Dear All,

Today I was helping some friends with their house renovation. They had made good progressions with the removal of the taxus hedgerow. Only stems of 2-3 inches thick,a nd maybe 4-7 inches tall were left. I asked them to not continue the destruction. Anybody some idea / picturees / links of what one could do with the stumps?

J.

Hi J,

My curiosity got the better of me. I googled Taxus Baccata and found this link ~ very cool! Hope it helps.. ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t5531-hard-pruning-taxus-baccata

Leslie

Hi Leslie,
Nice link. However, what this huy has done to his taxus I find not too interesting. It still looks like a trunc that is sprouting new growth

I am thinking about something like this:
www.flickr.com/photos/45271580@N07/5173661533/
or this:
1.bp.blogspot.com/_j1kJIsfNkNI/S-67pbOLX...ai_html_39a67c09.gif

If you could make that out of it, that would be great! How does the taxus looks like, do you have some pictures you can post here?

no pictures. but basically imagine a 30 year old hedgerow being trimmer down by someone in a hurry with a chainsaw. There are 3 or 4 trunc left in the ground. One a double one, roughly 30cm tall. The others more like 10, 15cm. No foliage to speak of.

The flickr shot I have in mind as a starting point for the talle one. The other link is better for the real short stumps (Unless I would have the patience to regrow an canopy for 5 years in full soil, but I think I don't
I thought I'd leave them for a month to resprout before moving, but they are moving in in 2 weeks and want to get rid of them before, sigh. I am consideringh bribing them in leaving the plants till winter. THen I'd go by next week, and cut some of the main roots and let it sitt till next year. But if moving has to be done, I will.

Furthermore, I have laid my hands potentially on a large taxus (2 meters tall, in 30 liter container). However, it is commercially grown (And very sick; that's why the gardencentre is getting rid of it for 20 euro's)_Not sure I can convince my wife of this one.

Hi J,

Speaking from my general knowledge of plants and what little I have learned of Bonsai, it seems you should be able to achieve the desired look you want by diligent removal of all unwanted leaf and branch sprouts thereby forcing the growth to the area you want to develope. Just a thought...what do you think? Does this make sense?

Leslie

Hi Leslie,

Yeah, that's what I was thinking of doing. And I am looking into some woodwork too, removing the blunt cuttop, and grinding it to a more pointed, eroded shape. Eventually I will strip all bark except for a small line to the living branches. But first I need to get it out of the soil it has been in for decades, and alive over the winter into the new season. Main consern: Keeping the stumps alive; Will probably plant it in 15cm containers with loads of nutrient-rich compost, dug into a sheltered spont into the garden to survive winter. Once the plant has established and starts groing next year..

i know some ausies that use styrofome coolers for rooting/training pots ...your guna need something big to pot those in, there is guna be alot of roots to reduce

manofthetrees wrote:

i know some ausies that use styrofome coolers for rooting/training pots ...your guna need something big to pot those in, there is guna be alot of roots to reduce

Hey Keith...the styrofoam coolers sound like a great idea! They would protect the roots from freezing over the winter in colder regions. Perhaps one could also place a layer of styrofoam (say from the cooler lid)just under the surface of the soil above the roots protecting them from deep frost, with a small hole cut to accomodate the trunk sticking through?

Leslie

That's a great idea! I might be using that technique on a certain mystery plant, if I decide to pot it in the ground. Come to think of it, it's an old bush that was trimmed down to a stump. I hope your stumps make it!
...
Wait, do they have to stay outside at all? What if you brought them inside? I don't think an "easy winter" could do too much harm with the state they're in. If you keep them inside, or maybe just in the garage, cold enough to be dormant without doing real harm, it might help them survive the winter.