Collected 3 more Yaupon Holly (Ilex Vomitoria)

I went to collect 3 more Ilex Vomitoria (Yaupon Holly) today. Though I have some idea with #1 and #3, I am not sure yet how to proceed with #2. Most of these have extra wood that will be carved later.

The best part of these plants are hidden under the soil.

Plant 1



Plant 2



Plant3

You certainly have an impressive stump collection my friend! You've been very lucky to have been able to source such nice material.
-Jay

yes, some great stumps....

i think over the next 15 years Dario you will become a local expert on 'clip and grow' branch formation. The trick really is not to trim all the little branches that sprout into a 'bonsai' shape' like many trunk chop bonsai, ...but to select between 5 and about 7 of the new twigs to become the new branches, remove all others every time they sprout, and let the ones you keep grow long enough to fatten in scale with the trunks. Build the crown from just a few twigs too, following the same principle as the branches as the 'chop with a mop top' tree looks awefull and will never make you happy

The bottom branch of my trident grew 8ft before cutting back to 4", 2 buds are selected and the rest rubbed off then I grew each bud to 5ft, clip back each to 3" etc etc. That carries on for about 8 years to get the branches nice, then doing the ramification twigs is the fun bit.!

well found - your neibourhood will be full of little holes haha

cheers Marcus

Nice materials Dario.

regards,
jun

Thanks guys.

After looking at these for a while, I decided to chop the 3rd one by 35% (at the tip of the deadwood) as shown in the last pic.

All these were collected in 30 minutes total (including pruning and loading in my car) with the help of the owner. When I got home, I starting cleaning and washing. Of course I had to remove my leather gloves before washing. After the roots are cleaned and ready for trimming I determined that the base (of the first tree) will never work and need to be flattened so I decided to cut it flat with my pruning saw. The wood being terribly wet made the saw bind and in one push, my wet hands slipped and my index finger had a close encounter with the pruning saw blade. It wasn't pretty and I had a lot of bleeding. OUCH!!! My middle finger had a few nicks as well. The task went a lot slower...including the next 2 trees. Continuing would have been impossible if not for extra large band-aid (actually it is Curad).

Just a reminder that safety when neglected (happens at times) will get you when you least expect it. Please learn from this and be safe!!!

Luckily, I am a fast healer and I think I bank on it a bit more than I should. Reminder to self --- update tetanus shots.

Glad to hear you manage to keep all of your appendages in tact Thanks for sharing--it is a good reminder.

Good luck with number 2.... it looks like one of those ones ware it will keep you pondering what to do next to the end.

looks like your going to have to wait and see ware all the new growth gets shot up from on that one to decide what your going to do with it.

I love the others and hope you post there out comes.

wolfHhowling wrote:Good luck with number 2.... it looks like one of those ones ware it will keep you pondering what to do next to the end.

looks like your going to have to wait and see ware all the new growth gets shot up from on that one to decide what your going to do with it.

Yep...I will let the plant show me the way with its new shoots and take it from there. I know I will have to remove several main branches (maybe all but one or two) and I am prepared to do so.

marcus watts wrote:yes, some great stumps....

i think over the next 15 years Dario you will become a local expert on 'clip and grow' branch formation. The trick really is not to trim all the little branches that sprout into a 'bonsai' shape' like many trunk chop bonsai, ...but to select between 5 and about 7 of the new twigs to become the new branches, remove all others every time they sprout, and let the ones you keep grow long enough to fatten in scale with the trunks. Build the crown from just a few twigs too, following the same principle as the branches as the 'chop with a mop top' tree looks awefull and will never make you happy

The bottom branch of my trident grew 8ft before cutting back to 4", 2 buds are selected and the rest rubbed off then I grew each bud to 5ft, clip back each to 3" etc etc. That carries on for about 8 years to get the branches nice, then doing the ramification twigs is the fun bit.!

well found - your neibourhood will be full of little holes haha

cheers Marcus

Marcus, not sure about becoming an expert...I just dabble with this. Thanks for the tip, I plan just that but not sure if I can let it grow up to 8 feet LOL. I also plan on carving so hopefully the wait won't be as long. It seems like I am ending up with more stumps than any materials that will be descent in a few years. I did start collecting smaller trees (1"-2" trunks) while I am waiting for the bigger ones and they are already in leaf.

The collection "rush" will soon be over since most of these are from people who are doing re-landscaping. Spring starts a bit earlier here in Texas.