The Tree Thread

[Djtommy]

Just repotted my chojubai, no sign of flowers yet

 

[MACH5]

Nice choju DJ!


Here is my Japanese beech forest complete with fertilizer cups

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Nice couple shots! Chojubai have been blooming here for the last 5 weeks or so. Crazy.
Maple. Another blue pot.

 

[Djtommy]

Did work on my jwp, removing older needles. New wiring and some restyling.
Nit every branch is wired but it took still about 2 days.. I'm not that fast yet..
Still thinking about removing the second branch on the right but I'm still waiting for that.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Corkbark JBP, 'Hachi gen' shohin ready for some thinning out.

 

[Vance Wood]

How are you treating the moss that forms on the trunk. I am having a problem with that as well. It gets a bit troublesome to have to pick it off. Is there some method you use to eliminate it?

This is my Blue Spruce. Notice the moss and algea forming on the trunk. Do you know of a way to get it off without harming the bark?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Toothbrush and tweezers. It's usually not too bad, and with this pine, happy moss means it's getting too much water.

 

[Vance Wood]

That's what I have been doing but you are going to use a tooth brush on a thick barked Black Pine?
Happy moss means too much water? There is more than just too much water going on here, but thanks for your response.

 

[Adair M]

Vance,

Dab the bark using a Qtip, or a cotton ball dipped in white vinegar. It kills the moss. Once it dries up, it's easier to remove. Once you get rid of the worst of it, doing touch ups every so often prevents it from coming back. Take care not to drip any on the soil. Roots don't like it.


My Atlas Cedar after cutting back. I still need to wire some wayward tips:

 

[Vance Wood]

Thanks Adair, I am correct in going after it with White Vinegar, but this stuff is not the regular moss. It tends to have an orange tinge to it and is incredibly stubborn. When I get it off it takes the bark with it. It has even gone out onto the branches.

You can see in the photo below the nature of the bark I am trying to preserve.

By the wa you Cedar is beautiful.

 

[Adair M]

Vance, just kill the moss and algae with the vinegar. I wouldn't try to remove it. It will sluff off. What I do is get a little bowl of vinegar, and use a cotton ball. And I use tweezers to hold the cotton ball. And then give the moss and algae a good soaking.

My JBP had moss creeping up the trunk pretty badly, but the vinegar got it.





If you look carefully at the second picture, you can see a lot of moss/algae on the trunk. That picture was taken in June.

The first picture is the more recent picture, and sometime between June and now (I don't remember exactly when) I finally got around to killing the moss. It took two applications. The first one got most of it. After the moss turned yellow then brown, I could see the areas I had missed. The second application cleaned that up. I didn't try to pick the moss off. That would, as you said, ruin the bark.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

That's what I have been doing but you are going to use a tooth brush on a thick barked Black Pine?
Happy moss means too much water? There is more than just too much water going on here, but thanks for your response.

Yes, carefully. And tweezers to grab moss between plates. Works for me. I don't know what you have going on, but I actually don't mind the lichen on the trunk of your spruce. What I really hate is this Irish moss stuff.

 

[Vance Wood]

Forever grateful, thank you. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Adair M]

I agree with the lichen. I have it on one of my JBP:



It's about 3/4 the way up. Shows up white. Easier to see in person. Makes the tree look old.

 

[Vance Wood]

I'm not sure it is lichen. It looks like lichen but--------?

 

[Adair M]

Vance, the rule on this thread is that every post has to have a picture of a tree.

Here's an olive:

 

[Vance Wood]

Yeah I know here's an Azalea.

 

[Adair M]

Bushes don't count!

Azalea. That counts as a tree.

 

[Adair M]

If Vance can get away with showing shrubbery in this thread, I should be able to post a couple of Jack-o-lanterns my kids carved:






And a tree to make it legal!

 

[Vance Wood]

Mugo Pine, one of my time extended projects. Started cutting this tree down from a tree about 4' tall. about ten years ago. I had been butchered in a work shop by a student that didn't have an idea what was going on with the tree so I bought it back from him. Three or four years ago I took the tree to our club show and worked on it at my sales booth. It is now about 18". This next year I plan on doing more detail work.