Hello everyone ,
I was walking along a path in the forest, a few days ago, taking some pictures of the local landscapes since it was a nice sunny day ,i came across some ruins of an ancient graveyard and on one of the walls there was a tree stump that was growing new branches. exploring it i thought it could make great material for bonsai but it doesnt look easy to collect as the roots have grown many meters away from the trunk. i have posted a picture underneath , does anybody else think its good material and if so
could you give me advice on how to improve my chances of success in collecting it ?





Thanks a bunch
regards
Nico

Is it Ash? You need to wait until the tree is dormant, all leaves dropped. You will have to prune the roots to get it into any form of container. Not sure what kind of soil to use as there is not much there to take. Good luck

Yeah its ash , sorry I didn't say . I had the same dilemma about the soil I was thinking of bringing a few bricks with it i will try bring as much roots and soil as possible with it and then thinking of planting it in mostly grit and gravel to simulate the bricks it is on .
Is that a good idea ? And is it a good idea to prune it back after cutting all them roots ?
Thanks
Nico

Looks interesting, but seems very difficult to retrieve it.
The visible roots are probably useless as they will not have fine feeder roots.
I guess you'll need at least part of the roots that are in the soil... seems you'll have to tear down part of that wall

Mmmm when I was there I tried having a look under the tree to find some feeders but didn't quite see any I tried to follow the long roots aswell but there where far to many :blink: . Maybe its a better idea if I cut the roots this year and cover it with some compost ,hoping that it will create some fibrous roots ,then collect it next year ,
Anybody think thats a good idea ?
Regards
Nico

When dormants, cut HALF of the roots. So, every other. They will then be able to sprout in the compost you add. Make sure you water the compost so it does never dry out completely. Then in fall next year, you will have a collectable tree. Do look up on Ash as bonsai though. I would worry about leave size & courseness of the branches.

Ok thanks everyone
I think that is what I will do ill just prepare it for next year but I am a little scared that someone might remove it for some reason .
I have looked up a few examples of ash bonsai and I like what I see , but reading on it I understand that its a difficult tree to bonsai and that it could only make a large size one due to the leave size , however,the tree im planning to collect is pretty big and the leaves are quite small so I think that with time it will make a good specimen.
I have a few questions tho :
What sort of compost could I use after cutting the roots to make them sprout and could I help the process with rooting gel ?
Should I prune the branches back after root pruning and by how much ?
Does anybody else have an ash that could give me some advice on styling ?
Thanks everyone
Nico

As is above as is beneath. So pruning in those regions beneath requires pruning in the regions above.
My ashes look nowhere near yours, so I can't really give you valuable advise regarding styling.

Best of luck.

Ok i will prune it then but should i do it before root pruning, just after or wait untill it recovers ?
Thanks
nico

good thread! keep it going let us know how you progress would be good to see what could come of this!