BC repot done, Elm root question

thedavidzoo

Finished my repot of the BC this weekend. Whew. I got this tree from a landscaper Oct 06, repotted it in the same 50? gallon pot after some major thick root pruning and initial trunk chop in Mar 07.
Strong winds ripped off my new leader which had grown out of control bushy by end of May. That was fine since I thought the chop was too tall for my liking anyway. I rechopped further down that same spring (and left a better support behind the new leader bud). Mid summer 07 I chopped the new leader and started growing the 3rd piece that will hopefully be the new apex. I pretty much let all branches grow wild all year.
You can see the old soil level. The tree is 31 inches from current soil line to top of skinny leader and 8" wide at the trunk base. I think I will eventually cut away the 2 thinner roots front right.
What I discovered this repot:
1. Letting those 2 major branches grow unhindered for the summer really thickened up the trunk directly below the branches-more flare. Although now I have some pretty big scars to heal over, visible right below the 2 baby branches that come out the back.
2. When I made my initial "tap' root cut a year ago, I should have left more on the bottom and trimmed away more of the top "buttress" roots. If I had known what was really tangled up in all that root mess initially, I could have had another 3 inches in root spread at the surface. In my effort to make the root system shallow, I wasted some good stuff underneath...

Now I hope it takes off and I can start some branch formation.
Any comments?

Now on to my CHinese Elm. Got it on Ebay Fall 06. I didn't realize what a poor thing it really was. (Serves me right!). Wire was impedded and rusted, etc., etc. with an ugly trunk twist, etc., etc. Anyway, trunk chopped it way down and started regrowing branches and new leader. This spring I totally missed my repot window with this guy. He popped leaves out so fast.

Question is: why are my roots so ugly? I know the bark is supposed to flake, but the roots are just, plain ugly. I thought about sticking a rock underneath the "floating" roots. I added a pic of an elm that I am trying more or less to emulate.

Attached Images

	May07.JPG (36.6 KB, 65 views)
	Mar08.JPG (42.6 KB, 86 views)
	ElmRoots.JPG (72.2 KB, 85 views)
	similar chinese elm.jpg (50.3 KB, 81 views)

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MarcS

The roots aren't ugly at all.

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thedavidzoo

I was wondering if burying the roots for a year would help them become "smoother" and more filled in, as in one mass. Or should I just raise the soil level and hide what I consider to be the ugly parts.

__________________
"A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees."
W. Blake

zen

If you want you can just raise the soil level over the parts that you don't like.

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thedavidzoo

I'' post some progress pics of my bald cypress when the branches emerge. Hopefully, I'll get some constructive advice on styling.

__________________
"A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees."
W. Blake