AusBonsai

I just collected a small English elm with great movement and have the opportunity to collect many more of a variety of sizes.
The question is how resilient are these trees as the ground is very rocky and I only get a very small amount of fibrous roots with the tree.
Is now the best time to dig? All leaves have dropped and seem to be dormant.
Will post some pics soon of what i got so far.

Isn't it illegal or something, to post a thread like this without pics?!

Come on! Don't keep us in suspence! Pics!

Ok before I get charged with the offence I will brave the cold and take a pic .
Give me 5 min!!

Here is the pics...
The trunk is approx 1 inch in diameter.
As you can see not much in the way of roots.
Are they hardy enough to take a beating this time of year?

Given that it is completely dormant I would not expect it to not shoot like normal come spring. I havent dug english elm before, but in general for deciduous trees of any species there is the chance of root rot if the ground or potting medium stay too wet before it starts to get going again. So dont overwater.

Matt

Nice movement... the roots look more than enough for you to have no probs with this one. You will have to work on improving the nebari over time but really nice find. I say get as many as you can, if you dont want all of them I am sure there are others around who wont mind taking them off your hands.

Yes they are very hardy enough. Did one last month and on this arvo. They will take roots very quickly. Your elm has very interesting movements. I would put it in a deep pot and when the new roots are long enough, I would do roots over rocks.
Cheers,
DK

kvan, I was thinking of root over rock too.
I was thinking about bare rooting then taping to a rock and planting in a large pot for a year or several!!!!!
Should I wait till some more roots establish for before trying this or just go ahead?

I have collected young English elms like this with roots very similar to yours and I don't think I lost one out about 20. You'll be fine.

Crowie wrote:kvan, I was thinking of root over rock too.
I was thinking about bare rooting then taping to a rock and planting in a large pot for a year or several!!!!!
Should I wait till some more roots establish for before trying this or just go ahead?

Even though these take roots quickly, you don't have much roots now to go over rock. I planted my in a 90mm down pipe about 40cm long and stood it up in a plastic pot with some soil in it at the base of the pot. 4 months later, I got roots going all the way down the pipe and into the pot ( a good way to check ifthe roots are good enough is to lift the pipe off the pot and see if roots have gone down). When this happens, you will have enough roots to wrap around any rock you like.
Cheers,
DK

....let it grow and after you make an air layer......for having young roots and making a nice ishitsuki or sekijoju

Several Years ago i grew some Maples for a root over rock
Like Kvan says, plant them iin a tube way above the soil in the pot. This will cause the roots to extend so you can wrap around the rock
See photo

As for elms they are really hard to kill. These should survive easily

Ken

Ay ay that the way to go Ken.