What do oaks like?

[Mike Corazzi]

By the leaves, I surmise this is Quercus Robur (common oak)

Judging from past DUG oak, (which I gave away and subsequently turned into a 20 foot field tree) I am assuming they need some room.

I think I will have to cut the tap root.

It is in a narrow tall pot now. Started this last summer from a 2 inch "starter" and now grown a bit.
(spoon in pic for scale)

I'm wondering if I should pot it this spring in a wider but fairly DEEP pot or go wider but not too deep?

The trunk has thickened considerably from when it started.
It wanted LOTS of water this year.

I don't think I want it in a narrow pot because I want to encourage the wider roots to thicken the trunk more.

Is a ...shallow...pot a bad thing? Even if it's pretty wide?

I plan to shorten some of these longer branches to the several lower multiple bud levels.

Or should I go fairly large to accommodate a spreading root system?

???

 

[Smoke]

What do oaks like?

View attachment 128535

Professional styling???

Love the spoon

 

[Mike Corazzi]

Thanks.

 

[aml1014]

When I grow trees out, I avoid downward roots like the plague. Shallow isn't a bad thing, so long as the roots have space to run, the tree will grow relatively quick.

Aaron

 

[Potawatomi13]

IF wanting bigger trunk will need to grow in bigger container so tree will feel free to grow. Tap root must be shortened. May have to do in stages a couple years apart so adequate side roots remain. There's an Oak guy down there(Paul something)who could offer great help. Suggest looking up in Oak threads and send a PM. What species is DUG Oak?

 

[Mike Corazzi]

Dug is what could be called yamadori, but lots smaller.

 

[Ezell]

Getting your root system thriving, I get to visit with growers in my area in which trees are grown in containers or in the field. Your choice with fertilizers(scheduled, ratios, etc), these growers always hit them with straight 21-0-0 ammonia sulphate every so often in different situations. I have done the same, it will work, just use your better judgment of when and how often.

 

[Waltron]

I think once you have quite a few fine feeder roots in that pot you can and should cut the tap root, also, straight lava rock and maybe 10-15% sphag moss is a soil mix that I know works well on evergreen oak in Cali.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

I peeked into the HIGHLY compressed soil a month or so ago and it is PACKED with fine roots.
This was 2 inches tall at the beginning of summer so that growth is from summer til this fall.
I am....assuming..... this thing is gonna be stuffed with roots but I won't know until I jerk it out of the pot it's in.
AFA the "styling" that long left uppy branch was a semi cascader low wraparound that I decided would be better going uppy for a more oakish style. I did not shorten it when I uppitied it.
So it's too damn long.
But I can see buds all over all the branches that should give me a bunch of oakey ramifications once they start to open.

PM for clarification of proper oakity jargon if needed.

 

[aml1014]

For being only a year old, it's got quite a decent little trunk under it.
Makes me want to buy a bunch of seedlings from Matt O.

Aaron

 

[GGB]

Based soley on how fast you said this tree grew, I would guess that it's not Q. robur (english oak). I am NOT an authority on oak, but mine grow pretty slowly and I've heard other's say the same. maybe I'm just doing it all wrong haha

 

[Mike Corazzi]

It was a so called "starter" bonsai from a general nursery.
I used a Google "oak leaf types" for the genus, but it could sure be wrong.
Went by the shape.
The leaves on the teensy thing were huge.
But soft and lobed.

Geez, that sounds erotic, huh?

 

[Potawatomi13]

Nice small tree by the way. No pic with leaves? Some but not all young small Oaks have leaves that don't look much like parent tree. Have had 3 different types this way.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

Nice small tree by the way. No pic with leaves? Some but not all young small Oaks have leaves that don't look much like parent tree. Have had 3 different types this way.

There was ONE and I didn't notice til I looked at the pic that it was cut off up there at the very tippy top.

"Tippy top" is what oak aficionados call the apex.

I do know it doesn't have needles.

 

[milehigh_7]

It was a so called "starter" bonsai from a general nursery.
I used a Google "oak leaf types" for the genus, but it could sure be wrong.
Went by the shape.
The leaves on the teensy thing were huge.
But soft and lobed.

Geez, that sounds erotic, huh?

As a side note you really can't key oaks by leaf type alone. You also need the fresh acorn. You need to know how long from flower till viability, dimensions of the cup and the nut, if the cup is smooth and various other things. Also obviously Evergreen or deciduous...

 

[Mike Corazzi]

I can photo an acorn in ......oh.... 15-20 years maybe.

 

[milehigh_7]

If this were mine, I would go to the Asian market and get a wide shallow rice strainer to plant it in and get enough pumice to go 100% then do one of two things:

JUST AS BUDS BREAK

1) Take a saw and flat cut about half the root ball and plant it deep in the strainer with just enough pumice to cover the bottom and DON'T PRUNE ANY TOP THIS YEAR and get that wire off.

2) Don't disturb much of the roots just spread them out a bit plant it as deep as possible in the strainer and cut back to the first node on all the branches.


Feed with miracid and a fairly regular dose of some humic acid containing food.

 

[milehigh_7]

Then do the opposite next year...

The more I think about it...

Do #1 this year #2 next year that will allow you to do baby bending in year 3 then you will have a bit more trunk and better roots to go with the branches you develop.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

Only reason it's so wired is I brought up a wraparound cascade branch.
And spread the others. It'll come off before bud break.

I won't need a saw. The way it's packed with roots just looking down at the base, I think a knife would do it easily.

The "wild" one I dug (and gave away that's now 20 feet tall) had a LOOOOONNNNNGGGGGG taproot.

I had it potted with almost no roots up near the base so I just kept cutting the tap root which was about 2 feet long and just curled it up in the pot. It then sent out some better roots.