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| During a recent trip to my "secret swamp" I spied a White Cedar(Thuja) with beautiful deadwood and a fantastic nebari. The problem is, the tree is about 10 ft tall, with absolutely no branches lower than 5 feet. My question is, will a trunk chop below a living branch kill a Thuja, as it would most conifers? If so, is there something I can do to promote backbudding further down the trunk closer to the base? Or would it be best to pass on this amazing specimen and settle for pictures? |
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| The reason there is no foliage for the first 5 ft is deer. The problem is, if you collect it with no foliage, it may not back-bud in a container. If you chop it in place with the thought you'll collect at a later date, the deer will eat all the new foliage. You'd probably need to fence it to keep the deer away. A good strategy would be to cut the tree top off above viable branches & fence the tree after fertilizing well. Partially root prune next spring. Finish root pruning late next summer, and collect the tree in the spring of '12 if it has back-budded. It may help to cut back other trees in the immediate area if necessary to ensure it gets adequate sunlight. Al |
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- Posted by head_cutter Vietnam (My Page) on Tue, Jul 13, 10 at 1:11
| Loved Al's answer, we were discussing this part of collecting in another forum and I related this story. Stopped me from 'working' trees in the wild, no matter how 'secret' you think your 'special' place might be ;)) There was the far corner of an abandoned strip-mine in western Pa where I found a number of Scots Pines and Larch, all had been snowmobiled to the point that they were wonderful trees in the rough. For 2 seasons I worked six of them in the ground (the mine had been closed to snowmobiles and ATV's) pruning, wiring and pre-digging all of them. The spring of the 3rd year I returned and made preperations to lift them in early April. I removed all of the remaining wire, made sure that they were ready to lift and planned to return in a few weeks -- with help -- to hump them out the mile or so to the nearest road. I didn't return for almost two months due to bad weather. I had done a decent job, I guess. When I returned with my little 'work party' we found six empty holes...not even a thank you note !!!!! We did dig a few trees that day and, we took them with us. Bob |
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| No good deed goes unpunished... but think of how happy Bambi must have been! |
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