Today was a nice, chilly winter day. It wasn’t too cold, nor was it rainy, so you’re basically talking about perfect collecting weather. I gather most of my deciduous material in January and February each year, and that includes hawthorns.
Most of my collecting trips result in at least one really awesome piece that makes the whole trip worthwhile. Today it was this nice old riverflat hawthorn, Crataegus opaca. The base is 2.75″ at soil level and it’s 20″ to the chop. You can’t beat the trunk movement, and the roots aren’t too shabby either. I’m looking forward to working on this tree in 2016, and will post updates as it progresses.
Here’s a specimen that had enough fibrous roots to go straight to a bonsai pot. The trunk base is 2″ and the height is 12″ to the chop. I think this nice Byron Myrick oval works really well with it.
I anticipate plentiful trunk buds on this one come spring, meaning I shouldn’t have any problem creating a branch structure. In a few years, this will be a showable hawthorn bonsai.
Same story with this one. Again, enough fibrous roots to go straight to a bonsai pot. This one is a Chuck Iker round, very nice. The trunk base of this tree is 1.75″ and it’s 15″ to the chop.
If you haven’t worked with hawthorn as a species yet, I highly recommend it. They’re not hard to collect, if you gather your own – the wood is pretty tough, but I use a cordless reciprocating saw. If you’re not into collecting your own, keep an eye on our Hawthorn page as spring gets closer.
Hawthorns backbud very well and grow quickly, which makes training a breeze. All of the species have small leaves, and leaf size reduces even further in bonsai training. I haven’t found there to be any peculiar horticultural requirements for them – you’ll get aphids from time to time and mealybugs, but they’re easy enough to kill.
One final note: I did not lose a single hawthorn in my Winter 2014 ice-snow-freeze disaster. They’re really hardy!
Follow-up questions about the roots. Assume my Hackberry and American Elm trees are growing well. The trunk is not yet at a desired thickness. But it is time to dig trees up and address the roots…. to hard prune the roots and put the trees back in the ground for continued growth with the corrected roots….Now the questions:
1. Does hard pruning a root stop the thickening of that root? I mostly refer to that section of root near to the trunk.
2. If the roots are not yet quality nabari roots, to thin or small yet, is it better to not hard prune those roots and just let them grow thicker? Maybe prune those roots in 2-3 seasons when the tree is dug up again?
3. If the root area nearest the trunk is not developed well when dug up is is best to just clean the soil, replace the soil and put the tree back as is (no root pruning)?
4. Do the roots, especially those hard pruned, only gain thickness while growing in the ground?….and not at all while in a training box or basin?
5. Do the roots while in a container, or in the ground, develop thickness up near the trunk as the new fine roots develop near the tip where the root was cut?
John, here are the answers to your questions as best as I understand them – not having a lot of ground growing experience. 1. Hard pruning of a root will slow the thickening of it near the trunk dramatically. 2. Don’t hard prune any root you want to thicken. 3. Yes. 4. For the most part, yes. I’ve seen sweetgum roots thicken in a pot, but it’s a hit or miss proposition as the tree decides whether it wants to do so or not. 5. No. Fine root growth does not cause thickening of the root supporting it.
I think I am to timid when root pruning. I may leave way more than enough roots when harvesting a tree out of the ground. This tree will grow on from that few roots? What does one of these tree roots look like after a year or two? I am particularly interested in American Elm and Hackberry (Celtis Sinensis).
John, this is a great question. The short answer is yes, the trees will survive and re-grow with very little root mass remaining after collection. I’m going to write a blog post on this topic, to go in more detail. Stay tuned.