My collected elm has different leaf sizes!

denny

i collected this elm out of my moms backyard,it was growing very close to her shead making it difficult to dig out.
after i got it home it recovered with one branch sporting these tiny leaves,and normal sized leaves on the other branch.how could that happen?
on the bottom pic,what do i do with these oh so straght branchs to give them more movement.
and look like a trunk?
[img:d5c5a71fea]http://a8.cpimg.com/image/DC/A4/10829788-2912-01EC0252-B.jpg[/img]
[img]http://a6.cpimg.com/image/7C/C1/10830716-e44e-014801E0-B.jpg[/img:d5c5a71fea]

__________________
Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.

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Shambhala

That is weird... My quince has one flower that has a different number of petals than the others, any idea on how that happened?

TreeBay

Which size leaves did the tree have when you saw it in the ground, Denny?

Sometimes trees foliage mutates and produces what is called "Witches Broom" or "Witch's Broom" type growth that is naturally dwarfed.

Other times the naturally dwarfed trees revert to a more normal pattern of growth.

What kind of elm is it?, you should definitely try taking some cuttings and seeing if you can propagate some of the dwarf growth. * Who knows, you could have a variety named after you one (or your dog?) one day.

Regards,

Matt

P.S. Nothing wrong with your original title. I just create more descriptive ones sometimes. It helps the forum visitors and search engines.

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Scott_uk

just a thought could the left side be a lower graft as the verigated chinese elm has small leaf and the normal has the larger common leaf.
Scott

denny

im not sure what elm it is.lots of chinese elm seedlings around here.
the leaf size was the larger when i dug it up,the folage died off and that branch and returned smaller.
definatly not a graft,just a wild sprout.
no help on the trunk eh?
the titles fine matt.

__________________
Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.

erubeck

One of the methods to decrease leaf size on deciduous trees is to defoliate it. The new leaves will be smaller than the first. Perhaps this happened on the tree before you collected it. Just my two cents worth.

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Regards,

Ed

GaryS

Denny,
Could it have been sprayed with Roundup at your Mom's place? Sometimes if part of a tree is sprayed with that
weed killer the leaves will turn small like that. I've done it.

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GaryS

Tony

It could be a sport but there are other possibilities. Sometimes elm trees with muultiple trunks [ low branches] will just decide to feed one and starve the others. From the picture it looks like the right side of the tree has all the large leaves and the left side is being is short changed. It looks as the the right trunk has become the *[tip top] leader. Elms are very apex dominant in ther growth habits and will put most of there energy into extending that apex. Suckers from the root will do the same thing. My best guess is that the the right trunk has become the prominate leader and is getting most of the nutrients from the roots, therefore larger leaves. *One way to know for sure is to prune the right trunk down lower than the left. If those leaves on the left trunks stay small with short internodes then you truly have a cutivar that you can name.

Tony