[Tutorial] Defoliation and root prune of Ulmus Procera

[bodhidharma]

O.K, the question was asked last night if you could totally defoliate an English Elm at this time of year. I did not know the answer to that and nobody chimed in so i presume we are in unchartered territory. I now want to know the answer to that question but i have taken it one step further and cut the rootball in half and repotted it into a lightly fertilised premium potting mix so it is not to spoilt I will update at weekly intervals as to what is happening with this tree.

TEST CASE STUDY.(Ulmus Procera..English Elm)
1) the tree is roughly ten years old and grown from a cutting.
2) the tree is very healthy and that is why i cut the rootball.
3) the tree has been defoliated and root pruned on 25/01/2011.
4) common type premium potting mix and very lightly fertilised.
5)will be in shade house conditions until if/when it buds.

It is not a quality tree by any means and it matters not if the experiment fails.

[Bretts]

Hey Bodi
Will be interesting how ya go. I was suggested to me that it was too late for defoliation of English Elm. I get the feeling that was an educated guess and they had not actually tried it this late. That was enough for me not to try it with mine this late in the season. That's also why I did not pass this on in the other thread.
That said I am looking forward to how this one responds.
Great Stuff

[MattA]

It is not a quality tree by any means and it matters not if the experiment fails.

I did a quick light chop for you ...

elm.JPG

This is going to be an interesting one to watch, excellent aftercare is the key. Do you use a watering system in your shadehouse or water by hand? Will you mist it at other times?

Matt

[bodhidharma]

Thanks for the chop Matt I will treat it the same as any other tree that i have. No special treatment for it. A light mist water twice a day until i have bud break. Then i will resume its normal watering. If i baby it i personally think there would be no point to the experiment. The main thing i will be monitering is temperature and humidity. In Central Victoria it can go very cool overnight and windy so i will protect it against that.

[de_keizer]

i dont know how relivent this is but ill post anyway, i cut back a chinese elm maybe a week or 2 ago taking most of the leaves of in the process. i left very little in the way of leaves and today i found that it way throwing out buds. i dont know how relivent this is english elms but i would think that they are similar.

[bodhidharma]

Thanks for the info D.K. Where is St Mary's? You would think Chinese and English elms would be similar but they are not. The growth patterns of English and Chinese Elms are very different. Internode distance on new growth is vastly different between the two. Leaf size reduction is also more difficult with English Elms.

[Webos]

On January 4th, I completely defoliated an Elm purchased from Bodhidharma and it has now, 3 weeks later, fully leafed back out. The tree was kept in semi-shade for that period and shows nothing but strong growth. So, I'm imagining that you'll have no problems whatsoever.

Webos

[Damian Bee]

Bodhi, I have what I think is an English elm which needs a repot because it dried up 3 weeks ago and dropped the lot. this week with a little feeding and water it is budding up nicely and mine was NOT healthy so I get the feeling that you will have a keeper there

[de_keizer]

bodhidharma st marys is near penrith in nsw

[bodhidharma]

It has now been 7 days since the Elms Root prune and total defoliation and it is getting buds all over the tree and already swelling. I anticipate bud burst within the week. The next thing to moniter will be leaf size and how dense the foliage will be. The weather has been warm to hot (30 c plus) and quite humid. The tree has been protected from winds in my glass Atrium and only watered once a day lightly in the evening and misted in the morning. So, based on this we can safely say, with right conditions, you can defoliate at the end of January. WE WILL WAIT TO SEE HOW MUCH IT HAS IMPROVED THE TREE. KEEP YOU POSTED.

[Damian Bee]

[bodhidharma]

It is the 5/02/11 and the Elm has bud burst.(well, some anyway) It looks very healthy and content. The weather has been warm and humid which has benefited the whole process. I wonder what would happen if i defoliated again

[Bretts]

I thought the main concern would be that it has enough time for the foliage to harden of before the end of the growing season?

[bodhidharma]

[quote="Bretts"]I thought the main concern would be that it has enough time for the foliage to harden of before the end of the growing season?[/quot

Two things will be interesting to watch. Will it have time to produce next years new Buds, and if it does not what will happen.? Will it just go on growing next spring like nothing happened, will it bud later than the other Elms? Will it kill off its main branches and just throw new shoots at the base. What if i stripped off the new buds now and the tree went into early dormancy would it be able to produce new buds next spring. I know not On my older Elm the sacrifice branches, which weren't defoliated, has the buds at the base which are now brown but the defoliated leaves have little green buds probably not hardened off but still there. I dont know the answer to the questions but i will watch and learn.

[bodhidharma]

It is now ten days since budding appeared and i would say it is fully leafed out now. there are dormant buds at the base of the leaf and it is in sun to harden of the leaves. I would say that the question has been answered as to defoliation in late January. Also, root pruning is possible but i dont think bare root work would be appropriate at this time.