It's November, and the leaves of the Chinese Elm have turned into yellow gold paper.
In the afternoon light, it absorbs the filtered sunlight through the hazy sky. The air is cool and crisp, causing the tree to reabsorb the chlorophyll sugars into the roots, and causing the leaves to ripen and wither into paper thin petals.
The orangy, pinkish yellow leaves almost live up to the name of the tree, Peach.
Historical Info About This Tree:
ID: 0005
Nickname: Peach
Type: Chinese Elm
Age: 11
Grown: cutting
Last repotting: November 16, 2022
Wired: Summer 2023, top branch
Today is the day to check on the roots, and repot the tree. In past years, I know the Chinese Elm can grow a very thick taproot that will swirl around the base of the pot, which isn't ideal. We'll see that happens when I look into the soil medium.
Root Inspection
The soil was incredibly rocky and wet with slippery moss roots growing between. Furthermore the leaves were tumbling off almost immediately from handling the tree.
To really inspect the roots, I decided to completely separate all the roots from the soil, and even washed them loosely in a bucket of water.
Nothing exciting to see here. The roots are mostly growing thickly all in the same directions, and very thinly in a matted surface like a blanket on the base of the trunk root zone.
Root Clean-Up
Some trimming was done to reduce the length and width of the roots to fit within the depth of the same pot. I prefer roots to be only barely touching the walls and base of the pot, rather than along them.
Any roots that were growing parallel from the same origin point were reduced to only one root per origin. In some cases I removed a thicker root to favor a straighter, narrower root as its root heir.
Lastly I clipped off any roots matting around the base of the trunk, or any roots growing directly on the underside of the trunk heading straight down, to prevent excess moisture retention which might cause rot to the trunk.
On the larger tree I even sliced the underside of the trunk in multiple places to see if it will induce healing or more root production. I don't know why, but this tree has continued to form a very bulbous base under the trunk, and tends only form roots from a couple spots.
Next year, I may need to consider growing this tree in a basket of a larger size to encourage the re-occuring taproots to airprune themselves, and force a thicker division of roots.
Here is the tree freshly repotted. It is very loose in the soil because I did not use an anchor wire. I did that on purpose, because it was so hard to get out of the pot with the anchor wire looped around the roots last time. So it will go into the greenhouse for a month or so to protect the roots from playful and hungry animals that like to dig, peck, and pull.
Next spring or summer, I will have the option to restyle the tree a bit.
Do you like the new arching top branch that was made last year from the new stems? Should it be reduced in length? Should any of the lower branches be removed? These are question I will need to consider.
It certainly has a weird pipework shape, and I would like to see less confusion in the overall design. Perhaps removing the branch that is splitting out from the trunk towards the back will bring more attention to the literati style heading towards the top arch.
Bonus
Here is a view of my lemon tree enjoying the change of the season. Some of the leaves are taking on the bright tones of golden yellow. It looks really healthy now as it adjusts to the colder season.
It had another attack of scale insects this past summer, but I kept a close eye on it, and scratched them off right after they appeared. No chemical treatments required. With my active diligence, there is no damage to any of the leaves or stems. Lemon tree leaves have a very thick cuticle, making them incredibly durable against biting insects and scratches.
Historical Info About This Tree:
ID: 0022
Nickname: Li'l Pucker
Type: Citrus Lemon
Age: 7 years
Grown: seed
Last repotting: November 2023 (and recently Nov. 3, 2024)
Last Wired: Never
In stark contrast, the pictured grass surrounding it is restoring itself with new healthy green shoots amongst the remaining old growth summer stalks which went dormant and turned wheat yellow.
Together, they represent opposites. One loving the hot summer heat, and the other loving the wet freezing air. Yet both producing the same green and yellow leaves at this time of year for either going into dormancy, or coming out of dormancy.
Don't worry, this tree is living inside the mini greenhouse this November, and soon will be moving indoors as soon as the first frost occurs.
Photos in this post are all #originalworks by @creativetruth, unless stated otherwise.
