The Nursery Chronicles: Lair of the Red Beech

[Fonk]

Hello there!

The other day I saw a Juniperus at my usual nursery and on a quick glance, I thought it could be worth a try. I kept thinking about it so today I went to the nursery to check it out again, but I didn't like it that much... Trunk was thick but no lower branches and what seemed like and interesting nebari, in reality was a mess of roots and knots. Not pretty.

But I took a look around and came around a couple of trees that (in my totally unexperienced and novice opinion) are a bit interesting.

First of the two is this red Fagus Sylvatica (atropurpurea?) which has a trunk a bit thicker that I usually see on this nursery stock. It also seemed pretty healthy after the new growth (side note: is it absolutely crazy how fast Fagus extend and harden new growth or is it just that I'm too new at this?).

I'm usually bad at keeping track of my work, but I hope I can documentate this tree a bit in this thread.

I would like to repot this, but I think maybe my window is gone? I have the understanding that Beech trees should be repoted before the buds open. Am I mistaken? Or should I have to wait until next year?


Thanks for reading, and any comment, idea or critique is more than welcome!

 

[Gabler]

Hello there!

The other day I saw a Juniperus at my usual nursery and on a quick glance, I thought it could be worth a try. I kept thinking about it so today I went to the nursery to check it out again, but I didn't like it that much... Trunk was thick but no lower branches and what seemed like and interesting nebari, in reality was a mess of roots and knots. Not pretty.

But I took a look around and came around a couple of trees that (in my totally unexperienced and novice opinion) are a bit interesting.

First of the two is this red Fagus Sylvatica (atropurpurea?) which has a trunk a bit thicker that I usually see on this nursery stock. It also seemed pretty healthy after the new growth (side note: is it absolutely crazy how fast Fagus extend and harden new growth or is it just that I'm too new at this?).

I'm usually bad at keeping track of my work, but I hope I can documentate this tree a bit in this thread.

I would like to repot this, but I think maybe my window is gone? I have the understanding that Beech trees should be repoted before the buds open. Am I mistaken? Or should I have to wait until next year?


Thanks for reading, and any comment, idea or critique is more than welcome!

Beech trees tend to send out just one lightning-fast flush of growth per year, in some cases two.

 

[Fonk]

So after the tree lost most of its leaves I could take a better look to its structure.



Trunk is thick but there was not much taper on it. It also has a side completely devoid of branches. I thought about leaving it be for another year but in the end I went a bit crazy on it...



Not very pretty, I know. Let's see how it develops. Here's the other side of the tree:



Do you think it is possible the tree pushes some new branches from the trunk?

 

[Gabler]

Do you think it is possible the tree pushes some new branches from the trunk?

It's unlikely unless you severely prune the existing branches, removing all active buds, which might be risky for the tree. I've done it to American beech, but I'm unsure how it would work for European beech.

 

[Fonk]

It's unlikely unless you severely prune the existing branches, removing all active buds, which might be risky for the tree. I've done it to American beech, but I'm unsure how it would work for European beech.

I was afraid that would be the case. I'd rather not chop the trunk on this one but that would be a decision for next year.

Thank you for commenting!

 

[Gabler]

I was afraid that would be the case. I'd rather not chop the trunk on this one but that would be a decision for next year.

Thank you for commenting!

Thread grafts are always an option.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I don't have any beeches at this time but usually European beeches can take a serious hackback to the trunk and flush out. But they have to be healthy and vigorous (untouched and growing hard for at least a year) and the budding is mostly happening from nodes. So if the nodes aren't there, don't hack hard but thread graft instead.

When pruned at the right time, end of june more or less, they double flush too. Albeit weak and underwhelming.

 

[JudyB]

If you pinch to two leaves as each bud unfurls you’ll get a secondary flush usually from interior buds.