Quercus phellos development journal

This is my favorite tree. It is obviously very tiny still and will require a mountain of time and patience before it's even proper material to work with. Time I have plenty of, still working on patience.

In the mean time I thought it would be real fun to make a journal of it's development. I really love looking through old posts and seeing updates of the same tree years later so i figured a start to "finish" would be really cool or in the very least amuse some of the pros with these first year images.


Willow Oak ( Q. phellos ) year 1, earliest images. 1/2


So, I have the tiniest little pine stand right behind my flat with literally dozens of little red and white oak saplings ( among other things ) and of all the things I had to pick from...I chose this guy. Despite it's size I do think it's at least a year and a half to two years old because it had a ridiculously long "tap root" that I never did find the end of, growing straight down into rock hard Mississippi clay.

Willow Oak ( Q. phellos ) year 1, earliest images. 2 /2


After I collected it ( about mid july ) I put it into a small pot which is filled with a sphagnum moss potting mix ( the only mix I had available at the time ) and then isolated it under plastic for a week. It's been in the green house ever since.


Willow Oak ( Q. phellos ) year 1, moring glory guy-wire. 1/1


I haven't done anything to it except pull that awful looking curve out of it's.....I'll say branch??? and straightened the um.....trunk??? really for no reason other than to play in the garden. It's so small I just guy-wired it with a dried morning glory vine and it totally worked, it set about two months later.

...

Willow Oak ( Q. phellos ) year 1, first day of fall 1/2

This is the morning of 9-23-15. I'm a bit disappointed that it hasn't done much of anything above ground except for get a little sun burnt but I expected as much.

Willow Oak ( Q. phellos ) year 1, first day of fall 2/2


I did find three new buds the other day when i recovered it's "nebari" with some moss and stones. You really can't see them in the photo unless you already know where they are but if you can see that brown dot below where the stone and the trunk touch in the photo that is one of a set of parallels. The third bud isn't visible in this photo.

Willow Oak ( Q. phellos )year 1, root tips 1/2


Below the soil though I imagine that it is doing really well. I started off watering it maybe once a week but now we are up to once a day. These root tips have been coming out of the bottom for a while now, I broke the caps off just the other day to keep them from getting long and damaged.

Willow Oak ( Q. phellos ) year 1, root tips 2/2


They very quickly split in several place after that so I take that as a sign that it's a happy little tree for now. We are technically in the first days of fall right now but it's still in the mid 90's right now during the day in the green house so I think it'll be nice and cozy by winter.

Anyway, that is waaaay to much info on this poor little twig for now. Nothing really to do but water it and let it grow for the next half decade or so. I dunno how often I will update it with it being so small but I'm sure I'll find plenty of excuses again in a few months...assuming it's still alive .

Nice.

It's crazy that you went from once a week to once a day watering!
Was it a temperature thing, or did you just start watering it right?

If that low bud pops in spring, it's in a good place to fatten that base!

Love the MG vine trick!

Sorce

sorce said:

Nice.

It's crazy that you went from once a week to once a day watering!
Was it a temperature thing, or did you just start watering it right?

If that low bud pops in spring, it's in a good place to fatten that base!

Love the MG vine trick!

Sorce

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I'm not entirely sure to be honest since I've never ever watered my plants the way you do with bonsai.

My theory is that when it was collected it was just one long thick root with almost no feeder roots, so when it went into the sphagnum mix it took a while to soak up all that water. Now it seems that it's root system is in full swing and hopefully has established some feeders now which will help it soak up water much faster. I've been using the "chop stick" method for watering it ever since it was collected so it's alway been watered only when it's dry.

As far as temp. goes it sits in full blazing green house sun all day long with the most direct light lasting about 5 - 6 hours so the temp is HOT HOT HOT. The pot stays a bit cooler than the surface but mid day is usually when I come out to check on everyone and it usually likes a drink by then which really helps cool the roots off during the hottest part of the day.

All that being said though this is a willow oak and they love water. They don't mind being dry either. Willow oaks are kinda down for whatever.

I'm super stoked about the buds too. I honestly didn't think it was gonna do a single thing top side after doing nothing for months now so I was really happy to see new buds. That particular bud you mentioned has a twin right across from it and they are both right near the base almost where it meets the soil. I hope to make it an oak style ( in about 40 years ) so that's as good a start as I cool hope for.

Sorry to ramble on again but I'm a real freak about this little tree. Thanks for looking at it.

It will take so long in a container. I would pot it up next spring into a one gallon container for a year or two and then plant into the ground. (It's too small to go directly into the ground.

I would also put this in the ground to fatten it up. It is slowing down from the looks of it now in the container. The reason you're not watering more is that the roots have probably filled the container. That will lead to issues if it is kept in that pot-overwatering/underwatering .

I would not repot it into a larger container, as that can also lead to overwatering if you're not very careful. Watering properly is a skill that takes a while to master, that's particularly true for bigger containers for smaller trees.

I'd plant this tree in the ground for a few years (a year or two isn't going to amount to much. Three or four will) to fatten up the trunk, THEN start worrying about which branches to keep. Removing branches, pruning this tree at this point is counterproductive.

Willow oaks are fast growers. You will shorten your development time by a decade or more if you plant it out in the ground for a few years. Not to mention increasing the tree's strength to undego future training.

"Day 3,000 - Dear Journal, trunk has finally attained half-inch diameter . . ."

Seriously though, I agree with the suggestions to plant it for thickening.

augustine said:

It will take so long in a container. I would pot it up next spring into a one gallon container for a year or two and then plant into the ground. (It's too small to go directly into the ground.

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rockm said:

I would also put this in the ground to fatten it up....

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ColinFraser said:

Seriously though, I agree with the suggestions to plant it for thickening.

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Unfortunately ground planting is not an option. I rent and move around a lot. I've thought about doing exactly what you said and ground planting it in a pot but I've already learned the hard way that the terms are to uncertain.

Assuming it survives the winter my plan for next year was to repot it into a either a gallon or half gallon nursery container with a proper soil mix, probably in spring. Then I was mostly gonna leave it alone again for I dunno...like at least 5 years or more.

I do have the option of putting it into a planter but that option seemed less manageable or would it be better off that way? Either way this pot it's in now is not what it's gonna be in long term, it was never large enough to begin with but it did make it easier to manage after collection.

It won't be pruned ever unless it starts eating other plants but I mean come on...look at it. I may wire stuff just to give it some character while it grows up, or to keep it from flipping over and growing right into the ground...or ya know, whatever it is plants do.

I could use some wintering advice and one or two things on fertilizing since my only knowledge comes from organic gardening, although I've already started looking into older posts about both subjects here. including admiring your oak @rockm

thanks again.

Give it plenty of food, water and sun. Don't love on it too much until it's much farther along. Willow oaks are tough, but I've found you can love even tough ones to death.

Zach

It survived the winter and so I re-potted it, bare root into a black plastic 1gal. container. with a much improved soil mixture (hopefully). Although healthy looking, there were less roots than I expected, but they may have been lost removing the last remains of Mississippi clay from where it was originally collected. After the repot buds began to swell.

I have young Oaks as well. From 1st repotting after getting them it seems likely that tap root will try to RE develop after cutting short. May not be great idea to leave several years in ground or single potting without checking for this. Also may want to use bigger than 1 G container. See if can find 3 G SHORT pot. No need for tall unless developing cascade tree. Admire your spirit.

Potawatomi13 said:

I have young Oaks as well. From 1st repotting after getting them it seems likely that tap root will try to RE develop after cutting short. May not be great idea to leave several years in ground or single potting without checking for this. Also may want to use bigger than 1 G container. See if can find 3 G SHORT pot. No need for tall unless developing cascade tree. Admire your spirit.

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Oh I forgot to mention ( for lack of a tile ) I planted it on top of a few stones to keep the tap root from growing straight since it was already trying to redevelop. I decided against cutting for now though.

Thanks for the tips.

This is interesting territory for us both. Suspect whether downward or sideways if it regrows will still hinder growth of sideways shallower roots. However this raises possibility of using interesting crooked tap root as new lower trunk by raising out of soil when replanting. Have seen most attractive cascade flowering plum with twisty root used as trunk.

Quick update. Very little progress but that was to be expected.

Should I trim to a broom for coming winter or leave it be? It still has green leaves.

I would not trim it at all!
Just let it run to thicken that trunk up.

I love Willow Oaks, I see some magnificent ones almost everyday in DC.

I have 2 trees that I'm growing out to thicken up, right now....no Oaks, but I'm not cutting anything off the top of em...

Haven't trimmed it all year. Just letting it go. Just wanted to get a pic in for this year. It wasn't a great year.