Any experiments for 2016?

Arcto

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Good thread. I'll be involuntarily seeing how my different species and myself handle the relocation to a much colder, shorter growing season region. Also involuntarily seeing the effects of dwarf mistletoe inoculation on my different conifers. On the voluntary side, working more with some of the local natives. Soil mixes on the backburner for me this year. I'll just tune in to "Soil Wars" bi-weekly.
 

sorce

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What Boon was saying is the tree needs lots of feeder roots to keep from having branch dieback.

Exactly! I don't think Boon would have said those exact evil thoughts I quoted from his brain based on my interpretation of his body language which translated from my language back to English is....
"Good roots, Good tree!"

Sorce
 

Adair M

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I'm potting some trees in Clay King soil this year. Its kind of expensive but mixing up soil is a pain and this is ready to use.
Jonas is all sold out right now. I think he has another container scheduled to come in May.

The best way to buy it is to go in with a couple buddies and split up a pallet.
 

sorce

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I hope to be conducting an experiment soon....wondering if anybody wants to think about it with me....

It is to test my theory of "neighbor wicking" specifically with DE.....

Neighbor wicking, being a substrates ability to keep moisture consistent throughout the day, by taking moisture from wetter parts, while drying.

For instance.....the outside of a colander will dry faster than the core.....so will "neighbor wicking" properties transfer moisture back to the outside...?

I believe DE does this well.
I believe lava between pumice, blocks "neighbor wicking"
I have observed pine fines interrupting DE's "neighbor wicking" traits.

I may again have access to a thermal imaging recorder soon....
I will warm the soil, as the sun would.
I will use cool water...
This will allow us to see where water goes..
Not warm water, and cool soil, because the properties of warm water are different, and this is more accurate to a typical scenario, in the summer heat..
Where "Neighbor wicking" makes a difference.....

There are simpler "neighbor wicking" experiments....
Putting a few milliliters of water in a tube, and dropping different substrates in it, to see how it will wick up.

But up, is quite limiting. And we water from the top.

My experiment Will probably be limited to a day or 2....on lunchbreak, but there is a possibility as well, I will be able to use the camera and experiment at home all summer!

Hoping to get some ideas as to what type of tests I could run in one day....

I don't have boon mix to test...
But would accept it in the mail!

I want to water as I regularly do, and see where the water goes, and how fast.

This sort of stems from wondering how much you have to water a colander before it is fully soaked....
This will answer that question.

Anything else?

If this goes well....I'll start a thread and hopefully put videos of the thermal imaging....so we can learn some shit.

Thoughts please.

Sorce
 

michaelj

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I'm going to start tightening the trunks on my fused Liquidambar project started last summer. Step one was just assembling all the seedlings into a single pot, around a base "trunk" consisting of a spike of Liquidambar wood. Now that all the leaves are off, I'm going to tighten and press the seedlings together more tightly and hope to start the process of actually fusing them. The photo was taken in September, when it was still green. It currently looks like a small coarse whisk broom.
 

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thumblessprimate1

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Planted in the 100% leaf mould? Some were cuttings from a siberian elm with abnormally small leaves(smaller than a chinese elm) that I grew from seed a few years ago. The others were tests I did with a few of my crapes and chinese/american elms. Fast growing trees that need a lot of water. I also tried slip potting one of my crapes that was in a colander into a larger pot filled with 100% leaf mold. That tree was cut back 5 times in 2015. Each time I cut it back it sent out at lots of shoots that would grow 15-20 inches. When I repotted this crape, the leaf mould was still very much intact and was surprisingly dry(not in a bad way) and porous. The pot was also filled with fibrous roots. I have some picks on my phone that I might upload.
Might be unique to the trees. The hackberry and elms that I've been collecting are in flood zones. We've had lots of rain in 2014 to 2015, so soil can be very wet. Near the Trinity river there are elm and hackberry still standing in several feet of water.

As for experimenting, I've been collecting more deciduous, obviously hackberry and elm. Reducing roots and trunk more than I'm comfortable with. Eek!:eek:
 
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sorce

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I'm going to start tightening the trunks on my fused Liquidambar project started last summer. Step one was just assembling all the seedlings into a single pot, around a base "trunk" consisting of a spike of Liquidambar wood. Now that all the leaves are off, I'm going to tighten and press the seedlings together more tightly and hope to start the process of actually fusing them. The photo was taken in September, when it was still green. It currently looks like a small coarse whisk broom.

Looks like you're nailing it more so than experimenting!

Nice!

Sorce
 

Jacos

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Hi y'all,

in 2016, I will be potting up lots of field grown bonsai starters i have in the ground for +5years.

About 5-6 years ago I moved all my bonsai into the growing field because a lot of my trees where killed by 'verticillium'(wilt) infection!
I had enough of bonsai then!

Some none verticillium sensitive species survived in the growing field, and have increased in trunk size...so now I will restart my real bonsai passion.
But I will avoid 'verticillium' sensitive species for the future.
Hence I will not have Acers in my new collection anymore ... so sad about that.
Still enough trees species are resistent to wilt-infection.

So 2016: coming back year.
 

Mike MoMo

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Adding to my list: a cutting from spiral willow, some air layers from trees in my old neighborhood. Make a few pots. Start a Citrus tree.
 
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-Air layer some jap maple in hopes to make a group or clump.
-Collect some larch for root over rock and plant them in the ground (not sure where to get the rocks)
-thread graft some larch
 

Shima

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Doing even more air and ground layers on very old trees. The only propagation method for geezers. And seeing potential in unusual and not typical material.
 

eferguson1974

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Nope, this stuff, collected from nurse logs in the woods behind my house, crumbled and sifted to size. I suppose that doesn't make it an attractive test subject as it's not commercially available, I'd like to see someone else try it sometime though since as far as I'm aware I am the only one using this material.View attachment 90608View attachment 90609View attachment 90610
Thats exactly what Ive used before and probably going to mix it into my gravel. I think a quarter wood compost and the rest gravel. Im looking to replace the gravel with something a bit finer. Hoping to round some up from a river. Or find lava. With all these volcanoes seems like it would be easy to get but not yet.. My roots grew into pieces of wood like your picture so the trees must like it.
 

jomawa

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experiment ..."neighbor wicking" taking moisture from wetter parts.
This is from the days of my climbing the six major glaciated peaks of WA. Cotton fabric or specifically cotton fiber absorbs moisture, and until all the moisture of a cotton garment is dry, it isn't, because of true wicking action. As opposed to the man-made, non absorbant fiber with the advertizing touting its "wicking action". What really happens there is your body heat is able to dry, and keep dry, the fabric next to your skin, thus giving you a real felt sense of warmth, unlike having all wool on except for wet cotton briefs in cold weather, the continued cooling evaporation of cotton can chill you. Your uphill test results will probably give you the truest information. (Example: put the tip, cuff, of a cotton shirtsleve in a glass of water with the rest of the sleve suspended above, the water will wick up and try to spread the dampness throughout). In soil, if you can find a substance that wicks like cotton, you'll have what you're after. ("Can you say shredded cotton balls?") But I digress.
OK "experiments for 2016".
--- My maiden voyage to Bonsai Soil Island - have only used "potting soil" to this point. Now have a bag of pumice with the intention of trying it exclusively. Since my yamadori vine maples are still small (I know, that's still giving them too much credit, right?), there won't be much loss for failure.
--- Going after "real sized" vine maples, 2" - 4" trunks. Just double checked with landowner, got the OK. Let's see, I can get my truck within 10-20 feet of that one, and that one... Have strapping material to tug on the plant, and chain to connect to truck...
--- Testing the pro and con of pulling vs digging vine maple trunks from the earth. (Keeping in mind they sorta grow like weeds in this environment.)
--- Considering replacing the vine maples of "Whimsy" to ones that dish would appreciate more, (and I won't need to wait as long for them to do their thing). But dang, those internodes sure are short, hmmm.
--- And last, will replace the potting soil the Weeping Alaska Cedar strikes are in. Will switch to pumice and coarce sand, I'm guessing 50 - 50? (60 p - 40 sand?)
 
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sorce

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@jomawa

:confused: Lol.....t-shirts? Sweat? Mountains?
I feel soooo sane after reading your posts! Thanks for that! :p

For real though....
No need to test pulling vs digging....
A tree needs roots....

Forgive me....
But that is only a test of your willingness to go out and do it right!

And I'll tell you from experience....

It's even EASIER to DIG!

Carefull brother.......Dig Deep!

Sorce
 

eferguson1974

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I hope to be conducting an experiment soon....wondering if anybody wants to think about it with me....

It is to test my theory of "neighbor wicking" specifically with DE.....

Neighbor wicking, being a substrates ability to keep moisture consistent throughout the day, by taking moisture from wetter parts, while drying.

For instance.....the outside of a colander will dry faster than the core.....so will "neighbor wicking" properties transfer moisture back to the outside...?

I believe DE does this well.
I believe lava between pumice, blocks "neighbor wicking"
I have observed pine fines interrupting DE's "neighbor wicking" traits.

I may again have access to a thermal imaging recorder soon....
I will warm the soil, as the sun would.
I will use cool water...
This will allow us to see where water goes..
Not warm water, and cool soil, because the properties of warm water are different, and this is more accurate to a typical scenario, in the summer heat..
Where "Neighbor wicking" makes a difference.....

There are simpler "neighbor wicking" experiments....
Putting a few milliliters of water in a tube, and dropping different substrates in it, to see how it will wick up.

But up, is quite limiting. And we water from the top.

My experiment Will probably be limited to a day or 2....on lunchbreak, but there is a possibility as well, I will be able to use the camera and experiment at home all summer!

Hoping to get some ideas as to what type of tests I could run in one day....

I don't have boon mix to test...
But would accept it in the mail!

I want to water as I regularly do, and see where the water goes, and how fast.

This sort of stems from wondering how much you have to water a colander before it is fully soaked....
This will answer that question.

Anything else?

If this goes well....I'll start a thread and hopefully put videos of the thermal imaging....so we can learn some shit.

Thoughts please.

Sorce
If you dont know about wicking beds, read up on them. They water from underneath and are great for lots of plants. One of my experiments will be trees in one closed style wicking bed. Good or bad I will post results. Trees in aquaponic grow beds also.
 
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