Post by **Watto** » July 28th, 2015, 7:39 pm

I agree with Josh, doable but a photo would be very helpful in providing advice.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » July 28th, 2015, 9:16 pm

OK, so bit of back story...

This is one of the first trees I ever bought. At the time I was like "Wow, look at the pretty blue cedar in this pretty porcelain pot" Little did I know it was a blue spruce with one of the ugliest trunks ever and was ridiculously root bound in the pretty porcelain pot

. Luckily it was very cheap.... (Should have known)

I tried to repot it last year and gave up because I couldn't get it out of the pot. It was in a deep pot that had a bulge in the middle. It went on the back burner and then I decided about 5 weeks ago that I had to get it out or it would die. I cut into the roots as much as I could but they were woven like a basket all around the pot. I eventually got it out but lost almost half of the root ball doing so. Now its in this colander and I THINK its pulled through

.

I feel like I have nothing to loose on this tree so I want to go drastic because as you can see ITS ONE UGLY TRUNK (Schwarzenegger predator voice). Probably doesn't help that its coming out of the colander at 90 degress but I felt like I had stressed the tree so much I just put it in the same was as it was in the original pot....

Here are some pics of the trunk from a few angles and the whole tree. It looks like a graft hey? The first branch at 90 will probably be jinned too...

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I don't plan on splitting it now. Just curious for the future.

Thanks!

Jarad · Post by **Jarad** » July 28th, 2015, 9:30 pm

Does it have to be as drastic as splitting the trunk? Would scarifying the trunk produce a similar results without so much work?

Is scarifying the right word? I'll Google it...

Josh · Post by **Josh** » July 28th, 2015, 9:34 pm

Jarad wrote:Does it have to be as drastic as splitting the trunk? Would scarifying produce a similar results without so much work?

Is scarifying the right word? I'll Google it...

Yeah after seeing the pictures Ithought the same thing. You could try cutting the narrow part of the trunk,as it heals it'll thicken. Also could try hitting it with a hammer to bruise it.

Josh

Reece · Post by **Reece** » July 28th, 2015, 9:35 pm

Jarad wrote:Does it have to be as drastic as splitting the trunk? Would scarifying the trunk produce a similar results without so much work?

Is scarifying the right word? I'll Google it...

Yeah open to other suggestions. I just keep thinking drastic with this tree for some reason... Plus I'm interested to see how hard you could go.

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Jarad · Post by **Jarad** » July 28th, 2015, 9:39 pm

Josh wrote:Also could try hitting it with a hammer to bruise it.

That's a neat idea. Does it work?
I kinda wanna go hit a few of my trees now...

Reece wrote: Yeah open to other suggestions. I just keep thinking drastic with this tree for some reason... Plus I'm interested to see how hard you could go.

I think it would be more difficult to get a nice even thickening by splitting it. You'd have to do it a few times around the trunk.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » July 28th, 2015, 9:41 pm

Ok well when I'm sure it's fully recovered I'll try the hammer thing.

So your trying to smash up the bark on the thin side so it callouses over?

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Black Knight · Post by **Black Knight** » July 28th, 2015, 10:15 pm

Hi Reece,
Splitting the trunk base is possible. Requires splitting and wedging then cut paste. Best 4 ways to produce eveness, Try one side, then the other side a year later.
I know Tien from Bonsaisensation does it with his Cedars, send him a pm, he may give you tips.
Regards,
Black Knight

Josh · Post by **Josh** » July 28th, 2015, 11:46 pm

Reece wrote:Ok well when I'm sure it's fully recovered I'll try the hammer thing.

So your trying to smash up the bark on the thin side so it callouses over?

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You don't want to damage the bark to the point it peels off. Just enough to bruise it so it has to heal. This will cause it to swell and thicken. I have split some pines and junipers with mixed results. All thickened although some had bad scares for quite some time. Some worked quite well.

Josh

MoGanic · Post by **MoGanic** » July 29th, 2015, 9:04 am

Or you could just sell me the tree

Mo

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Reece · Post by **Reece** » July 29th, 2015, 9:04 am

Ok thanks for all the info guys...

treeman · Post by **treeman** » July 29th, 2015, 10:27 am

You can do it but you have to decide if the tree is worth it.
As someone said make 2 cuts in the form of a cross with a saw from the bottom of the bare (clean) root ball. Only remove roots that are in the way.
Cut in about half to 3/4 as far as you want to spread it.
Make 4 small wooden wedges and gently hammer one into each of the 4 sections. When you're happy with the result, cover every thing with grafting wax to keep all the water out and pot up. Let the tree grow without trimming for a year.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » July 29th, 2015, 10:51 am

treeman wrote:You can do it but you have to decide if the tree is worth it.

Should I be reading between the lines here?

Thanks. Great info nevertheless.........

I imagine the tree grows over the small wedges?

AusBonsai

Splitting the trunk on a blue spruce to correct reverse tape

Splitting the trunk on a blue spruce to correct reverse tape

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