A thread about collecting Tamarack from a bog.

[Eckhoffw]

I have to get to the bog soon!
Some of my tamaracks are just starting to show green at the bud tips.

Last year the water was 2-4’ deep depending on how much moss and such you where on.

I’m hoping/guessing it will be much shallower this year!

 

[Eckhoffw]

I made it up to the farm & tamarack bog yesterday.
This trip was mainly to visit my dad and allow my girls to ride the horses.

But…… since they were so excited Saturday morning, they woke me up at 6:30.
We weren’t gonna ride till later, so I decided to check the bog out.
Unsure about how deep or wet it would be, I let the dog go first.
Surprisingly, the ground was pretty stiff as it has been a little colder. Getting To the trees was no problem!

Needless to say, I was back out there immediately with my roots slayer and saw.

Pics:



These two were about a foot apart, so I just took these two, and was done in 30 mins or so.
The smaller one doesn’t have a ton of roots. I’m still fairly confident it will be ok.
Potted up in pumice and sphagnum moss.
I wired Below and above to prevent uprooting on these.

 

[yashu]

We went back out to our spot as well.




Similar day as last time but we had a dump of 24” of snow between then and now and the water dropped but then came up higher than before… crazy weather. @RJG2 and @MaineChowder came out with about 15 trees between us and some pretty decent ones too.

Got one of mine cleaned up and potted and then planted a couple in the front yard just for the heck of it.

 

[Eckhoffw]

We went back out to our spot as well.

View attachment 537458
View attachment 537459

Similar day as last time but we had a dump of 24” of snow between then and now and the water dropped but then came up higher than before… crazy weather. @RJG2 and @MaineChowder came out with about 15 trees between us and some pretty decent ones too.View attachment 537460View attachment 537461

Got one of mine cleaned up and potted and then planted a couple in the front yard just for the heck of it.View attachment 537462View attachment 537463

Nice! It’s funny how deceiving size and scale can be.
I went for the smallest interesting trees I could find.
Getting them in the van and realizing how big they are actually.

 

[MaineChowder]

We went back out to our spot as well.

View attachment 537458
View attachment 537459

Similar day as last time but we had a dump of 24” of snow between then and now and the water dropped but then came up higher than before… crazy weather. @RJG2 and @MaineChowder came out with about 15 trees between us and some pretty decent ones too.View attachment 537460View attachment 537461

Got one of mine cleaned up and potted and then planted a couple in the front yard just for the heck of it.View attachment 537462View attachment 537463

It was great afternoon! I absolutely love being out in the woods/swamp looking for trees and watching all.the wildlife. Coming home with some great trees is an added bonus!

 

[Eckhoffw]

I decided it was time to repot the first Tamarack I collected from the bog. It’s been 3 yrs, time to take a peek

I’m pretty happy with the root spread, however, I was only able to cut the bottom of the trunk back a little.
From there, I planted it up in a cedar box.I removed some old wires and applied a couple new ones. It’s a weird tall tree, but I think it has potential.

 

[hampton]

Root ball looks great. Are you going to try and take more of the trunk in subsequent repots?

I like the tree, it reminds me of some of David Crusts’ trunks. I think it would benefit from compacting the width.

Looking forward to seeing it in the future.

 

[rusticana]

Walking through the bog was very hard work! After collecting three trees, I had my fill!View attachment 433164View attachment 433165
Time to bring them home and pothem up.
I made sure I had plenty of sphagnum moss, pumice, perlite and Some calcined clay to mix up a big soil batch.
The 3. View attachment 433167The first and biggest one I collected View attachment 433168
#2
View attachment 433169
#3
View attachment 433170View attachment 433171I cut the trunks back further after cleaning out the root/moss balls View attachment 433172View attachment 433173

You've got a mounding effect thats not seen too often. I like it. I'd imagine you'll encourage the moss? I've got some ancient ones a forest (half as old as me) And it does have a slighter bulge effect. Also mine has a huge patch of lichen. The engredients will all be there.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I decided it was time to repot the first Tamarack I collected from the bog. It’s been 3 yrs, time to take a peek View attachment 589743View attachment 589744View attachment 589749View attachment 589745View attachment 589746

I’m pretty happy with the root spread, however, I was only able to cut the bottom of the trunk back a little.
From there, I planted it up in a cedar box.View attachment 589747View attachment 589748I removed some old wires and applied a couple new ones. It’s a weird tall tree, but I think it has potential.

Nice. I have two that are ripe for repotting. How many roots did you reduce? 50%? That's an awesome ceadr box did you build it? Two saucer sleds for the win.

 

[vancehanna]

Eckhoffw! Looks great !

 

[Eckhoffw]

Root ball looks great. Are you going to try and take more of the trunk in subsequent repots?

I like the tree, it reminds me of some of David Crusts’ trunks. I think it would benefit from compacting the width.

Looking forward to seeing it in the future.

Thank you. Yeah I would like to take another good inch off the bottom.
I like your idea of compacting the width!

 

[Eckhoffw]

Next up for a repot.
Just waiting till this cold spell passes.

Some snow yesterday.
Built this cedar box a bit taller to accommodate a less severe root chop.
Some pruning done. This will be a fun one later this week.
Low straight branches will be cut back or removed depending on how they shoot out this spring.

 

[Eckhoffw]

Got this one repotted today. Buds are swelling!

It’s been 2 yrs since collecting. It could have stayed in this can for awhile longer, but I wanted to check out the roots.

Some Roots coming out of the can.
Plenty of circling roots, but not pot bound.
I used decent soil to recover this tree in (pumice, calcined clay, and sphagnum moss)
So the roots raked out pretty easily.

To fit into the box,

I had to cut off about an inch off the bottom of the trunk. I counted around 20 rings.

Finally, the tree is wired into the box & potted up.

 

[Eckhoffw]

Some guy wires in place. I like using these after a repot to help anchor the tree in.

Obligatory beer pic celebration ale.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Nice. I'm stealing this "Some guy wires in place. I like using these after a repot to help anchor the tree in."
and this. Yoink! Do you put a cloth on the clamp to protect the bark? If not you can steal that from me.

 

[Dogestoevsky]

Looking good dude! Just repotted my two tamarack yamadori this week. So much easier when they’re in good substrate straight from collection. I love seeing the green buds ready to pop

 

[Eckhoffw]

Looking good dude! Just repotted my two tamarack yamadori this week. So much easier when they’re in good substrate straight from collection. I love seeing the green buds ready to pop

Absolutely! Soo cool. What did I use for soil?

 

[pandacular]

What did I use for soil?

me, doing a second repotting on a tree from my rookie season