Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Oops!, 1 by Weerobin

Weerobin wrote:
I was just bragging to my wife this morning about how my Zelkova sinica was beginning to turn into a real tree. It's about 6 ft tall, though trunk is still pretty skinny. I planted it 10 years ago, so it hasn't exactly been growing gangbusters. But it looked completely happy this morning.
Alas, I was promptly punished for my bragging. Now that it is gaining some height, it's at prime risk for deer antler rubbing which has girdled many of my other young trees in the past. So I was placing some plastic wire netting around the trunk to protect it. In the process, the trunked snapped off at the ground level. Completely snapped off!
The decapitated trunk is now sitting in a bucket of water in my garage. I'm heartbroken. The whole value of this tree is it's bark character at maturity. Lets just say, even if it resprouts, or if I can get a cutting to survive, I won't live long enough to see it at maturity.
I presume it couldn't have really been healthy for it to have been so brittle. Honestly, I didn't put much force on it at all. Maybe it will resprout, I don't know.
At any rate, any suggestions for rooting cuttings in July? I've never done mid-summer cuttings from a Zelkova. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Here's a picture of my poor tree in the bucket.

This message was edited Jul 3, 2010 2:38 PM