Hey there, I've got a hawthorn tree that I've spent the last couple years rehabbing and I've finally got it looking really healthy. It's a pretty tall tree, with decent branch structure, old bark and I really like the look of it with one exception. When I got it it had some pretty gnarly aerial roots. I've thought about doing an approach graft with them but think it will still look kind of bad. The second option was doing an air or ground layer above the highest root, but this will shorten the tree by at least 4". I'm not sure I want to lose that height.

So I think I'm down to two options, simply cut off the offending roots and maybe do some ground layering where I'd like to have more roots, or cut off the roots, clean off the bark and try thread grafting them into the base of the tree right at ground level. I've seen people do thread grafts before with maple saplings, but don't know if you can do it with just roots. Is this possible, or do you need to have a whole tree that you are threading through the trunk? Any help or tips would be much appreciated

[edit: off-site images removed]

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