2014 winter protection in progress

[wireme]

This years scheme- geotextile filter cloth, stumps, lumber scraps, an old headboard and wardrobe frame, lots of coarse pumice.

 

[wireme]

Wood scraps to help fill voids and braces to assist in snow load support. Smaller pots between large boxes, d-trees in the wooden wardrobe frame for rodent protection.

 

[Cadillactaste]

I see some hints to some nice trees in amongst your winter madness. But, if it works...it doesn't have to be pretty. Bottom line...having success with trees coming alive in the spring is everyone's ulterior motive in winterization protection.

 

[Great Falcon]

Awesome

That looks like my place, Last year I got sick went to hospital and there was nobody at home to cover my trees when we got the first frost so I lost too many, but today I was making me a pile like your making sure I won't lose them, I work to hard all year not to enjoy them in spring.

 

[wireme]

I see some hints to some nice trees in amongst your winter madness. But, if it works...it doesn't have to be pretty. Bottom line...having success with trees coming alive in the spring is everyone's ulterior motive in winterization protection.

Yeah, some nice trees in there, I'm really looking forward to the day they are established and ready to work on!

Pretty is of no concern, soon (hopefully) it will be buried by snow and be just a white pile. My biggest worry with the setup now is rodents in the deciduous trees. this will keep them out once snow is on the ground but until then they could easily climb in if they decide its a nice winter home. Thinking of additional detterent, mothballs maybe?

 

[Cadillactaste]

Mothballs might be wise...

 

[wireme]

That looks like my place, Last year I got sick went to hospital and there was nobody at home to cover my trees when we got the first frost so I lost too many, but today I was making me a pile like your making sure I won't lose them, I work to hard all year not to enjoy them in spring.

Mine sit out through quite a few frosts before packing away like this. They can handle it and helps to harden off roots before the real cold hits. One year though, 2009 it may have been, was bad. It dropped to minus 25 Celsius on Oct 15 with no previous frosting to prepare the trees. I was away and unable to protect plants and lost nearly everything. My trees are all locally cold hardy and generally will overwinter on the ground under the snow unprotected through a typical winter.
The protection scheme is to protect against possible atypical conditions cause you never know.

 

[wireme]

Mothballs might be wise...

As an experiment this year I have a couple deciduous trees buried above the top of the branches in coarse pumice. This will freeze solid and keep the rodents off. Will also protect from early budbreak in spring. But will it lead to branch dieback from that early spring slimemold that grows on buried shrubs under the snow?
We'll see.

 

[Dav4]

As an experiment this year I have a couple deciduous trees buried above the top of the branches in coarse pumice. This will freeze solid and keep the rodents off. Will also protect from early budbreak in spring. But will it lead to branch dieback from that early spring slimemold that grows on buried shrubs under the snow?
We'll see.

Frozen pumice as a rodent deterrent is ingenious. Hope your trees all fair well this winter.

 

[wireme]

Thanks Dave, I hope everyones trees fare well. Frozen solid at minus 11c this morn, all trees in place and backfilled with nearly 1m3 of coarse pumice. Should remain frozen till end of april maybe. A couple more snow support structures are still needed and a stucco wire fence to keep cavorting dogs off the snowbank that this will become.

 

[mcpesq817]

Nice work. Stay warm up there

It's pictures like this that make me glad I have a detached garage to store my trees.

 

[wireme]

I've got a shed full of firewood, toasty indoors!

A winter tree building would be nice, maybe someday, I've got lots of other things to build first though unless problems arise with the outdoor set-up, if so, I'll start building.

Its a bit of work to setup and teardown like this but the nice thing is it's 100% hands free from now till spring, no watering, heating etc.

 

[fore]

Nice Wireme. I know that was a ton of work. I wish I could do the same but just not possible where I live.

So I spent yest. setting up hoop house, and today trees prepped, racks set up, lime sulfur sprayed, and all into the the hh. Will setup up heater tom before this cold front hit us. Man, winter stinks hehe Oh, all the while trying to keep up with our newest additions to the family. German Shepherd pups at 7 and 9wks.

 

[wireme]

Nice Wireme. I know that was a ton of work. I wish I could do the same but just not possible where I live.

So I spent yest. setting up hoop house, and today trees prepped, racks set up, lime sulfur sprayed, and all into the the hh. Will setup up heater tom before this cold front hit us. Man, winter stinks hehe Oh, all the while trying to keep up with our newest additions to the family. German Shepherd pups at 7 and 9wks.

Uh-oh, look at those little sandal eaters! Looks like trouble! I have joint custody of a belgian Shepard and a Samoyed with my mom, I have them over the winter mostly when she is busiest.

And we also have a new addition to the family, first yamadori hunt this summer at 1.5months!

BTW Chris please continue to share the odd tidbits you're
learning through your studies, I for one really appreciate them!

 

[fore]

Uh-oh, look at those little sandal eaters! Looks like trouble! I have joint custody of a belgian Shepard and a Samoyed with my mom, I have them over the winter mostly when she is busiest.

And we also have a new addition to the family, first yamadori hunt this summer at 1.5months!

BTW Chris please continue to share the odd tidbits you're
learning through your studies, I for one really appreciate them!

Both beautiful breeds...sounds like a 'hairy' situation ;-) And my goodness, what a GREAT addition wireme! He/She is adorable, and what eyes! My only regret in life, no kids.

And Thanks for asking me about sharing as I kinda stopped. My first few suggestions to people were written off. Imo, it's an 'american' attitude of: "I can do it better my way", or "My trees are growing great" or "I haven't/don't have that problem" or multitude of other reasons.
All which is fine! It's just not the way I want to approach bonsai. For instance, and I'll prob get slammed, but I thought I had fantastic growth and reasonable health last few yrs using combo of turface/pumice/lava till this yr when I switched to Akadama. NOW I have 'fantastic' growth and health...not one single disease this yr, not one! Luck? Coincidence? You decide. But for me, I'm trying not just for good growth/health, but OPTIMAL growth/health. Ryan presses this issue big time.

And since you asked, I'll share these again as you might've missed them. Always apply dried shredded good moss/shagnum every spring, the moss grows over the season and actually allows the top 1/3 of soil substrate be viable for root development.

Always remove the bark off junipers after they've established themselves for borers. I de-barked 4 rmj's this summer and found 2. (really gross) Some love the bark, and have had the tree for many yrs without problems. So I asked Ryan about this in Oct and he said that's great, until they start loosing trees.

Interesting experiment he did this yr regard organic ferts. Compared Dr Earth to Plantone to Bio Gold (which he considers the best). The Plantone didn't compete at all. Here's the interesting part, Dr Earth was better than BG for establishing new fauna and initial growth. But BG was better than Dr Earth at giving him the good foliage growth he's after and better overall growth thru this season. I used Dr Earth this yr exclusively and as noted above, had a great yr. But damn, it's spendy thru Dallas. But for Ryan, it's worth the cost. Oh, the DE is the "Life' formula.

Chris

 

[wireme]

Borers, frightening little devils for sure! Here's a pic of a tree killed recently by borers in the hills. It would have been a nice collectible tree just a couple years ago. You can see that narrow veined trees could easily be killed very quickly before you know anything is amiss.
I would think that if a person lived in an area where borers are not present in the local environment and without an influx of potentially inhabited yamadori material then the risk would be low?

I've been aware of this reasoning for bark removal for some time, I'm also one of those who really likes the old bark. I'm also in a higher risk situation with new trees coming in and borers potentially naturally present. I have a couple trees that I really want to keep the bark on and will live with the risk and will probably start peeling the rest. On the flip side I've read mention of increased susceptibility to fungal disease after stripping bark. Not sure how factual that is but makes some sense for over stripped damaged areas.

Akadama I would like to try, I've been very lucky with tree health and disease so far but nowhere near the increase of foliage mass I see in pics from mirai and other places.

The moss thing I am totally sold on, I've seen it mentioned on Michael H's blog as well and a few other sources. I used the teqnique for the first time when repotting a small spruce this summer and will continue the practice from now on. A question, have you been taught to remove and refresh the surface yearly?

Interesting fert results, I'd like to compare ingredients may lead to cheaper alternatives?

Anyway lack of response to you suggestions doesn't mean they're not read and appreciated. I try to respond to some of these discussion threads sometimes and would get more response from my goldfish if I had one.
All the tips from guys studying with the pros I pay attention to, and the accomplished backyarders, well everyone really. Credibilty comes with results and results take time even with good practices so I like to stay open minded towards those without big results yet too.

One of your comments I'd like to hear more on was regarding good design, I know you meant more than the old branch 1,2&3 and trunk ratios.

Also root reduction, rootwork, root pruning and repotting schedules of old collected conifers, that's a topic that would interest me a lot and has been difficult to research. I've thought about starting a thread, still might, might ask the goldfish first.

 

[fore]

Borers, frightening little devils for sure! Here's a pic of a tree killed recently by borers in the hills. It would have been a nice collectible tree just a couple years ago. You can see that narrow veined trees could easily be killed very quickly before you know anything is amiss.

Yeah, that guy got clobbered by them.

I would think that if a person lived in an area where borers are not present in the local environment and without an influx of potentially inhabited yamadori material then the risk would be low?

I'd think so. But unfort., borers are becoming so prevalent esp in the west. Hell, look at what the pine beetle has done to the ponderosa's. Pretty sad.

I've been aware of this reasoning for bark removal for some time, I'm also one of those who really likes the old bark. I'm also in a higher risk situation with new trees coming in and borers potentially naturally present. I have a couple trees that I really want to keep the bark on and will live with the risk and will probably start peeling the rest. On the flip side I've read mention of increased susceptibility to fungal disease after stripping bark. Not sure how factual that is but makes some sense for over stripped damaged areas.

I've not heard that. The downside is loss of moisture, which is why you only do it after the trees been well established. The other reason to do it is to preserve the dw underneath.

The moss thing I am totally sold on, I've seen it mentioned on Michael H's blog as well and a few other sources. I used the teqnique for the first time when repotting a small spruce this summer and will continue the practice from now on. A question, have you been taught to remove and refresh the surface yearly?

To refresh my brain, I looked thru my notes; moss also helps immobilize the soil (mobile soil = no root growth), moisture loss buffer/= even water distribution along the water column/top to bottom of container, provides darkness for root dev., and lastly, protects Akadama from water breakdown. And yes, top layer replaced every 3 yrs. So remove, find active/viable roots, reapply top soil, redress w. spag/moss and repeat every 3yrs. Thanks for making me think this over again, I need to ask Ryan whether to remove moss before winter or not.

Interesting fert results, I'd like to compare ingredients may lead to cheaper alternatives?

Man, Dr Earth's Life is only like $60 for 25# off Amazon. Even better is 40# for $10 more. I used 1-25# this yr. So it was dirt cheap given it lasts a whole growing season. (free shipping w. Prime too )

Anyway lack of response to you suggestions doesn't mean they're not read and appreciated. I try to respond to some of these discussion threads sometimes and would get more response from my goldfish if I had one.

That's funny!

All the tips from guys studying with the pros I pay attention to, and the accomplished backyarders, well everyone really. Credibilty comes with results and results take time even with good practices so I like to stay open minded towards those without big results yet too.

I've got 'some' knowledge down, but I'm pretty sure during this 2nd yr, I'm going to be having more results to speak of. This yr., I repotted many of my yamadori so not alot to show for it. Much styling planned for spring.

One of your comments I'd like to hear more on was regarding good design, I know you meant more than the old branch 1,2&3 and trunk ratios.

I wanna say, "Oh, good god"! Man, we spent I'd say about 8 lecture hrs alone, if not more, discussing design.

I'll give you a quick outline/approach:

1. Find attractive line in trunk, dw, branches... seeking a. Variety of angle b Variety of planes and c. diff. lengths.
Be objective and not obsessed with 'one' feature, but best of all features.
Once the interest has been determined, consider
1. Base
2. Trunkline/movement
3. Special factors: dw, shari, jin, hollows
4. Branching: Main branch (sashi edi) is the one furthest from the trunk...this and apex determines main flow.
5. Apex

Use all 3 to create guidelines objectively. First three above determines front.

Also root reduction, rootwork, root pruning and repotting schedules of old collected conifers, that's a topic that would interest me a lot and has been difficult to research. I've thought about starting a thread, still might, might ask the goldfish first.

Damn, that's another weekend of lectures. I'll tackle one, juni scheduling.

Late Winter/Early Spring: Best time to style (OR repot). Preferable to stlye first, repot second b/c we want immediate new spring root growth..."stagnation = death"
When exactly? When color begins to change from winter bronzing showing new green growth. But, he stated emphatically, If tips are growing, TOO LATE as you then have an actively growing juni w. enormous compartmentalization capability. Which means the cambium is moving a ton of water = easy to separate cambium. So this is a great time to strip cambium for shari/dw work.

Spring -> Early Summer/July: No heavy structural work to due to loose cambium.

Later Summer/August: #1 time for Maintenance. Prune for refinement/strength allocation or structural pruning. #2 time for style/structural setting (defined as hardening off of l. vein)

Early Fall: 2nd best time for styling only. (can do fall repot if can prevent roots from freezing, but cautioned on it) Be sure to give ferts to achieve branch setting (you see the max burst in girth during the fall so watch for wire bite in...speaking of which...for juni's, remove when half buried), and help w. winter hardiness and to help w. spring push.

Before I say further, I again need to clarify fert timing w. Ryan as my notes are sketchy about this. So typing this all out not only is I hope helpful to you wireme, but also helps me fill in gaps. We cover so much material so quickly, it's easy to miss something.

 

[sorce]

Great info guys.

Nice pups.

Adorable lil yamadori hunter!

Sorce

 

[Bunjeh]

Green eyed

I know know this post is supposed to be about winterization,..but daaaammmmmmnnnnnn, I'm jealous of all the wonderful material you have collected. Curious, how far north of the border are you? I live in Washington state.

 

[M. Frary]

Here's my stockade. Still have more trees and straw to add but it works. My main concern is animals. Hence the fence. By the end of next month this should be just a mound of snow with a couple tops poking out.