From Seed Division: Gabler’s Chestnut Oaks

[Gabler]

These Quercus montana seedlings survived their first winter. I believe I can use the nine of them to make a decent forest planting in the next seven years.

 

[19Mateo83]

Nice little seedlings! I love growing oak seedlings, they grow rather fast in this stage.

 

[Gabler]

I'm hoping that with air pots and tons of fertilizer, I can get some decent girth on the trunks before I put together my arrangement. Oaks don't add girth as quickly as other species with softer wood, like sweetgum or sycamore, but they also tend to produce a big tap root, so I don't want to plant them in the ground for high-speed growth. I do have other candidates for my final contest entry, so if this turns out to be a longer-term project than anticipated, it's no great loss. I love that oaks are easy to care for and respond well to training techniques, but I guess no tree has everything. They're terribly slow growers, albeit not as slow as ginkgo.

 

[19Mateo83]

They get huge leaves. These two are 3rd year seedlings. And the rest are 2nd year that I chopped the tap roots on.

 

[Gabler]

They get huge leaves. These two are 3rd year seedlings. And the rest are 2nd year that I chopped the tap roots on.

I'm not too concerned about the leaf size. Oak leaves generally reduce well. They'll never be as tiny as a Chinese elm, but I think I can get it to work. That's assuming they were actually labelled correctly. They're definitely in the white oak group, but the young leaves have deeper sinuses than I would expect from a chestnut oak. I'm not sure whether that's a juvenile trait.

 

[Gabler]

I thought based on their first year leaves they were chestnut oaks, but now I’m thinking they might be English oak. They’re some kind of white oak, regardless.

 

[Gabler]

I am now confident these are Quercus robur. Regardless of the arbitrary label, they are ready for some root work. Gotta get rid of that oak taproot for a chance at decent nebari. I found a spot along each tree’s taproot with multiple roots growing at approximately the same level, and I removed all roots growing above and below.

 

[Gabler]

For reference, some of the trees had better radial nebari than others. The below example is more representative of the group.

 

[Wulfskaar]

Nice! How old are they now?

I've got A LOT of 1-2 year old oaks growing that I'm afraid of touching because of the taproot situation. Last year I tried to transplant a couple 1 year old coast live oaks that didn't like being transplanted and are now dead. They definitely did not have the amount of lateral roots that yours have, so I'm wondering what year might be best to finally repot some of them.

 

[Gabler]

Nice! How old are they now?

This is their third growing season, so two years old. I have a bunch of white oaks (Quercus alba) that I plan to put through washers. They’re only a year old at this point. I planted the acorns just a little over a year ago. I’ll soon see which is the better approach to dealing with taproots.

 

[Gabler]

I’m getting different colors in the different seedlings’ leaves. Some have yet to wake, but these two are ready to go.

 

[Gabler]

All nine trees responded well enough to root pruning. The largest grew more than two feet last year, almost three.

 

[Gabler]

The trees were ready to mingle.



You may notice I also added some English yew in the understory. It grew as volunteer seedlings in various pots over the last two years.

 

[quercophile]

Looks like a nice forest planting! What was the soil mix you used in your air bags? Is that just hydroton with compost, what ratio? How did the washer method work out compared to root pruning?

 

[Gabler]

Looks like a nice forest planting! What was the soil mix you used in your air bags? Is that just hydroton with compost, what ratio? How did the washer method work out compared to root pruning?

It was all recycled soil from a variety of growing tests I had performed, plus a significant amount of coconut husk. The washer method did not work as intended. Most died. Root pruning is the clear winner.

 

[quercophile]

It was all recycled soil from a variety of growing tests I had performed, plus a significant amount of coconut husk. The washer method did not work as intended. Most died. Root pruning is the clear winner.

Thanks, what other soil tests did you perform? I am trying to figure out the best general mix for pre-bonsai and the hydroton seems like a good idea to add in the mix!

 

[Gabler]

Thanks, what other soil tests did you perform? I am trying to figure out the best general mix for pre-bonsai and the hydroton seems like a good idea to add in the mix!

The hydroton is wasted space. I just didn't feel like picking out all the little pieces. Avoid it. For growing out trees, especially oaks, use lots of organics. Regular potting soil would be great in a deep enough pot. For a bonsai mix, you need a little bit of organic matter to avoid chlorosis. Oaks like organic matter in the soil. Kanuma (the stuff used for azaleas) would probably be great, but it's expensive, and I'm doing bonsai on a budget.