AusBonsai

I present to you my ugliest elm - an ulmus pumila, Siberian elm. I'm not quite sure what to do with this, so any ideas would be greatly appreciated. When I dug this, it was buried up to the knobby part, and I thought, "Hey, what a great little clump!" Then when repotting it, I found that it had 5 or 6 cm of trunk underneath the soil. I ended up using it with other trees I dug that day to make a group, but every time I look at it, the reverse taper is so glaring I think about ripping it out of the pot and throwing it away. Without further ado . . .
Again, please share your ideas. What would you do with this ugly beast if it were on your bench?

You are right, it's damn ugly. There is only one way - cut it back to something that isn't ugly, put it back in the ground and grow it on. Never put up with something that doesn't look right, particularly in the early stages - if you do, you'll still be hating it in five or ten years' time. Probably cut to under the blob, and when it is growing on only leave one leader, and no side shoots for now - therefore no ugly lumps. Build the trunk, then build the branches.

Also be careful about scale - it can be a trap. If your first two cuts, and first two angles, are fairly close together, it's going to be a small tree. If you want a large tree, make your early cuts in proportion. And let it thicken for longer before you cut.

Best of luck. I've taken years to face up to decisions I should have taken in the first twelve months.

Gavin

I would cut off the branches on either side of the last photo and use the middle branch as a new leader. I would nibble away with a big pair of branch cutters to taper it to the new leader. Then I would let the roots escape into the ground and feed it heavily.

go with your original thought -bury it deep again and ground layer it

Yep.
If possible I agree to ground layer at the knob to convert the reverse taper into flare.
This will give you your original clump option.

If I can put my worth in how about cutting on an angle 1st picture use the branch on the right and cut the blob down on an angle and use the right branch as the leader. Cut this down to increase the ramification.



This is what I would do if it was my tree.

Regards
Rae

Thanks for the ideas everybody, and for the virtual too Rae, all great ideas. I'll most likely stew it over for another few weeks before I find time to do much of anything with it, but I'll update when I do. Something definitely needs done, though. This thing makes me grimace every time I look at it.

I was really keen on doing the layer and getting a clump going, but the more I looked at what was there, it would then just be an ugly clump I wasn't happy with and no real gain. So I decided to prune it back hard and carve the ugly bit off. I hope it will heal over - it's a pretty big wound. I'm trying PVA glue to seal the wound as I haven't been happy with the stuff I was using. If it doesn't work well, then I'll probably just break down and buy some actual cut paste. I took Rae's idea for which secondary trunk to keep as the new leader. Hopefully it will turn out to not be hideous in the future. It does already look better though, so I doubt I can lose at this point.
Thanks again for the advice on this one everybody!

Karl,

Thanks for the faith, I hope that I didn't steer you wrong.

Looks great though doesn't it.
Look forward to the ramification, that will develop over time.

Keep the photos coming.



Regards
Rae