Oaks

[Oleg]

Hi everyone,

I have germinated some acorns, eight have done well, the acorns have been separated, the tap roots are cut and they are now in miracle grow indoor potting mix in 6" plastic pots .
I was planning on putting them in the ground for a decade or so once I can be sure the squirrels won't eat them. They have 4 leaves each, what should I expect as far as growth goes, will they produce more leaves this summer, and how should I fertilize?

Thanks

Chris

 

[Bunjeh]

http://www.bonsai4me.com/SpeciesGuide/Quercus.html

http://www.bonsai-made-easy.com/bonsaioaktree.html

Above are a couple of good links for care/feeding for Oaks. One thing to remember, most Quercus have a very long tap root. When you put them in the ground I recommend planting them on top of a tile to ensure it is easier to pot up when the time comes.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I rarely comment on links to info sites, but I would not recommend bonsai-made-easy as a bonsai information site to anyone. I don't agree with their views on no collecting from the wild, and frankly, I think some of the information on their site is outright incorrect. There are much better information sites out there.

I'm not taking a shot at you, Bunjeh, but I wanted to state my opinion.

 

[milehigh_7]

Given how finicky oaks are with their roots, I would rethink ground growing. Let's see what some other say but progressively larger colanders, pond baskets and the like will give you the growth you want and the root system you want.

 

[Oleg]

Thanks a lot,
Tap roots were cut to 2 1/2 " with enough fine feeders to support them in the house, I use plastic tubs with holes drilled in them, maybe I'll try that for a year, it would get them into grit early too. Thanks for the links and the heads up on the other site Bonsai4me I should have thought of but they are so small (pre bonsai).

 

[sorce]

Outside !

 

[Oleg]

YES of course! But still freezing at night.
Thanks
Chris

 

[Gene Deci]

In ‘96 and ’97 I started a number of white oak seedlings – about three dozen all together. I had them in individual 4-inch pots for a while but they kept dyeing off on me, a few each year. I finally put those that were left in the ground. They did very well, I probably should have done that sooner. But then we moved and I had to dig them up. A number did not make it. I now have four left out of the nearly forty I started with. They are decent enough trees but maybe not what you might expect after nearly twenty years.


Lessons learned:

1. They do fine in a container if you get a highly ramified root system established but that is easier said than done and will not happen in the ground.

2. They don’t like to be transplanted much.

3. They take a long time.


If I were to try it again I would use air-pots of some kind, as has been suggested. I would also start as many as I have room for in case of attrition.

 

[Oleg]

Thanks Gene, that's all very useful, so you would skip the ground all together? I just thought of it as an easy few years with little to do. I'd love to see what they look like after 20 years if you have a shot.
Chris

 

[Gene Deci]

Thanks Gene, that's all very useful, so you would skip the ground all together? I just thought of it as an easy few years with little to do. I'd love to see what they look like after 20 years if you have a shot.
Chris

One of the things I have not done very well is take pictures of my trees. I will try to take some of the oaks when they come out of winter storage. In the mean time, I did post a picture of one of them taken a few a years ago in a thread titled Bonsai from Seed in the New to Bonsai forum.

That brings me to a question of my own. How do you post a link to some past thread?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

How do you post a link to some past thread?

Go to the thread you want to link, tap on the post number, and you'll get a dialog box with the option to select/copy the link:

 

[Gene Deci]

Thanks Brian. Lets see if this works
http://bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/growing-from-seed.9280/#post-115562"]Growing from Seed[/URL]

 

[sikadelic]

I had a black oak by my office in SC that I wanted to collect before moving. One motivator was to keep a momento and the other to experiment with as I have never worked with an oak before. It was a black oak (I think) and I repotted it a few days ago.

The roots were very long without much fine rooting at all when I collected it. I was almost certain it would die but it survived. It filled in nicely with fine roots considering it was only 1 year from collection. I'll try and post pics tomorrow for you.

It really put a ton of growth when it was originally chopped but the internode length was terrible. I rechopped when I repotted it to start over this year.

 

[Bunjeh]

I rarely comment on links to info sites, but I would not recommend bonsai-made-easy as a bonsai information site to anyone. I don't agree with their views on no collecting from the wild, and frankly, I think some of the information on their site is outright incorrect. There are much better information sites out there.

I'm not taking a shot at you, Bunjeh, but I wanted to state my opinion.

No offense taken. I like Harry Harrington's site. Posted the other just to show that there is more information out there. Thanks for the heads up.

However, I do have a couple of oaks (quercus garryana and robur) and like 'em.

 

[milehigh_7]

Oaks are a problem when digging because they don't like their roots being messed with much. Also their roots tend to grow thick and go deep. That's why my suggestion is to skip the ground and put them in ever larger air pruning pots of some type.

 

[Oleg]

Great tree Gene!
Thanks
Chris

 

[sikadelic]

This is the Oak one year out of the ground. It basically only had the long thick roots when collected. I'm gonna work them back a little more next year.

 

[Oleg]

Thanks Jarrod that's very helpful. how old would you say the tree is? 5-10?
Chris

 

[sikadelic]

I really don't know for sure but I don't think it is very old. Maybe on the lower end of the scale you mentioned. I had finger thick shoots from my previous chop within a season. I am not sure if it was because it just came out of the ground of not but this will be the first full season in a pot so I will see how much it puts on in comparison.

I think I will work on a ground layer next year if I cant chase those roots back a little more.