Raynn’s Seedlings - English Oak and Horse Chestnut

[ForeverRaynning]

Thought I’d make a thread for these two seedlings.

Lets start with some pictures -


I’ve had these two for about a year now. It has been a joy watching them leaf out this Spring!

That little Quercus Robur has my heart. The Conker tree… well it has lots of leaves and a bit of a trunk bend so thats nice.

When is it safe to wire them? Is there a certain age, height or diameter thats they should reach?

They were repotted four weeks ago and I have some balanced slow release fert ready, I assume they need a couple more weeks before I can apply that?

Excited for these little ones to grow, next year I’ll may repot into pond baskets with vermiculite or kaizen mix, aerate those roots, seems that can promote better growth. Its just if I can keep on top of watering. This past year they’ve just been left to fend for themselves.

The horse chestnut is very lacking in the root department (I probably should have left it in its smaller pot) but its leafed out ok so hoping it’ll push some decent bottom growth this year. The Oak has loads of roots, but didn’t do any rootwork this year, will have to take another look next year, just hope the taproot doesn’t end up going crazy. Atleast it has more room to spread its roots this year, they were a rootbound mess before.

Thanks for stopping by this thread.

 

[BobbyLane]

Oaks are painfully slow to thicken up, I would suggest planting in the ground if you have space.

I picked up a couple from a nursery recently, £3.50 each. They have plenty of bits n pieces that have either self seeded in pots or been planted by squirrels. They pot them up individually.

I only selected these two because one has good movement low down, lots of low branches and areas to cut back to.
The other has a decent flare at base and a low/ sacrificial branch. Both actually have some radial roots as well as a tap root. Since the roots are very young ill let them develop in these pots for now. They're in nursey soil with a layer of granular soil on top covering the roots.

I dont have ground access anymore, only bought them because of the low branches which may aid thickening in a pot.

 

[ForeverRaynning]

Oaks are painfully slow to thicken up, I would suggest planting in the ground if you have space.

Yeah I’ve heard this. Don’t think I can really ground grow here either at my parents, front gardens North facing (and the beds are full so it would be crammed in awkwardly) and the raised rosebed at the back is against a solid tall fence (house behind our garden is on a hill so fence is a good 3m+ high I reckon? Then has tall trees behind extending above the top of the fence) so gets far more shade than sun. Been putting the pots in the middle of the lawn to get as much sun as possible at the moment. Figure since I’m young I’ve plenty of time to let one grow out in progressibly bigger pots till I’m happy with the trunk

That low twin trunk on one of yours is lovely!