Root work on Chinese Elm

After seeing Shannon's lovely Elm and Celtis yesterday, I was at a loose end today and figured I would follow some of my own advice and do some work on my chinese elm broom project, and start some much needed work on improving the nebari.
This elm was typical in its surface roots which had been allowed to grow quite thick sausage like surface roots a long time back, and I had done some carving on them last year to address the problem, and remove the really unsightly ones... obviously the removed ones would leave a gap that needed filling, so today was the day. A year ago when this tree was last root pruned, I saved a number of root cuttings, precisely for this future purpose. Initially I thought I would be doing thread grafts, but after inspecting the donor cuttings, Approach grafts were the better option due to the shape and size of their own root systems.
Donor Cuttings which have been growing for 1-2 seasons.



Problem area 1









Problem Area 2






The two cuttings will be given free rein all season and all going well I should be able to remove the upper parts around the same time next year...maybe sooner.

Great work. Excellent technique to illustrate the process.
Jerry

Good one mate , it makes a huge improvement.
Cheers Rod.

Thanks Shane this valuable info.

Regards
Shan.

Shane
I did a similar job on a clero some years ago but I left the top of the scion on. I figured that the thing would keep growing and getting fatter thus making sure that it wouldn't die and it would bond quicker. The sacrifice branch is still in it.
Cheers
Brian

Thanks Jerry, Rod, Shan.... A couple of years and a bit more grafting and this nebari might finally look good. I wish I had the info, knowledge and the guts to attack these issues and make major changes 15/20 yrs ago.
Ah hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Shane we all have the hindsight problem.
Jerry

Hi Brian,
I have left the cuttings in tact to grown on in their own right to do as you said..... more growth=better bonding....just forgot to add the pic of the finished work.

Shane
I'm glad you did
Cheers
Brian

Hi Shane,

Any update on this one?

Cheers