AusBonsai

I was unhappy with the ugly root wrapped arount the base of my twin trunk plum, it formed an ugly collar (sorry no before pics).
Last spring I took to it with a drill making 20-30 holes around the base, I made a paste of rooting hormone which I smeared into the holes and placed half a toothpick in each hole. I built up the soil to cover these toothpics and after 10 months I repotted it today.

Great root growth, I'll have to try the toothpick idea.

Do you use anything to seal those cuts in the base? Is rot a problem on the exposed wood of a prunus when it is in contact with moist planting medium? I'm trying a couple of Prunus domestica and would like to "get it right" when making cuts.

Thanks,

Jan

Very well done Gez! this will pay dividends big time! A very nice tree too! Jan Prunus wood is extremely hard and should heal it self no prob. Providing the soil is well draining, should not have prob's with rot.

anttal63 wrote:Prunus wood is extremely hard and should heal it self no prob. Providing the soil is well draining, should not have prob's with rot.

Thanks, Anttal63, that's good to know - now all I've got to do is wait till spring with the few I'm trying...

Thanks Jan & Ant,
I have used no sealant but I am not too worried. I was really surprised at how thick the mass of new roots was, this has allowed me to remove the thick old roots around the base which is about 10cm across and 3cm deep now just a solid lump of wood. Hopefully I will be able to reduce this in the future allowing me to perhaps use a shallower pot.

Good one Gerard!

So, do the toothpicks merely stimulate the growth of the roots, or do they become a part of the roots? Do the roots grow to encompass the toothpicks, or do the toothpicks simply prevent the holes from healing over, thus producing random roots to grow? Either way, it looks like a very useful process for improving problem roots on deciduous trees.

By the way: they are a pair of very nice trunks!

Thanks.

Fly.

Tooth picks are there to stop from healing and will break down in time.

FlyBri wrote:Good one Gerard!

So, do the toothpicks merely stimulate the growth of the roots, or do they become a part of the roots? Do the roots grow to encompass the toothpicks, or do the toothpicks simply prevent the holes from healing over, thus producing random roots to grow? Either way, it looks like a very useful process for improving problem roots on deciduous trees.

By the way: they are a pair of very nice trunks!

Thanks.

Fly.

Thanks Fly,
There is little evidence that the toothpics ever existed, the few that remained crumbled when touched. The purpose of them is to prevent the cambium from healing over before new roots form. With results like this I will certainly use this method again in attempts to improve nebari. This tree has no thick roots remaining at all and I expect the finer roots to fuse into a nice wide base.
Now I need to work on the ramification