mattspinniken
Omono
I have been wondering lately how long I should wait to fertilize a collected tree, any thoughts on that? Also, do you think you would wait until next year before managing any of the strength of the "head"?
A look at my trees this morning.
- Thread starter mattspinniken
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I would give the newly collected WC chem fert (like M gro)--if its in a free draining substrate (add Perlite to soil!)--and if it does not have a huge muck ball, if it does, avoid the muck ball some. Also foliar right away--they love this. Managing green on new WC depends on vigor. Some gro right away others don't, Sometimes they push growth all in one area and the weak foliage benefits from that having some of the leading growth tip cut after they have grown for 2 weeks. If tree grows ramp fert. If you cut, stop late summer/early fall to assure it settles. This is a nice tree! I would nurser lower wimpy foliage for the future.
mattspinniken
Omono
I was really hopeful on this WC and it is looking to be happy in its new environment now after collection this spring. I'm thinking it will stay in this plastic box until 2018 spring at the earliest. I'm thinking when I do repot one day I will partial hide the really large extending trunk / root line on the right. I'm tempted to reduce "the head" and compact the tree to use the smaller interior branches but I may wait until next June for that.
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This one looks to have handled collection very well. I like the timeline you have planned for the tree. No need to rush things with these cedars.
Congratulations! It is a great piece of material. One of the best non-Canadian collected thuja I've seen!
j evans
Omono
First off I think that I like the long extended trunk. Just a thought. Nice tree
Looks very happy. I agree that next year to do some branch selection--chose what you are going to develop but not necessarily eliminate any extraneous green stuff. I would cut back the foliage of the chosen branches so they don't go wild and lose inner growth and give it another year of strong growth. One could tie down some branches or even do some wiring next year too. I believe more than many native trees a cedar is a grow and work tree--once established, grow and cut back hard and wire hard--grow and then work the roots--grow and cut back fronds for better branching--grow-work-grow-work. Later when one has a good bush one can try to keep it more stable but count on several good hair cuts a year even with that--that's my experience. Oh, and listen and take note of any compliments from amkhalid, he is highly skilled native bonzo-man and does only cool things. You tapered base reminds me of one of his projects.
f1pt4
Chumono
Very nice tree! Tons of potential. Can we see some head on photos when you get the chance?
mattspinniken
Omono
Thanks for the help guys, it's really nice getting tips from some of my favorite Thuja B nuts. Here is a more head on shot as requested, I would move it into a better photo spot but the plastic bin it is in is not sturdy enough for a lot of moving around. A learning lesson on this one is to use really sturdy training pots or wooden boxes from now on with collected stuff.
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mattspinniken
Omono
aml1014
Masterpiece
Waltron
Chumono
Nice collection, I've been curious about that nicely tapered collected larch of yours as well, I like where you're going with it!
mattspinniken
Omono
Thanks guys!
Larch are my favorite so I have quite a few but 2 that I have posted have pretty good taper. The smaller one put on about 2ft of growth everywhere this year and is doing well. The bigger one has what looks like 2 successful thread grafts taking there time. Next spring I will update the threads on those trees for sure.
ghues
Omono
Most of us can relate .......the addiction is very apparent.....some great trees.....started the same way....get so many trees you put them in any pot that's available.......lucky for me I had cedar planks from replacing a fence.....so I could make up a lot of grow boxes....still don't have enough lol.Expansion timeThe picture was taken early in the morning so it is a little dark, but I added some screening trees and a new bench.
mattspinniken
Omono
Ghues, I have some nice wood and now only put collected trees in nice wooden boxes, plastic doesn't look right to me with collected trees.
Also I think this is the Larch you asked about Walton. Hard to get much of a picture, letting it grow out right now, it will be ready for another cut next spring.
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Waltron
Chumono
yea that one is dope, jealous.
M. Frary
Bonsai Godzilla
Oh my.
erb.75
Chumono
in terms of the bench location...is it good to have it so close to the house? That's a lot of water everyday next to your foundation. Anyone else worry about stuff like that?
erb.75
Chumono
BTW, nice trees
mattspinniken
Omono
That's a good point and I have thought about it. Besides that fact, it is a really good location for me because it gets sunlight from sunrise until about 3pm - 4pm. Also I live on top of a hill and the winds really rip so they need some sort of a wind block. Maybe I will install some drain tile.
mattspinniken
Omono
another update: More growth on the beastly WC and one of my Larch with early fall color. I have heard that early fall color on Larch indicates that it is weak so I really hope this one buds out strong next year.
