White Oak Wonderings

[Kodama]

Good evening, I have this I believe a White Oak that needs a direction plan and hoping the always helpful bonsai community could take a look and provide some welcome feedback. The straight 2nd trunk i originally let go as a sacrifice thinking it would help thicken the trunk but will only leave a bigger scar after removal.. or.. does it lend itself to go with twin trunk? Thought also that maybe I place in ground for a couple years?

 

[BrianBay9]

I would definitely put it in the ground for a few years to thicken that trunk up. It's not going to do much in that pot.

 

[The Barber]

I'm with Brian, with the bigger foliage of a white oak, it will require a thicker trunk, and a bigger tree to be a decent looking scale.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

What is your final height goal/trunk goal?

 

[Kodama]

Not sure what would be a good height for this species but thinking around 24" and a base of 3" or 4". Sounds like yeah I should put in ground and just let it grow.

 

[The Barber]

Not sure what would be a good height for this species but thinking around 24" and a base of 3" or 4". Sounds like yeah I should put in ground and just let it grow.

I would say it will end up being maybe 36" to be a believable bonsai. I would work the roots in the spring and make sure there is no tap root and then stick it in the ground. One of the biggest issues with oaks is the energy they put into their tap root. The first oak yamadori I ever collected, I dug about 20 inches from the trunk, and ended up with only a long ass tap root and zero feeder roots.

 

[rutulus]

I dug one for an hour and the taproot got wider the further down I went. At two feet deep it was 2x wider than the trunk at soil level. I filled in the hole and looked for something else.

 

[Kodama]

The first oak yamadori I ever collected, I dug about 20 inches from the trunk, and ended up with only a long ass tap root and zero feeder roots.

Did this one survive?

 

[Kodama]

Would you cut the second trunk on this or develop it for a twin trunk style?

 

[_#1_]

Do you like twin trunk or single trunk?

 

[Kodama]

I appreciate your point but guess I was looking at what style does tree lend itself to be opposed to what I want it to be? Should I be trying to work with what it's giving me or is that more for more mature material? I realize putting this in the ground could develop this into something that is not even close to what it is now. Do i first focus on Trunk, roots, then primary branches, and then secondary, tertiary?

 

[_#1_]

Should I be trying to work with what it's giving me or is that more for more mature material?

What you have now is a little seedling that could be shaped the way you find appealing. If it was a 10 year old tree, then cutting one of the trunk will leave a giant wound and lopsided base. But yeah, at this stage shape it how you like.

Root/base
Trunk
Branch

In that order