JoB's Acorn to Oak Tree Thread

[JoB]

Nice!
How old are those? I started 44 cork oaks from seed last year. Over wintering them in WI now. They seem to be fine. I have them in my basement now at 62* with grow lights on them. Still waiting to see new growth.

These were all started last spring for the oak competition. I have no grow lights , if we go below freezing they go in my little shed next to the window. It does not normally go below 0c in there. As soon as we are above 0c then they go back outside

 

[JoB]

So, the rest repotted this evening, it was a mixed bag regarding roots, a couple of really funky ( not in a good way) tap roots, a few with a nice spread. I did up pot a couple last summer and presume the ones I up potted and cut the tap roots are the much better looking ones. The US red and German Oaks I cut all the tap roots when I transplanted them last spring so will be interesting to see what they are like when I repot. They are all outside frozen so I will need to wait to do them.
Picture not great but my hands were frozen. I will take better ones later in the year

 

[Sunder]

So, the rest repotted this evening, it was a mixed bag regarding roots, a couple of really funky ( not in a good way) tap roots, a few with a nice spread. I did up pot a couple last summer and presume the ones I up potted and cut the tap roots are the much better looking ones. The US red and German Oaks I cut all the tap roots when I transplanted them last spring so will be interesting to see what they are like when I repot. They are all outside frozen so I will need to wait to do them.
Picture not great but my hands were frozen. I will take better ones later in the year View attachment 582024

Hummm
Your cork oaks put on a LOT more growth and girth than mine did! I repotted mine into 4” pots with bonsai soil (late March 2024) and cut tap roots at the same time.
They did add some length over the summer, so I know they survived, but definitely didn’t do as good as yours.
Half of mine are in a grow tent in my garage staying between 25-40* F, the other half are in my 62* basement under grow lights for the last few weeks. I have not seen new growth yet - the stems are still pliable so not dead YET

 

[JoB]

Hi, where abouts do you live? I can't see in your profile? I am in Germany, we had a wet summer last year but the Cork oaks did not seem to mind I fertilised the every week with a mix of Bio buzz fish, bio buzz root juice, seaweed xtra, and alternated standard liquid not organic..Plus used Saidung ultra in teabags.
They have been outside this winter, if we get freezing temperatures then I bring into my unheated shed by the window...no extra lights or heat

 

[JoB]

Started the reports on some of the US red and English/German Oaks. I decided to be fairly radical, if needed, as I have alot of young trees this year (too many!)....and I want to make sure these have the best start as far as rootwork/nebari development goes. We will see if I push some too far....
First one, englush/German oak- first pic before work, second after trimming roots, third after repot and chop. I will see if I can keep this one small

 

[JoB]

Next one , a US red oak, this one I put a washer on last spring ...one root had started to grow above , washer is tight, so this one got a bit of wire and put back in the growbag

 

[JoB]

This one has the best roots so far, tap root cut last spring, planted up in a small pond basket. I just trimmed, put a small piece of tile under and put in a slightly bigger pond basket

 

[JoB]

This one has the best roots so far, tap root cut last spring, planted up in a small pond basket. I just trimmed, put a small piece of tile under and put in a slightly bigger pond basket
View attachment 584148

 

[JoB]

So decided to start the first prune of the oaks..started with the English/German Oaks...took a couple of before and after and then decided it would be a little dull so finished of with a group shot of all 8 of them when I finished.

 

[JoB]

And now the US red oaks, just group before and after ..the corkbark I will check tomorrow, but I can already say that quite a few did not survive the root work in the spring

 

[JoB]

Now the corkbark...casualties of rootwork this spring ..2 have a few semi green leaves so not dumping then yet, but I have very little hope for them. I transplanted them last year just once as they were sprouting and so did not remove the tap roots... so the roots were more than funky thus spring, so combination of heavy root work, too early (?) , they did not see any frost, but I maybe should of removed more of the top ..?? I don't know, but I am not touching the ones I have left which are starting to push buds...I will check them again next month to see how vigorous they are looking .
The "graveyard"


The remaining victims not convinced about the left one in the last foto...I am not seeing any buds...but we will see.