Having just had knee surgery a couple of weeks back, I’m sure the doctor called for a tree dig to speed up recovery! Hmm in hindsight I think it was rest…
I think most of us would agree that the appeal of a gnarly old tree with amazing bark and beautiful delicate flowers is just too much to pass up! So when the opportunity arose to collect a plum grown from seed close to home, I couldn’t resist! Having been on the hunt for more deciduous material, a plum was definitely on the top of the list, however being a leg down I decided to take my 6yr old daughter with me for help (a version of take your daughter to work, she was so excited)! Fast forward 30mins into the dig and you can imagine how the enthusiasm wavered! The highlight being when she asked if it was tea time yet!
We persisted and it was just over an hour in and we managed to wrestle it out. A few bumps and scratches along the way but well worth it. Creating long lasting memories along side your tree may be even more rewarding. Taking my daughter on her first dig will always be attached to this plum, something I will forever cherish.
A good amount of roots collected. For collected deciduous trees I prefer to wash and remove the original soil. It’s important to consider the future root ball/ container size and cutback the larger roots as far back as safe to. I always cutback to smaller roots further back in. The cleanest cuts are the best, if you have rough initial take out cuts, go back and make them as clean as possible. It’s also extremely important to make sure the tree is tied down securely to the container, here it is a 50x40cm internal wooden box.The soil mix used is a blend of Akadama and pumice, I use a larger amount of pumice at the point of collection to get more oxygen in the rootball, at the next repotting I will reduce the amount of pumice. A side note, when adding soil in after securing the tree in be sure to add it in stages close to the trunk first, so you can chopstick that soil into all the crevices before bulk addition.A close up of the bark forming. The plastic on top of the wooden box is there for a few reasons, the main being to keep the sphagnum moss from being taken by the birds. The other reasons are; that it creates a more humid environment post collection and I can also control the amount of moisture over winter. Come spring it will be removed completely.All boxed up and pruned back ready for its first spring post collection. In terms of where I pruned, it’s a bit difficult to show but my considerations were; movement, taper, prunus as a species and the fact that there are three trunks at varying sizes.
Two Islands Bonsai 
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