Picea Glauca Yamadori test tree.

[Saddler]

I was up north last week transporting an RV back to Vancouver and wanted to collect a few yamadori in various places along the back to test the conditions they were growing in for a future collecting excursion. I found one place that had some amazing trees. Dozens and dozens of trees worth collecting. Unfortunately due to a phone charging fail, I have no pictures. I took two trees to test the ground they were growing in for root ball size. This one was one of the least nice trees that still had character. I dug it up in what would be mid autumn in the area I presume as the leaves are just starting to fall. The tree lived in a vast slide plain that was not easy for the trees to live. The tap root this tree had, had died and rotted enough I broke it easily with my hands. It only had a few small long roots running out. I think, but it is hard to tell with all the other flora growing under the tree, that it had a somewhat compact root ball in soil that it had pretty much made itself over the years. I have low hopes for this tree living due the time of year collecting, the three days to get it home ( I did mist it 3-4 times a day) and my 50/50 luck with spruce trees.

Any tips to help keep this tree alive would be appreciated. If it is alive in the next 2-3 years, I'm going to have a tree that will be well above my experience level lol.




My only pictures before my phone died

 

[barrosinc]

that is a very very nice tree.
hope it lives.
misting the foliage might help

 

[Saddler]

that is a very very nice tree.
hope it lives.
misting the foliage might help

The day I got home the temperature dropped and it has been raining on and off until today. It's the best conditions I could hope for. I will still mist it any days it doesn't rain, more then once if it warms up.

 

[Vin]

The one you collected could make an incredible specimen. I hope you had a permit to collect it. Unfortunately, I live on the other side of the world and can't offer any advice. Good luck with it.

 

[Saddler]

The one you collected could make an incredible specimen. I hope you had a permit to collect it. Unfortunately, I live on the other side of the world and can't offer any advice. Good luck with it.

Thanks, and I did get permission to dig it out. He even told me where to look when I described what I was looking for. Later he even offered a hand to help carry it to the RV when he drove by but the tree was surprisingly light. I miss the easy going people in the north.

 

[Vin]

Sounds like it would be worth a trip back and thank you for getting permission.

 

[Giga]

Is there only one live branch? Very epic if it lives

 

[Saddler]

Sounds like it would be worth a trip back and thank you for getting permission.

I am going to make a trip up again some spring with the intention of getting as many trees as I can fit into my vehicle/trailer. There was a couple trees I thought were Walter Pall caliber material, but it would take someone like him to bring out the best in them, or I could do it and have ok trees haha.

 

[Saddler]

Is there only one live branch? Very epic if it lives

No, there are three main branches that come off the trunk, two have turned into new apexes with branches coming off them, but the tops have died on both of them leaving a couple smaller branches on each. This tree has done the grow up and top dies, grow out and up and the top dies, grow out and up and the top dies. It has about a dozen secondary branches with dozens and dozens of dead ones. Its tough to see what is going on. If it is alive in 24 months, I will put it on a rotating platform for a much better view.

 

[Vin]

FYI You may want to contact @Walter Pall and ask for some insight on how best to care for this newly acquired beauty. I'm confident he'll give you some solid pointers that will help ensure its survival.

 

[Saddler]

Thanks @Vin I had thought about asking him but I am sure he gets enough requests to help that I didnt want to bother him. I have read his collecting yamadori page on bonsai4me multiple times.

 

[Saddler]

I was cleaning up the dead branches on my Picea today and noticed it was starting to backbud in a few places. It has been extending needles slowly but surely all over. My concern is that this is either a last ditch effort in its death throes or it is doing well. Does anyone have experience with spruce after collection?

 

[Saddler]

Here it is cleaned up a bit. I left most of the larger dead branches to give me option later if it does survive.

 

[barrosinc]

It seems alive

 

[PiñonJ]

I was cleaning up the dead branches on my Picea today and noticed it was starting to backbud in a few places. It has been extending needles slowly but surely all over. My concern is that this is either a last ditch effort in its death throes or it is doing well. Does anyone have experience with spruce after collection?View attachment 192523View attachment 192524View attachment 192525View attachment 192526View attachment 192527

Excellent tree! Right now, it's running on stored carbohydrates, but you haven't killed it yet! Fall is actually a good time to collect, as long as you have enough time for the roots to recover before the first hard freeze. Give it plenty of sunlight and fertilizer. If it sets good buds for next year, you're probably OK. The true test will be a year from now. If it has vigorous shoots at that time, you may be able to count on styling it two years from now.

 

[wireme]

I’ll second that. Strong buds set by the end of the year means it’s almost certainly a successful collect. No or few buds doesn’t mean it’s a goner either. I’ve had spruce take up to three years to start producing buds. Looks very promising right now, as long as it’s green there is hope.

 

[Saddler]

I know I’m not out of the woods (pun intended) until it has new buds growing next season. On the warmer, plus 20° C it gets misted every hour for sixty seconds in the hopes that it will keep it hydrated. Over the last month I have been slowly pushing further along the bench and into longer periods of direct sun.

I really hope it lives. When I was triming, I accidentally cut one long live branch not realizing I had growth on the tip. I used one of my sharpest knives and cut a small piece to count the rings, it was only about 4mm diameter. Looked like only one ring.



I don’t know if a tree's trunk diameter is proportional to its branches when looking at its age, but if it is, those 13 rings on a 4 mm branch equal an approximately 300 year old tree. I’m sure a branch that small and that “young” on an old tree isn’t the most accurate way to determine age either. None the less, it is pretty cool to see how tight the rings are.

 

[PiñonJ]

Not sure frequent misting is useful on a spruce. If it starts pushing buds and moving water (i.e. soil dries faster), I wouldn't bother misting.

 

[Saddler]

Not sure frequent misting is useful on a spruce. If it starts pushing buds and moving water (i.e. soil dries faster), I wouldn't bother misting.

Sorry, I should have said it gets sprayed with from a sprinkler every hour, not misted. Not that there is a huge difference in this context. I am using it for more then my spruce, I have a maple that got ripped out of its pot in a garden hose accident two weeks after a repot. A few other trees have leaves that haven’t hardened off ? and the warmer days are causing sever wilting without it. It’s good to know that it won’t be necessary for this tree though.

I may never know if this tree is moving water, it’s in a 129 liter (34 gallon) tote that is heaping with soil. And I still barely got the root ball to fit.

 

[Potawatomi13]

You may actually have Abies abies and not Spruce. Needle growth habit, branch growth pattern, round needle tips tell me is true Fir tree. If returning to same area cut section of dead tree(trunk)same size and count rings. Is one of ways Randy Knight determines age of trees. Would not be surprised if 300 years is real age. Would not be surprised if tree is VERY happy at better growing conditions and will do well for you.