headcount 203 and counting

[dirk hoorelbeke]

I'm a little bit shocked. Went outside yesterday, took a camera and walked between my "trees". Since a month ago someone else here was counting his trees and looking for a system to classify/grade them, i started thinking. Today i've put them in an excel sheet. For an example, when i have young trees (less then say 3 years) i count every one of them as one tree. So i must have more than 400 individuals for sure. What items would you 'score'? For now i have potential (the trees with bigger potential are more likely to be kept than material that is developed further but with less potential), workload, refinement, personal taste...
The total of this numbers should be a more or less objective thing to let trees go...
I like to train material, so i would like to keep some young material to develop over the years so ...
are there other parameters you would count in?

 

[Eric Group]

Personal Attachment... "First tree I collected" or "My grandma/ wife/ best friend gave me this one.." That can add some sentimentality to it and kind of like that ugly sweater your grandma knitted you that you only wear when she is around... You don't want to have her show up and the tree she bought you has been sold!

 

[barrosinc]

I thought headcount was like a killed count! Good thing it isn't!
400 is a shitload of trees!

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

so far i killed 3 trees in 8 years. I do not count seedlings or cuttings, risk-full airlayering etc. Lost one quercus suber from underwatering, lost my first pinus (nigra) because i was clearly thinking it was a maple at repotting time, and a taxus baccata because i worked it to much to fast (cutting all green and 80 of roots, so it sputtered along until the next year i repotted it reducing the roots some more). By now i've made a pre-selection. 5 trees are getting refined and should be ready to show in a few years. 46 where the trunk is ok and the rest is in progress. Around 60 are just starting their journey. Eric, thanks for the input. The sentimental value is a good one. I scored this as personal appreciation. In the next couple of years i hope to reduce further and hope to upgrade to better material. For now i always started with "cheap" material (125 euro max)

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I keep an inventory for all my plants in pots, I have 1000+ orchids, and maybe 100 trees, only a couple trees are at refinement stages. I count pots I have to water. Doesn't matter if there are 20 seedlings in there or not, it was the only sane way to go. On your inventory, you can put the count of seedlings as a detail info.

I would keep as many as you can keep healthy. Biggest problem I have is I tend to "over-work" my trees, do too much too soon. I found when I have a large collection that is approaching my limit as to what I can take care of, I do better at leaving the poor things alone so they can grow for a year or two. If I have too few trees, I tend to kill them by doing too much to them. The only cure for impatience is to buy more trees.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

I'm starting to realize my time is to limited and the more refined trees get, the more time they take. I'm one of those guys being able to let things grow out of control. Its not a bad thing in the beginning, but when refining it kind of deletes all the work you did previously, so if i want to move forward...
Thanks for the input!!!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I'm starting to realize my time is to limited and the more refined trees get, the more time they take. I'm one of those guys being able to let things grow out of control. Its not a bad thing in the beginning, but when refining it kind of deletes all the work you did previously, so if i want to move forward...
Thanks for the input!!!

I am noticing that too, and I do plan to downsize as demands of the more refined grow greater.