Advice on collected Privet

This Privet stump was collected from my work car park / yard in November 2009.

Unfortunately the only soil I could use was the mud-like stuff that the stump was already growing in.
The growth was pretty poor last year, but it did survive. There are two live branches on which the buds have started moving already this year and a couple of buds ready to pop on the trunk.

I'd really like to get it into better soil, but I'm not sure whether to try repotting it this year or leave it for another year in the terrible soil that its in at the moment.

With the buds moving, I need to make a decision soon.

Any thoughts from anyone?

Repot,Repot, Repot now

Hi Paul, there is nothing more to say, repot and it will just take off for you, its a nice bit of kit get it in some good medium control your growth and you will develop it within two seasons.

Regards Chris

Hello Paul, Chris is bang on. Your Privet may weaken further and finally die if it's health is not improved. A good open mix should help greatly.

Just wash off the soil so there's no (or little) root loss.

Nice find, Paul.

Repot in a decent medium then leave it alone for a while. Harleyrider gave me one over a year ago and I'm only now considering touching it. It has grown like crazy in the meantime and given me loads of options.







(Hmm. I feel a bet coming on.)

Thanks for the replies folks. The advice is much as I expected, the bad soil had to go.

I remember there not being much of a root system when I collected this, but, knowing that Privet are tough as old boots I decided to give it a try.

Here's what came out of the pot..



Everything I'm holding in my hands in the photo above is solid wood. There are lots of nice fibrous roots on the right hand side, just below the previous soil level and further fibrous roots round the back, again just below the previous soil level.
What concerns me is the 'white stuff'. It's on the end of each cut that was made to major roots when the tree was collected. It also seems to be spreading through the soil by a kind of root / web like system.

Anyone any ideas what this is?





Potted up in nice fast draining open mix. I'm confident that the root system can support it, but really worried about the 'white stuff'





Any advice would be much appreciated.

I'm always up for a bet Fiona - just aswell I didnt put anything on Celtic today!

I collected a couple of privets which had lots of old rotted bits on like yours. I would guess it is mycelium growing on yours that was already in there when you collected it. I collected two next to each other and they both did this. It is trametes versicolor

Hello Paul. That old soil is the cause of this problem. There doesn't appear to be any visible live root. Did you get all that soggy soil off before you potted it up? You have nothing to lose by taking it out of the pot again and washing all the old soil off.

Harleyrider gave me one over a year ago and I'm only now considering touching it. It has grown like crazy in the meantime and given me loads of options.

I never touched her, Your Honour!

Harleyrider wrote:

Harleyrider gave me one over a year ago and I'm only now considering touching it. It has grown like crazy in the meantime and given me loads of options.

I never touched her, Your Honour!

I win the bet!!! I knew he wouldn't/couldn't let that one go unremarked.

Sagginfrazzinrazzin......

fiona wrote:

Harleyrider wrote:

Harleyrider gave me one over a year ago and I'm only now considering touching it. It has grown like crazy in the meantime and given me loads of options.

I never touched her, Your Honour!

I win the bet!!! I knew he wouldn't/couldn't let that one go unremarked.

Fiona - bet you a fiver you cant do it again

Steve - bet you a tenner Fiona does it again


Will - I've taken your advice and removed the stump from the pot, washed the soil off the roots and repotted it. I fear you're correct about the lack of live roots. I cut off the dead roots at the bottom and left the remaining roots nearer the soil level. I'm not so confident of it surviving now, but I think I've given it the best chance it can get.

I'll update in a couple of weeks.

Hello Paul. Privet will root very easily and you stand a good chance of survival with a clean rootball and a free draining medium.

Hi Paul. I collected several large Ligustrum stumps a couple of years ago (including the one Fiona now has). The one I keep taking to Burrs (the Fencepost) has a rootball around 10ins in diameter, none of which was smaller than 1/2 in dia on collection, no fine roots at all. After a first year of very little new growth, the tree suddenly put on a spurt towards the end of last year and now sports dozens of new shoots/branches and lots of fine feeder roots sprouting from every available surface below soil.

I wouldn't give up hope just yet mate. Those Privet are damn near impossible to kill!

Did you add a little hormone rooting powder to the soil mix?

Hi Steve,

Your post and Will's last post have given me hope for its survival. I'll post the results in a few weeks.

I didn't add any rooting hormone to the soil mix - I didn't even think to do it. It's a good tip and I wish I had read your post before I left the house this morning. I've just collected 3 nice Elm stumps from the works yard and I'll be potting them up at my club meeting tonight. I've got a huge bag of nice open, fast draining soil with me, but no rooting hormone. All 3 of the Elms have pretty good root systems, so hopefully they'll be OK.

I remember seeing your Privet at Burrs (before and after Makita Bob's treatment) and I've seen the one in Fiona's garden. It's great to know they survived with so little roots.

Cheers for now.

Paul

Hello Paul. No need for rooting hormone, I ave never used it on my trees. The Elms sound interesting. They too need very little root to survive.

That white stuff looks like the kind of soil fungus that keeps pine trees healthy, but that is the largest and healthiest culture I've seen.

I still think the mycelium looks very much like the fungus i highlighted further up the post. I have grown hundreds of logs inocculted with trametes versicolor. I reckon you will have a good flush of mushrooms in the future. Have a scrath of the bark and see if its creeping up the tree .

Hi Smithy,

The brown mushrooms on the left trunk look good - are they edible?

The white stuff on my Privet is smooth, non sticky - it looks and feels a bit like almost dry emulsion paint.

There's a little bit above the soil level after I repotted it. I'll try to get a close up photo.

Cheers

Hello Paul. I have collected Privets from old established and healthy hedges and found this white fungus all through the soil. I wouldn't worry about it too much, now that you have washed all that claggy soil off and got it into a free draining mix.

paul burke wrote:
Hi Smithy,

The brown mushrooms on the left trunk look good - are they edible?

The white stuff on my Privet is smooth, non sticky - it looks and feels a bit like almost dry emulsion paint.

There's a little bit above the soil level after I repotted it. I'll try to get a close up photo.

Cheers

The ones on the left are shiitakes.
I guess only time will tell with the privets. Mine are still growing but i have put them in the ground. Good luck with yours.

have some willow water on hand prior to collecting, use this to water in your new trees, fantastic stuff
Mick

Hello Mick. Willow water? Never heard of it, could you give some more detail?

Have a look here

http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATwillow%20water.html

Cheers

timR

Cheers Tim. Well I never. Learned something new today