has anyone had success with freemont cottonwood?
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Yup, have collected about a dozen over the years. Great species, matures fast and has great bark.
Did the leaves size rdduce?
thanks; they seem like a species that would not take to wiring well and would die back easily, is this the case?
Yes the leaves reduce pretty good.
Wire with caution, once lignified the wood can be brittle but if wired when branches are young you’re usually ok. As far as die back is concerned they are similar to their Aspen cousins, proceed carefully when pruning. They do get great deep fissured bark quickly but after bringing a collected piece of material down to size it can feel out of proportion so I have a method to reduce bark back to a more proportioned feel thant I learned from working with red willows.
?? Reduce bark back to a more proportioned feel thant I learned from working with red willows. ??
Do tell!
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The bark grows in thick vertical corky plates with deep fissures between them. When I say “reduce” the bark I mean thin it out. I do this by using a small pair of root cutters and remove whole layers of bark off each plate. If done correctly you can use this to achieve an illusion of taper as well. The bark beneath when exposed will look quite white and obvious, however with watering and good sun exposure it looks natural again in under a year. Within the fissures are usually buds, removing some of the bark in this manner tends to stimulate these to start growing due to more sun exposure. So it is useful in rebuilding or developing primary structural branches or sub trunks.
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