Portuguese oak (Quercus faginea) - Edrahyl's progression thread

[Edrahyl]

Hello everybody!

My name is Ben, I'm from the Netherlands. I'm new on the forum, but I've been into bonsai for the last six years. Until now I've mainly have had conifers (but started with tropicals when I still lived in an apartment), but yesterday that has changed! I found and bought a Portuguese oak (Quercus faginea). They hybridize readily however. It is a yamadori, collected in Spain a few years ago, and imported into the Netherlands by Carlos van der Vaart. He told me around here it's mostly deciduous, and is hardy to -10C (14 Fahrenheit). They lean more toward the water side of the water-oxygen balance.

Since it is my first oak, I would love to hear additional care tips from others! I've seen some videos from Mauro on this specific species, but apart from that not much.

This is my proposed front for now. The trunk actually comes quite a bit forward in this front, so I might lean it back a bit. This gives me the widest base and lots of trunk movement (also front to back). The stump at the bottom is mostly deadwood, but is very much alive at the soil line and sprouts many new shoots. I love the old bark. It could use a bit more taper. I'm thinking that the longer shoot on the right at the first big bend will be the first branch and will come up and out. I have to select a new leader at the top to prevent swelling (there are multiple shoots there), but I have some difficulty to decide whether I want to apex to move back to the right, or even further to the left. Any thoughts would be appreciated!



Proposed backside, trunk moves away from you.


From the right side, you can see how much it leans forward.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Your English is excellent. With non Yamadori trees we might normally determine trunk angle by the foot crown Maybe this was already done or there is no good root crown being Yamadori. A future angle change possibly?
Nice trunk and great bark. It is wise to choose any branch you want to keep and wire as soon as possible. Preferably as soon as leaves are out of the way. After one seasons first flush of growth AFTER the wood lignifies the branch will usually be set in position this way and continue this way as new growth happens. Discourage any attempt by tree to develop a tap root, Oaks love a tap root. You have plenty of branches so choose now so most strength goes to developing wood on these keepers and remove the others. Please don't ever try to keep it in your house. I have 10 or 11 oaks developing currently.

 

[Edrahyl]

Thanks! There are some surface roots when I dig down a bit, but I will have to see about any taproot when I first go to repot it. There is also some original field soil, the rest seems to be pumice. I read that oaks are quite finicky when it comes to messing with their roots, so I suppose I will address this slowly. I will do some branch selection then! I would also never keep it in my house, only my Ficus and Schefflera come in for the winter. It will get full sun mostly, but right now I have it under 40% shade cloth since we are entering a heat wave. Thanks again for the tips!

 

[rockm]

Thanks! There are some surface roots when I dig down a bit, but I will have to see about any taproot when I first go to repot it. There is also some original field soil, the rest seems to be pumice. I read that oaks are quite finicky when it comes to messing with their roots, so I suppose I will address this slowly. I will do some branch selection then! I would also never keep it in my house, only my Ficus and Schefflera come in for the winter. It will get full sun mostly, but right now I have it under 40% shade cloth since we are entering a heat wave. Thanks again for the tips!

You are unlikely to find a tap root. It probably has been removed at collection. That's a good thing. Oaks are not as sensitive to that as some think. It depends on the species. This one seems to be adapting to a container and root pruning very well. What you're looking for an encouraging are laterally growing roots extending from the trunk crown (nebari). Downward growing roots are discouraged and pruned off.

You oak looks very healthy. Branch selection would be a good thing to do at this point.

 

[ShimpakuBonsai]

Welcom to the forum.
I think I saw this tree for sale at the Bonsai van het Westen show on Saturday in the hortus botanicus in Delft.

 

[Edrahyl]

I indeed bought it there! Good observation! Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'd like to continue to post the progress here over the years, just like I have seen so many of your guys progression threads. Just very good for learning and inspiration.