Collecting Dogwood

Pheminyne

my mother is allowing me a week to collect a flowering dogwood that is currently under the shade of a large ash. it's about 17 years old, but is only 5' tall, about 4" around at the base, budding back profusely, and is straining for some sun. she wanted to cut it down!!! if i don't get it by this weekend she surely will!

i don't have a picture of it at this point, but as i said it is budding back well, and has nice taper and nebari, but very little branching. i know i should cut the larger roots and wait a while but this isn't really an option. i'm planning on grabbing one of the large cement mixing tubs from home depot and planting it in that for a while. i'd love to be able to plant it in the ground, but i'm renting. my only other idea is to keep the humidity up after i collect it until it recovers. i've never collected anything of this size before, and i'd love any suggestions anyone may have in order to keep it alive.

any other suggestions for loving aftercare? should i even be trying to collect this tree? it's ok for bonsai, right? it will need to be trunk chopped eventually, when is it ok to do that?

thanks in advance

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Phem

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Pheminyne

couple more questions

what size container would be good for something like this? i can go up to a 20 gal round tote.

as it is raining here (again!) in south east pennsylvania, should i wait till it dries out some or is it ok to dig it up while the ground is soggy?

it is closer to 8' than i had originally thought.

Attached Images

flowering dogwood.jpg (71.6 KB, 413 views)

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Pheminyne

i got it out last night. i believe there are enough fine feeder roots right near the surface to keep it alive, more than i expected there would be. i think this is due to the fact that it was growing right over a rock embedded in solid clay, with only about 8" of topsoil on the surface. i couldn't get the rock out, it was huge, so i just took as much of the roots as i could dig out. i dug about a 2' diameter circle and about 1' deep. i really hope i did ok, this tree was planted on my mom's property when my little brother was born. i can't even believe she wanted it out so badly. (she's nuts) oh well, it has sentimental value for me, and i want to do everything i can to keep it alive, even if it ends up not being suitable for bonsai. i think i'm just going to let it grow till fall, and maybe chop it then?

pics to come this afternoon!

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Phem

BonsaiMon

Pheminyne,
I glad you continued to post even though no responses to your
questions. I haven't seen many dogwoods collected successfully
for bonsai, .. Plus it is out of season for collecting.
You cut out a sizable root mass and if it does have alot of feeder roots then you may save it...
Hope for the best..

peace,
tom stoute

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peace,
tom stoute

http://bonsaiinsights.spaces.live.com/

Pheminyne

thanks tom!

i had read that these are very difficult to collect, but this tree seems to be very strong willed! plus, i really didn't have much choice as my mother said if i didn't get it out she was going to 'cut it down and pour bleach on the stump' which i did NOT want to happen! i was as gentle as i could be collecting this. the bucket is packed full of roots, although i did have to cut a few of the thicker ones to get it in there. i really hope i can save it. i used the coarse leftovers from my hand-sifted soil to plant it.

here is a pic of it planted in a 20gal tote:

Attached Images

flowering dogwood.jpg (65.5 KB, 315 views)

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Pheminyne

and here is a close-up of the trunk...
any suggestions?

Attached Images

flowering dogwood trunk.jpg (61.0 KB, 302 views)

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Jay

Hi, not familiar with the collection of these trees but just a few general thoughts.

1- it would have died if you didn't try
2- You will be removing those large roots in time anyway
3- The large roots are not that important to the tree, the small fine roots that were attached to the thick roots are the ones to be concerned about
4- Give the tree time.... let it be and do nothing to it for a while, at least till next year. I think (perhaps someone else can confirm) that if it does well this year you can repot it next spring before leaf break and remove more of the thick roots.
5-You gave the tree a chance, perhaps it will reward you with becoming a Bonsai. I have seen Dogwoods as Bonsai.

Jay

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Pheminyne

thanks for your response jay!
you are definitely right about it dying if i didn't try, at least i know i didn't just let it get the bleach treatment!
i wasn't too hesitant about cutting the larter roots, but i just hope i was careful enough about getting the old packed clay soil out of there that i didn't break any of the finer roots
i was going back and forth between reducing some of the branches (because of the greatly reduced roots) and just leaving it alone, but i think it will show me which branches needed reduced, if any, by die-back, which at this point, as long as the tree itself lives, it can do whatever it needs to do and i will be one happy tree-hugger
all i can do is hope and pray and give it some love!

just an aside: that large ash that this dogwood was growing under was transplanted when i was ten, about 18 years ago, mostly because i cried and begged the builders not to just kill it, but to give it a chance, it was growing right where our kitchen was to be! it was dug out with very little roots, about a backhoe full of dirt, and placed crookedly in our front yard. it stayed dormant for a full year before it leafed out, but when it did i was SO happy! i'm hoping the tenacity of that ash has kind of rubbed off on my little dogwood

here's the front yard before i collected it:

Attached Images

front yard.jpg (72.5 KB, 302 views)

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Tony

That's still alot of foliage for the root system to support. Too much in my opinion. I would take the top of the tree completely off and just leave the branch to the right. You won't be using the top in your bonsai design anyway. When collecting a tree like this, especially out of season, you need to be careful not to overwork the newly pruned root system. That's the main killer of collected trees.

Tony