Roadside Yamadori / Melaleuca Ground Layer

[ShaneVE]

Hi All,
I drive past this tree a few times a week and decided to take a closer look today. I think it has nice character for a Mel and would like to create an informal upright styling with jin sections. The base of the trunk would be around 60mm diameter. Judging by google street view images, it is likely around 5 years old.

roadside_yama-04-2.jpg

roadside_yama-04-1.jpg

I tried digging the surrounding dirt out of the crack and encouraging the tree to freedom but this guy is dug in. Given the base and roots are all squashed into the crack anyway, I thought to try a ground layer. I was hoping to gather some guidance/pointers on a good way to execute extraction. I see a few other members have succeeded with similar, but is there a write up of how to do it someone knows of?

[Rory]

Street roadside collection advice for roots under the road:

Step 1: Go to a nursery and buy a Melaleuca in a pot.
Step 2: Refer to step 1.

[GavinG]

Sorry, the trunk itself doesn't look all that interesting - it's a lot of work for something you may not end up enjoying. If you can plunder friends' gardens for branches that have an interesting structure, layer away! Or, buy small things, grow them on, and create an interesting structure of your own!

Gavin

[BonsaJas]

Hey there, the answer to your question is get yourself a medium size plastic pot. Cut it so it’s about 10cm high and won’t be noticeable as much. Cut it down the side and the bottom and cut out a hole for the trunk. Wrap the pot around the tree. Use some kind of tape to tape up the cut in the side and bottom. You now have a container to put the layer mix in.

The only difficulty would be keeping the mixture wet. You might want to consider wiring from branches to the top of the pot as a kind of runoff encouragement.

Hope it works out for you.

Jas