Literati Prunus Spinosa 'Fifty' final potting from Duffet to Albright

Bob came over today and we spent the morning repotting a few of my trees. Having an extra pair of hands makes the job so much easier.

This is a Prunus Spinosa that I collected on my 50th Birthday... it’s called ‘Fifty’ and it has been in this pot for 2 years. This Beautiful Duffett pot was fine to ‘bring on’ the tree but not a good choice as it is way to ‘chunky’.





Here are the pots I have for this tree... on the left is Milan Klika and the right is Brian Albright, both would fit the tree well.



I chose the Albright because of the 'free form' of the pot suited the movement of the tree.



In preparing to pot this tree it would need to be stable, the root pad is not dense enough to simply wire into place and hold the tree in the pot so a little assistance in the form of a steel rod is inserted into the base of the trunk (under the soil line) this is Bob kindly cutting it to length.



Either watch the video or view the images




There is an abundance of new root, none will be cut back as there is enough room in the new pot.



A hole is drilled to accommodate the rod



Here the rod is inserted and placed in the pot to ensure that the position is correct, the arrows show where the rod enters and exits,



3mm Copper wire is used to secure the tree to the pot.



The soil mix of Acadama, Alpine grit and Orchid bark is added



Tying in the tree using the rod and the copper wire. the fix is very solid



Here is the tree totally wired into the pot, a great fit!



And he is how the tree fits into this fantastic Brian Albright pot.



And the tree



All told it took about an hour to do this tree, It would have been 10 times harder had Bob not been there... thanks Bob

I like the way you secured that into the pot.

Hi Tony,

Let's see.....collected for your 50th....2 years ago.....52 ! You are a youngster ! Love the tree, and I believe the primitive literati pot is perfect. Beautiful movement...keep us posted on that one.


Ed Trout Pembroke Pines, Fl 52 been there, done that !!

Nice job, T (and Bob too). The rod is an ingenious solution to the stability issue. Looking forward to seeing this one in person in the near future.




btw - any chance of giving me the Duffet pot for my 50th? It's only slightly belated.

Ed Trout wrote: Let's see.....collected for your 50th....2 years ago.....52 ! !

Hi Ed, its been in this pot for 2 years... it was in a plastic 'establishing' pot for 2 years = 4 years + 50 makes me 54 on 29th March this year

Fiona you are welcome in my bomb site of a garden anytime.

Tony

tony
great tree ....the pot matches very well
you guys are into early spring over there!! are your tees protected after potting
i know you had a colder than normal winter?
we still have to wait two months for spring
will this tree flower this year?
andy

Tony, i like the way you secure the pot too. it will save my wire a lot. thanks for posting.

As much as I love Gordons pots, I think the Sloe looks so much better in the Brian. Such a little change, can make all the difference. Good choice Tony

54 ! My goodness, I hope you're looking for a good walking stick !! Your securing method is very clever. I will remember that when trying to repot some buttonwoods this year. Literati type buttonwoods have that same problem with few roots to get enough leverage to tie down in the pot. Useful information....that's what makes this site so great !!

Ed

Hi Tony ,
Thank you for sharing your interesting way for securing the tree, just one thing :I was told not to use the copper wire (as they might poison the tree)so we always use aluminium wire to secure our trees to pot, did you ever have any problem with copper wire ?
Mehrdad

Tony

Can the drilling into the hard wood for the wire not cause water to ingress the wood and cause rotting?

Jaco

mehrdad chavosh wrote:Hi Tony ,
Thank you for sharing your interesting way for securing the tree, just one thing :I was told not to use the copper wire (as they might poison the tree)so we always use aluminium wire to secure our trees to pot, did you ever have any problem with copper wire ?
Mehrdad

If I see it correctly, the rod is aluminium or another aloid only the tiewires are copper, thus not really in contact with the tree.

Correct me if I'am wrong Tony.

Once again a tree with a lott of potential, this one i'm convinced we see at the trophy in the near future

Peter

Mehrdad, the small amount of copper wire used will make no difference to the health of this tree, Peter...you are correct the copper does not have contact with the tree.

Jaco. This is a concern but the fit of the rod is very tight and the tree will callus quickly around the rod. Plus the soil mixed I use is very open and not prone to creating root rot (despite my very wet climate)

Hello,
Really beautiful tree, beautiful bark, but what! bright future for this tree, yeah ...

Tony wrote:Mehrdad, the small amount of copper wire used will make do difference to the health of this tree, Peter...you are correct the copper does not have contact with the tree.

Related question: will you use copper or aluminium for wiring this tree? A lot of people warn against using copper on prunus species - what's your experience with that?

Thanks
Tom

I have had no problems using copper on Prunus, I mostly cut and grow Prunus and use the best wire suitable for the job.

Tony

Lovely work and composition. Will the rod be removed at a future date or will it be part of the tree in the future (for ever)?

Rick Moquin wrote:Lovely work and composition. Will the rod be removed at a future date or will it be part of the tree in the future (for ever)?

Hi Rick, that sucker is in there until such a time that the root mass can support being wired in, then again it may well stay as it is not damaging the tree.

Hi Tony..
Having the opportunity to work on such fabulous material ....It should be me thanking you......A great mornings work.!.

Tony, beautiful tree. Thanks for sharing the fastening technique you used here, I will definitly try it. Just yesterday Ernie and I repotted some Bald Cypress and 2 of them had to be placed in a slanted literati position (Ed, they look just like the Australian pine.. ..). Ernie went for a wedge construction and I decided to use a cut rooftile (arch). Needless to say my tree got pretty heavy in weight..

Looks rainy outside the window, by the way..

-dorothy

dorothy7774 wrote:Looks rainy outside the window, by the way..

Hi Dorothy thanks for your kind words... btw it seems to Always be raining outside my window

Tony

Tony, It seems you have a latent engineer in you.
Maybe its time to restore a car or buld an airplane as an additional hobby.

Rick Moquin wrote:Will the rod be removed at a future date or will it be part of the tree in the future (for ever)?

It appears to be a carbon steel rod, and not stainless. It will be interesting to see with near constant wet cycles and acidic fertilizer how long the rod lasts. Certainly long enough to grow roots but the holes do seem intrusive.

Hi Tony,
Thanks for posting this item. This is why I find the IBC so helpful in the progression of my hobby. Some of you solutions are so simple and sane I don't know why I'd never thought of doing the same. Oh yes I do, experience!!!!!!

Can't wait to see Fifty in the flesh. When I first read the thread title you were trying to get "down with da kids" naming it after a rapper (bearing in mind it is a Blackthorn) but then commonsense prevailed

LP&B,
Simon

Tony wrote:Mehrdad, the small amount of copper wire used will make no difference to the health of this tree, Peter...you are correct the copper does not have contact with the tree.

Jaco. This is a concern but the fit of the rod is very tight and the tree will callus quickly around the rod. Plus the soil mixed I use is very open and not prone to creating root rot (despite my very wet climate)

Thank you Tony , Again great technique & lovely tree.
Hehrdad

Yeah Tony!
What a nice idea. I saw many screws or something like that at the base of trees, but never this technique. Really interessting! Thx. for shareing.
Martin