Tsuga mertensiana (mountain hemlock)

[ghues]

Just picked up the local paper, link below shows one of our club members with his gorgeous doubled trunked mountain Hemlock at our annual show last weekend. He uses lava and sea soil.


http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/news/385928691.html?mobile=true

 

[Arcto]

Good link, thanks. Doesn't look like its available stateside. I'm assuming you don't sift the fines out.

 

[Arcto]

Great tree. Doesn't look like the newspaper id'ed it quite right.

 

[ghues]

Good link, thanks. Doesn't look like its available stateside. I'm assuming you don't sift the fines out.

I do for my mix but others in our neck of the woods don't especially for trees in development.

 

[ghues]

Great tree. Doesn't look like the newspaper id'ed it quite right.

Peter first showed the reporter his large shore Pine first then went to this Mtn. Hemlock, so he must have got a little mixed up with his notes lol.

 

[parhamr]

@ghues hello, Mr. Forester! Congrats on the retirement.

I've never been part of your industry but it sure is close to my heart. I grew up near a former Boise facility, spent a lot of my childhood summers on Weyerhauser land (outside of the burn advisories), and also went to OSU for my undergrad; many of the lectures I attended were in School of Forestry classrooms!

Cheers

 

[parhamr]

I'm doing a little cleanup at the end of the growing season for fine branch selection. I'm also working on wiring the primary and secondary branches. I'll get to the tertiary branches later.



It responded well to regular deep waterings and doses of a balanced fertilizer once a month. This mountain hemlock receives around 6–9 hours of full sun each day.

Last summer broke heat records for days above 90°F but this summer was not as bad. Last winter was super mild. I think we had one or two days below freezing.

Pic showing the wiring: (from the front; apologies for the background noise)

 

[Vance Wood]

This is one native tree that should be cultivated for the nursery trade. Nice job with it. If I may suggest; if the tree were mine I would start working on detailing the foliage pads.

 

[parhamr]

This is one native tree that should be cultivated for the nursery trade. Nice job with it. If I may suggest; if the tree were mine I would start working on detailing the foliage pads.

I'll be getting to the pads soon. I'm slowly making progress on the nights I am free

 

[Tycoss]

This may be my very favourite West Coast conifer. I live in Alberta, so I think our cold dry winds and alkaline water might make things difficult for mountain hemlock. Perhaps specimens colected at really high altitudes could work out with winter protection. Love your tree, and looking forward to seeing its development.

 

[Tycoss]

Some interesting specimens I saw last time I was at Vancouver Island. Lots too big for anything but inspiration. Many look like they have already been "styled". One could easily be an inspiration for one of Tolkien's Ents.

 

[Random User]

Tycoss, are you raising those Hobbit children to be bonsai artists?

... one of the first books that I managed to read because it consumed me, was The Hobbit... my OCD, and inability to focus had me running in the wilds most times...

 

[Tycoss]

I dig those books too. As for my kids, they like anything outside. My eldest son and eldest daughter are definitely interested in bonsai. My son just wired his first lodgepole pine, from a collected sapling a couple weeks ago. He took it really seriously.

 

[Tycoss]

Sorry, in reversed order. I anchored the wire and held the trunk while he bent it. He plucked the needles, wrapped the wire, and decided on the bends. Good quality time.

 

[Random User]

I used to teach an Industrial Arts class for grade 7,8, & 9... if I could have taught grade 7's for the rest of my career, I would never have left teaching. They have such a high degree of energy when they are motivated to take something on... then, get them in a classroom and they motivate each other (they're like a bunch of little wind-up toys going around keeping each other on the move (not a great thing in math class though!)... what a great time for them to start.

 

[Tycoss]

Sorry to have hijacked your thread parhamr. Don't have many pictures of larger wild trees without kids in the picture.

 

[parhamr]

@Tycoss those are awesome photos! Thanks for sharing

 

[parhamr]

November 2016


I've completed about as much wiring as this tree will get for this stage. The rebar serves as anchor points for pulling heavy branches downward.

@Vance Wood I now think I understand your question about lighting and tree health—this is the Mountain variety, which has needles distributed around the entire twig (like pines). It's the Western hemlock that has needles "flattened" along each side of branches (somewhat like a fir tree).

 

[parhamr]

I’ve just completed another full round of wiring and I’m excited about this tree. Major successes:

• I’m set on the front, which maximizes the basal flare, allows for a forward lean, and keeps the trunk upright
• I’ve selected significant branches and removed nearly everything unnecessary; I have branching 1/4 up the tree or I could prune to about 2/3 up the tree
• The angle at which branches leave the trunk is almost consistent across the entire tree; minor tuning will be needed over the next couple of growing seasons
• Branches are quite consistently decreasing in thickness as they go up the tree
• Foliage pads are definitely taking shape; I’ve wired as detailed as I can go on nearly all branches
• The “masculine” girth of the trunk is pairing nicely with the width of the foliage pads and the angularity of the branching

I’m learning from mistakes with this tree—damage to bark can be fully healed if wrapped in grafting tape and treated gently for two years.

Photos to come.

 

[parhamr]

Welp, I clearly failed to get photos taken. My semi-busted lens continues to be frustrating.

Here’s a quick snap of its spring flush. I did an aggressive repot into this 7" deep by 12" square box in January. The shin was partially rotted out, so I cleaned it up quite a bit.


I was worried the root work would be too aggressive, so it’s relieving to see this flush so vigorous.