Fall collection and spring to do list

Last fall I tried to do an inventory of trees I acquired over my first year at this. This spring will be my first with trees that need work. So I'm trying to sort out what each tree will need this year. I have sort of sorted them into 3 groups: repotting, chopping and resting. I don't have an exact game plan for each yet but I'm hoping this thread will help me organize my thoughts.

here we go, Stuff to repot.

Sour cherry from seed, currently in regular potting soil
Goal: better soil, 1 lava : 1 DE




Spruce sp. collected last june but is potted in regular potting soil and it holds way too much moisture.
Goal: better soil, 1 lava : 2 DE


juniper 1, currently in regular potting soil
Goal: better soil, 1 lava : 1 DE


juniper 2, currently in regular potting soil
Goal: better soil, 1 lava : 1 DE




Thuja sp. var. DeGroots spire, currently in regular potting soil
Goal: root reduction and better soil, 1 lava : 2 DE

Secondus. chopping block.


pinus contorta, collected last year june-ish. Potted in pure sand from where it was collected. put on 6-8 of new growth.
Goals: species practice, remove 1-2 of the large branches


Amur maple 1, repotted last year
Goal: chop the trunk and remove at least one of the bottom branches.


amur maple 2, repotted last year
Goals: hard pruning



Thuja sp. var. golden ribbon, repotted last year
Goal: chop it down hard


Thuja sp. grown from seed, repotted(poorly) last year
Goals: chop around the first branch


acer pseudosieboldianum, Korean maple. hard to come by here
Goals: 1-2 air layers off the top then hard cut right to the base, get into better soil


pinus sylvestri Scots pine
Goals: chop back pretty hard, get it into better soil not sure which first



pinus nigra austrailian black pine
Goals: chop it and plant it in the yard and forget it



thuja sp. var. DeGroots spire,
Goals: Chop it down!

a Thirdity, resting

Almost all my Picea of unknown sp. were all collected in the same place. The property owners were trying to get rid of them so hit them with a herbicide the previous year. not sure which one but as you can see all the buds and growth are screwed up. After collection they got very heavily watered and treated with activated charcoal.

Picea sp. Spruce #2 collected June 2016, potted in 1 peaty stuff : 2 Lava : 2 DE. very soft and feathery needles, not sure if its really a spruce.
Goals: let it rest, minor trimming


Spruce sp. #3 collected fall 2016 very poorly potted in 100% DE, first pot broke.
Goals: let rest and maintain small needles. This has such tiny needles but its probably due to restricted nutrients/water so probably won't continue.


Picea sp. Spruce #4 collected fall 2016 potted in 100% DE
Goal: let it rest, minor trimming


Picea sp. Spruce #5 collect fall 2016 potted in 1 lava : 2 DE
Goal: wee little thing. Figure out what to do with it.


Picea sp. Spruce #6 collect fall 2016 potted in 100% DE
Goal: clean up dead needles. hope it survives, pushed a couple buds



Picea sp. Spruce #7 collect fall 2016 potted in 100% DE
Goal: let rest and maybe minor trimming


Picea sp. Spruce #8 collected fall 2016 potted in 100 DE
Goal: let it rest, maybe minor trimming



Picea mariana Black Spruce #1 collected summer 2016 poorly potted in 60% lava : 10% expanded clay : 30% misc debris.
Goal: figure out what to do with this thing. dug it out of a hill so trying to get all the roots in the pot made it lean. I love this species, small ones aren't common though. I burned up the roots of its sister by fertilizing too soon.

Dang! You're gonna be busy!

I think I had 16 repots needed, already did 2 on a couple early bud busters.

Nice fall color on the Amur!

Very nice. Looks like you'll be pretty busy this spring.

I like the trunk on this one!
I personally wouldn't trunk chop any of your maples. I would also put those in the ground to fatten up for a few years.
Good luck.
CW

I like Amur#1 very much.

just.wing.it said:

I think I had 16 repots needed, already did 2 on a couple early bud busters.

Click to expand...

Busy is good, got 5 or 6 trees to collect ad well.

CWTurner said:


I like the trunk on this one!
I personally wouldn't trunk chop any of your maples. I would also put those in the ground to fatten up for a few years.
Good luck.
CW

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, I'd totally forgotten I got permission from the wife to stash the amurs in the front flower bed because of their colour. Still might trim off one of the three main branches from #1. I like the fattening but don't want it to get shoulders.

".....I don't have an exact game plan for each yet but I'm hoping this thread will help me organize my thoughts......."

Just a thought...my perspective. I work on an iPad..it is my PC. There is an iPad App I use titled Bonsai Album. I think there is a PC version also. It works very well at organizing work, capturing any and all photos of a tree during progress, branch photos-root photos-bud photos--whatever I want to remember photos, plenty of note room, a place to put reference photos that help me think the future of the tree....and all organized by tree name.

I use the notes area to indicate when I root pruned or what I plan next. I really find the Bonsai Album valuable during the winter while I make my to-do list and then as my organized marching orders as spring unfolds. I created a To-Do tree page just to organized certain months of the year. I also note years or months that I did specific things to the trees. There may be other such organization methods or tools....I just found this one worked right for...and what I wanted was already built in.

First priority is always health and good substrate. Do minimal work on newly repotted plants and conifers are less tolerant than deciduous trees.

After collecting a plant should have at least one year recovery (for deciduous) and 2 to 3 years for conifers.

Also, it is not a good idea to drastically prune (chop) these tall conifers down to the lower branch/branches. Conifers should be done gradually. It can be done on certain vigorous species of deciduous trees if they are healthy. (tridents, elms, amurs, hackberry, others)

Tieball said:

".....I don't have an exact game plan for each yet but I'm hoping this thread will help me organize my thoughts......."

Just a thought...my perspective. I work on an iPad..it is my PC. There is an iPad App I use titled Bonsai Album. I think there is a PC version also. It works very well at organizing work, capturing any and all photos of a tree during progress, branch photos-root photos-bud photos--whatever I want to remember photos, plenty of note room, a place to put reference photos that help me think the future of the tree....and all organized by tree name.

I use the notes area to indicate when I root pruned or what I plan next. I really find the Bonsai Album valuable during the winter while I make my to-do list and then as my organized marching orders as spring unfolds. I created a To-Do tree page just to organized certain months of the year. I also note years or months that I did specific things to the trees. There may be other such organization methods or tools....I just found this one worked right for...and what I wanted was already built in.

Click to expand...

Cool didn't know that kinda thing existed, hopefully there is one for android.

augustine said:

First priority is always health and good substrate. Do minimal work on newly repotted plants and conifers are less tolerant than deciduous trees.

After collecting a plant should have at least one year recovery (for deciduous) and 2 to 3 years for conifers.

Also, it is not a good idea to drastically prune (chop) these tall conifers down to the lower branch/branches. Conifers should be done gradually. It can be done on certain vigorous species of deciduous trees if they are healthy. (tridents, elms, amurs, hackberry, others)

Click to expand...

All my collected stuff will just be resting another year at the least till they get some vigorous growth. The pinus contorta might be the exception, as it's hasn't skipped a beat on growth. My plan is to use it as practice for better material I have my eye one for collection this year.

Good stuff. I like that fat Thuja.

Amur maples




New one

Big leaf maple




Oak leaf maple or something
Needs one more big clip


Japanese maple, Northern glow

Uh oh, lost the tops on my Japanese and Korean maples

Some repots for this year
Going to try and ground layer off the root stock on the far right crab apple next year.

Salcomine said:

Uh oh, lost the tops on my Japanese and Korean maples

View attachment 440102

View attachment 440103

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Colder winter last year. I lost a few leaders on some of my developing maples as well.
This is good timing for the ground layer to start on the crabapple if you want to start it this year. Just provide some winter protection and check it at the end of the next growing season.