Finally Collected 1st Tree! Western Hemlock - All Ideas Welcome!

Happy Gilmore

Well we just finished a holiday involving a couple inlaw events. I did get away one day to go scouting for potensai My scouting and tips given to me yielded a fun day checking some various pines and hemlocks and deciding on this hemlock. Took me some 3 hours to progressively remove as much rock as possible. The hemlock trunk almost immediately went horizontal upon exiting the rock from which it's in a semi circle horizontal shape about 42" in diameter. At the same trunk base is/was several vine maples growing as well. This still has me bothered as it's very hard to know how much root I was able to collect for the hemlock as I wasn't going to risk full root separation of the maple and hemlock during collection. Virtually no soil present and many rock layers removed to collect the roots I did get. I only had to sever one very large anchor root and then two much smaller roots that I was aware of during the collection, how key they were to it's survival only time will tell I'll see.

I know I'm a rookie at this and some (if not all) would suggest practising on young small trees, I chose to take this tree and understand my odds aren't the same as an experienced collector.

I saw/see a lot of potential in it as a type of cascade or if planted at a different angle many other possibilities I'm sure are present with the numerous trunks and curvature present. Taper is very good at trunk base IMO. If I was confident in what I wanted I'd remove excess foliage right now, but I don't have a clear picture at present so it's still as was collected some 5 days ago. I planted it in a mostly sawdust and chopped sphagnum moss with a small amount of sand, it's fairly compact as I tied the burlap sack tight around the soil and then a single layer of filter cloth around that to retain any fine at present and for cleaner travel (we just got home last night). I misted it with a mild B1 vit. solution several times daily since collection and have watered it a small amount once daily after initial heavier watering. I have noticed overall weight drop prior to watering so water's either being consumed or evaporating in some manner. Actual roots removed seemed very small to me so is my main concern.

I know the pictures are hard for virtuals but I really wanted to minimize handling and so potted it quick (large family due was starting and I was head BBQ master) to get it as stable as could be, leaving vine maple trunks for tying burlap to etc.

If someone's inclined to do virt's I'll get some better pic's when time allows.

I'm catching up from being out of town but wanted to share this bonsai excitement with someone and initiate this post(friends/family think it's somewhat nutty at times!). Thanks for listening and all comments welcome! If you think it's poor material let me know, I'm very green at this and welcome all thoughts.

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Happy Gilmore

Above pic was looking straight on at trunk base (with digital camera extended out as I clung to the rock). One below is looking down slightly at the tree from slightly above it's horizontal foliage.

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and here's the base of the trunk as it exits the rock, with vine maple trunks in front of the hemlock trunk. Vine maple was somewhat exposed with hemlock much harder to expose in the rock layers. You can see the main trunk sweeping right and going horizontal quickly with notable taper. Second smaller trunk going left with a major branch right near it's trunk base.

FWIW, I found no tree roots within the moss clumps at all, this surprised me (moss easily came away in one clump with no tie to the trees in all but one case of concealed moss not visible in pics).

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Happy Gilmore

here it is post collection in a very brief period I had it out of it's sphagnum moss packing and then into the new sawdust/moss soil. This view is basically straight on to the tree as per original 'discovery' but looking up at it slightly and the vine maple trunks just naturally rotated down and away slightly. I rotated them up and tight to the tree when I planted and tied burlap to these vine trunks to secure it and tied the hemlock trunk to these as well to keep all roots as stable as possible IMO.

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and this pic is 180 degrees around, from the backside (it had maple trunks front and back)

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another view

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and one last view for now, thanks for reading, looking forward to any thoughts!

PS, I'm wondering what type/size of pot would be best at present to place it in? (I assume I'll leave the burlap sack tied up tight and place it in a pot as is with additional soil packed in around the burlap sack??) How long will it be before I get a strong feeling if this trees going to survive this collection, 3 weeks? or....? And lastly, how long should one wait before doing any styling/training on such a collected tree? 1 yr, 2 yr's or

Thanks!

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Happy Gilmore

PS, found this
comparison of root density for mature hemlock in various soils, coarse woody vs. others

indicates decayed wood to be best natural medium for hemlock, hopefully my spagnum and sawdust will be appropriate!

TreeBay

Did you thin any of the foliage? You ought to, if you have not. Trim, say 1/2 to 2/3 of the existing foliage, but keep some strongly growing tips. That's to keep it in balance with the root system. I don't know how much of that was lost.

It will be a couple of months in order to know whether the tree will survive.. You're looking for strong growth.

Regards,

Matt

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