Privet dig or not to dig

Forum for discussion of Evergreen bonsai – Buxus, Cotoneaster, Olive etc.
Post Reply
Pat.G
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Posts: 24
Joined: May 10th, 2020, 2:27 pm
Favorite Species: Maple
Bonsai Age: 4
Location: Hunter Valley, NSW
Has thanked: 21 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Privet dig or not to dig

Post by Pat.G »

Good evening all!

I’ve got a couple of privets in my front yard and I want to dig them out. There’s a couple of reasons for and against digging them out. I will be leaving the house in the next year or so. So my thought was to dig them now and give them recover when until I eventually move...... or because they have weird roots would it be best I do some sort of ground layer while it’s growing season and then dig them in winter when they have better roots closer to the main trunk line. See the photos as I’m not sure that all made sense. Haha

Cheers!
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
Raging Bull
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Posts: 835
Joined: January 3rd, 2017, 9:29 am
Favorite Species: Pines
Bonsai Age: 5
Bonsai Club: Gold Coast-Tweed
Location: Gold Coast Qld
Has thanked: 81 times
Been thanked: 197 times

Re: Privet dig or not to dig

Post by Raging Bull »

Hi Pat, Welcome to the forum. Since you asked.... I'll be blunt, the base is :imo: ugly. The best thing to do is as you have said, I would do a ground layer by heaping the soil above the two strange looking roots at odd angles, hoping to stimulate the growth of an even spread of roots around the base. The two trunks look very straight, is it worth the effort? Do you have a plan to make them look like something other than a chopped off straight trunk/ Can you make a decent bonsai from it?
Just my :2c: worth. Good luck with it.
Pat.G
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Posts: 24
Joined: May 10th, 2020, 2:27 pm
Favorite Species: Maple
Bonsai Age: 4
Location: Hunter Valley, NSW
Has thanked: 21 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Re: Privet dig or not to dig

Post by Pat.G »

Raging Bull wrote: November 3rd, 2020, 8:30 pm Hi Pat, Welcome to the forum. Since you asked.... I'll be blunt, the base is :imo: ugly. The best thing to do is as you have said, I would do a ground layer by heaping the soil above the two strange looking roots at odd angles, hoping to stimulate the growth of an even spread of roots around the base. The two trunks look very straight, is it worth the effort? Do you have a plan to make them look like something other than a chopped off straight trunk/ Can you make a decent bonsai from it?
Just my :2c: worth. Good luck with it.

Mate thanks for the 2 cents haha.
The other trunk is just dead wood so I basically just wanted to try a tall cascade sort of thing but mainly wanting something that I can learn on.
Would you ground layer with like a toothpick method or full layer?

Cheers!
User avatar
Raging Bull
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Posts: 835
Joined: January 3rd, 2017, 9:29 am
Favorite Species: Pines
Bonsai Age: 5
Bonsai Club: Gold Coast-Tweed
Location: Gold Coast Qld
Has thanked: 81 times
Been thanked: 197 times

Re: Privet dig or not to dig

Post by Raging Bull »

Hi Pat, not sure what you mean by toothpick method. I would remove a ring of bark and cambium where you want the roots to grow, apply rooting hormone (to be on the safe side) and then heap the soil up to cover the cut and keep watered on a regular basis. To be safe you could pack chopped sphagnum moss around the cut area of the trunk to help keep it damp before mounding up the soil. Cheers, Frank.
shibui
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Posts: 7653
Joined: August 22nd, 2009, 8:41 pm
Favorite Species: trident maple
Bonsai Age: 41
Bonsai Club: Albury/Wodonga; BSV; Canberra; VNBC
Location: Yackandandah
Has thanked: 65 times
Been thanked: 1399 times
Contact:

Re: Privet dig or not to dig

Post by shibui »

Privet are so easy to layer you don't need to bother with toothpick method. Just covering the base with soil should get roots but you will probably get a better and quicker rooting if you ringbark and add hormone.
They are pretty easy to transplant. You could probably get away with just digging and cutting all the roots real short then treat it like a large cutting.

I can't see this becoming great bonsai any time soon (given enough time and skill anything can be converted) but any tree is worth playing with to learn if you have the space.
http://shibuibonsai.com.au/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Post Reply

Return to “Evergreen”