I collected my first tree from the wild today. It was growing on the side of a mountain and I got permission to remove it as it is so small.

I got the whole root system it came out quite easily.

My question is :

Are there too much to sustain all of the trunks or should I cut some away?

2 of the many roots it has had grown vertical so I had to trim them to fit in the pot. I put a growth hormone on the remaining roots.

I think it is a maple but again I'm not sure. My hope is to keep it alive in the pot and use it for a bonsai project in a few years.

Any and all help or feed back would be greatly appreciated

I'm no expert but I don't think it's a maple going by its leafs

now that i look at it properly your correct its not a maple. any ideas what it could be?

Its only a thought of mine, but I think when you collect from nature you look for specific trees, ones that are grown and already developed by nature, to some extent at least. Getting such youngees is fine but I personally lose the purpose of taking em out of the nature. Good luck with your new buddies.

What if the OP tried air layering an established tree? If it was private land I would imagine he would have to get permission from the land owner. But it is a relatively easy prices. It involves ring barking an established tree, wrapping a ball of wet miss around it and securing that in place with a plastic bag. Of course the exposed bark needs to be shared with rooting hormone powder first.

Could the OP not simply do that If he wanted to collect specimens from the wild?

Of course one can air layer. That however also requires ubderstandin of what would make a good tree. Too often people layer thin banchlets, rather than semi finished trunklines.
I agree with previous posters. If you colkect, get something somewhat.mature. this is still very young. Dont worry about roots. It will live. Looks like a willow.

Thanks for all your replies. I think your right about it been a willow.


Don't see many of them as bonsai unfortunately.

tommyboy26 wrote: Don't see many of them as bonsai unfortunately.

I do see quite a few looking 'm up using Google images.
There are two in my collection of maybe-future-pre-bonsai.

Sorry I meant on the species guide on this site

Did some work on this willow today see pic attached.

It was my first attempt at wiring and it's probably not a good job but I like the look of the tree