prunus cistena carving

Hey everyone, Happy Father's Day. I was hoping for some opinions on this prunus that I have had for a while now. I was hoping, of course, when I collected it that the whole base would live but it would not cooperate. Since the right side is mostly dead it will give me some chance to carve it though. I have played with a few options that I am including as virts but wanted to see what people here think. I am also a little worried that since such a small area is still alive that I might cut into a life line and kill it off. Are these sensitive to that kind of damage? It seems I have seen some pretty aggressive carving on these in other posts. Help is always appreciated.

Hello Jim. Judging by the deep cracks on the right of the trunk, it shouldn't be difficult to determine what is alive and dead. Start by cleanig away the dead bark first, before you plan your carving.

Jim, you also need to be careful with those large surface roots like the one on the left. You show it as dead wood but it may be the only thing keeping the top alive. Like Will said, clean way the dead bark first so you can see the root to foliage connections. Take it step by step, don't rush into - or assume - anything.

Thanks guys,

Judging by the deep cracks on the right of the trunk, it shouldn't be difficult to determine what is alive and dead. Start by cleanig away the dead bark first, before you plan your carving.

The dark areas on the right are actually grown over wounds, they are indentations not cracks. I will try and get a better shot of that side tomorrow to better show that. I have waited for almost two years letting it grow thinking it would start losing the bark and help me out with the design a little but that does not seem to be happening as fast as I would like it to. There is some fungus growing on the dead areas now but even that is scattered all over. When I cut a few chipped at the lower trunk there does appear to be some color to the bark in places I would not expect it which is why I expressed some concern, (and in this tree it is pink not green so makes a little harder to tell I think)

you also need to be careful with those large surface roots like the one on the left

The larger roots are mostly dead for sure. There are cracks and fungus all over them and I dug around pretty deep to look for roots this spring and made it all the way around without finding a thing on most of them.

Take it step by step, don't rush into - or assume - anything.

That's the reason for this post. I was ready to break out some tools then I thought better.

Prunus are very prone to Funus attacks on deadwood. I wouldn't wait for the bark to peel by itself, get in there and take it off by force if needs be. Leaving dead bark on the tree can trap water and lead to infection.

Here are the results of two days of carving with chisels and wire brushes. This is just a preliminary carving I didn't want to do much more for fear of moving the very small amount of roots left.

Went out to check on things after being out of town for work and found this one covered in mushrooms. Sorry the photos are bad it was right at dusk and hard to get them without the flash which I am not a fan of.

I've been getting together a some carving tools and playing around on some stuff. This being mostly deadwood anyway it was a good piece of material to play with. It's not done but I think I like where it's going and may take it down quite a bit farther. I do think the amount of rotten wood will require a change in potting angle so I will be repotting it in the spring. I need some more detailed carving tips but have been trying to some by hand too. Thanks.

This one has decided to push out a few more design options for me to work with this year.
I wanted to get this one in a new pot but didn't have the right one and it seems pretty happy at the moment so I will leave it one more year. Thanks

Great work, it looks like it has settled down pretty nicely and will recover. When I looked at those first photos of all that deadwood, and then the mushrooms growing everywhere on the trunk, it didn't look good!
I would definitely just grow it out this year and help the tree to build up that live vein. To control fungus development on this Prunus, are you spraying this tree with dilute lime sulfur solution in the winter after dormancy sets in?