As promised Michael, neither pot is ideal but it shows the improvement.
After a severe repotting and removal of heavy roots, my Hawthorn has really pushed hard. This is it after a trim .
I’ve had this tree for about 10 years and have never done much with it. I pruned back now and again, I think I even wired it at one point a few years back. I toyed with the idea of layering off the top at one point last year but opted against it. I brought it into the garage on Friday night past for a look and after some tilting and thinking I decided that it was time for a little work and a repot.
This was it just off the bench. A big lump of wood.
Some nice movement in the trunk line, not a lot of taper but I still like the image.
I changed the front slightly to show the movement off better and tilted the tree into a slightly more upright position.
The root at the right hand side was possibly dead. I wouldn’t know until I repot.
I did some basic wiring and removed some of the unnecessary branches.
Transferred over to the repotting table.
Tools at the ready.
Mix at the ready too.
During the repotting I was able to get a good look at that root and although it was partially alive, it was extremely weak and I was able to remove and do a little basic carving. This can be refined at a later date.
This was the problem root. I needed to twist the tree about 20 degrees to a new front. This root would not allow me to fitr the tree into the pot at the new position.
I was able to remove the fine root from the last few inches without impacting to much on the health of the tree.
This allowed me to remove this portion to facilitate the new position.
About 2 years ago I remember nicking the underside of the baby trunk in an attempt to get it to root. Not a great success but it did root.
Outside for a watering. I had to get my eldest son to assist with the repot as it would have been impossible to do this on my own. He snapped a few shots while I was watering it in.
This is the new position. Pot is not ideal but the only one I had that worked. I now have a basic structure to work with and must admit that I rather like the mother and child image that is created by leaving the small secondary trunk. Not for everyone but I like it. I looks as if Mum is protecting the child. I wouldn’t mess with her, she bites like Suarez 🙂
Now tucked away in the tunnel to keep it out of the wind for a few weeks until it settles down. I see a few flower buds on the tree as well.
My Dancing Hawthorn is probably the further on growth wise of all my Hawthorn this year. Still early days structurally but going in the right direction. Pot for training not for life 🙂
I have just repotted my Hawthorn Air layer for the first time. The full story up until now can be read and seen HERE.
It was originally layered back in 2010 and it was now time to repot to enable me to removed the sphagnum moss that had been left intact so that the new roots wouldn’t be disturbed.
Before repot.
Plenty of root to work with
Buds swelling fast, a good time to repot.
Removal of the old stump below the layer point
Getting rid of the old sphagnum moss that will hold way too much water and will cause problems in the roots if left.
Potted up. It will get a full year and then some styling decisions will be made next year.
Another angle to show movement.
Paul Bowerbank sent this altered virtual of the hawthorn in the previous post having removed the long branch to the right. I must admit I’m very tempted to do it right now 😀 It gets rid of a now very pronounced straight section. However, I will leave all alterations for a while giving myself time to make a few decisions. I will build most of the structure within this tree by clip and grow, only wiring when I absolutely must. Wired branches on hawthorn stand out a mile when you see their artificial bends during the Winter.
This twin trunk raft Hawthorn of mine has been a great tree to play with and learn from in recent years. Its a vigorous tree but by it’s very nature has been a problem for me to come up with a convincing design. As you can see from the photo, the two apexes are very close to the same height and also the raft/root portion of the tree is unconvincing as it rises out of the pot in places.
I discussed this tree with Peter Warren during a workshop last year and he suggested that the tree be tilted to the right to raise the left apex higher. This would also lower the other trunk line down to the soil surface closing the gap and make a more convincing design. I had already toyed with this idea during the previous repot but at that point it wasn’t possible due to the heavy root to the left. It would be raised out of the pot and would ruin the design. Peter said that this time around I might be able to reduce the root further back allowing for the change. This is the root in question.
This would be the new angle
I don’t have a suitable pot for the new position but I wanted to repot the tree and see if it was possible to carry out this alteration. If I was able to change the root now, I could pot the tree into a temporary training box and then keep an eye out for a suitable pot for a transfer next year.
When I took it out of the pot, it had done it’s usual thing, and had circled the pot with roots.
I removed all the long roots and had a close look at the problem heavy root. By working back step by step I was able to removed sufficient root to allow me to make the new angle. Here you can see how much was removed.
Happy to remove this heavy bit considering the strength of the tree.
This was what was circling the pot!
This is the tree potted in a training box at it’s new angle. See the change in the apex heights and also how much more convincing the surface roots are. I might tilt a little further yet but for now I’m happy until I can find a suitable pot.
I’m sure someone out there now is saying ‘Shell Pot’ 🙂 I’m not a lover of the shell but this might be nice. This is a virtual I made after PW ‘s visit. And this angle would definitely be achievable now.
Yes, Stephen managed to find his way to my house, so we had four for the potting up session. 🙂
We had to do some major shuffling of trees in and out of protective cover before we started but space was found for everything. The spruce were potted first and put into a tunnel with last years spruce. Sphagnum moss only seems to be the way to go with Sitka Spruce. Last years trees loved it producing a lot of fresh roots.
We then moved on to the Hawthorn. The first one Stephen lifted bit him on the forehead, opps! We experimented a little with mixes to try out different options, time will tell.
Ben also brought a few trees of his own to get potted and we both finished these off before calling it a day. I didn’t take many photos to be honest, it was a very busy session and dirty hands and cameras don’t mix. You will see a triple trunk in the gallery that I lifted. Bark not very mature compared to some of the others but a nice tree for the future all the same.
Stephen was quick to point out that he was the oldest there yesterday but with all of us mumbling about aches and pains, he said he was the fittest of the four of us!! I would like to point out that he took Friday off by virtue of senile dementia setting in and his failure to find the collecting site when he was half a mile away at one point. Fittest my arse 🙂
Today I plan to catch up with some of my regular repotting on my own. I’m actually looking forward to a little time on my own in the garage with the radio on and wee trees for company. Spring must be in the air 🙂
Yesterday we were supposed to be four but we ended up as three, well two and a half as Ben is the baby/new boy in the group 🙂 Stephen was coming late and was last seen throwing his satnav from the car window and returning home 😛
We ploughed on without the baker and managed to get the ‘all important’ permission from the land owner. Not easy to track down as everyone who seemed to own the land was either dead, moved, or was a millionaire recluse!! After a chat with the owner about, cattle, pigs, money grabbing sisters and how to tell the difference between spruce and fir, we managed to make a start in the first of two fields.
I got off to a flyer by ripping my hand on barbed wire fencing! The Hawthorn we were after were hard to collect. Rocky ground and deep roots meant that many were not worth the effort. We did however collect 7 before lunch. We had to stop as Ben’s stomach was making noises that were scaring the local wildlife!
After lunch we moved to the other field which proved to be better. There is even scope for a return visit for further collecting. At this point we knew Stephen had given up and buggered off back south to Belfast. We wanted to make a return visit to our old Spruce site to see what we had missed. When we got there, we found 3 spruce worth the effort, 2 of which are rather special, for us any way. We had great success with these last year only losing 1 of the 5 collected and it was rather short of viable roots. These three root wise are looking good. Part of the site had been bulldozed and if we hadn’t lifted the ones last year, they would have been destroyed. Lucky break!
Anyway, here’s the day in photos. Might even do a trip video for a laugh 🙂 Potting up tomorrow.
This morning Phil, Stephen, Ben and I go collecting Hawthorn, we hope! It’s a new site, and we hope the quality is good but we still have to get permission. We have a good track record with permission getting so fingers crossed for tomorrow. We do have a plan ‘B’ just in case. No, it’s not just steal them!! We have another site nearby. This is the field we hope to be wandering around at about 10am 🙂
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