LG Grey Oak

Lars Grimm · May 14, 2019

Hi All,

Here is a progression thread for my Grey Oak. This is the same species and from the same vendor, Cho Bonsai, as @MACH5 as posted here. When I first purchased it in March 2018, here are the pictures from Alvaro. You can see it was in a long skinny box. There is a very fat base and most of the foliage is growing off the back side with one spring in the front.

Lars Grimm · May 14, 2019

It shed some leaves when I first got it but eventually acclimated. It was growing in what looked like decomposed granite. I didn't know what the rootage looked like but assumed there was a long tap root under the surface. I preferentially watered only the side under the trunk for the 2018 growing season. This spring the wooden box was completely falling apart and I decided a repot was in order. To my surprise, the soil was completely compacted and almost felt like a clay silt. When I finally washed it all away I found roots at the very end of the thick tap root and then very close to the base. There was nothing in between as can be seen in this photo.

Lars Grimm · May 14, 2019

Never one to shy away from a challenge, I said a prayer and cut the huge tap root off.

Here is what it looked like after the root was removed.

Lars Grimm · May 14, 2019

This was in the end of March 2019 and I put it into a large Anderson flat and gave it some wind and sun protection. It proceeded to shed a bunch of leaves slowly and I was pretty sure I had screwed myself. However, I think it was just sulking. There were buds all over the limbs, but none of them were pushing. However, just yesterday we have new growth! Buds all over are popping up.

Here is what it looks like on the bench today. I'll get some better picture soon, but this will be a very interesting project. There is a lot of great deadwood on top. The base at the soil line is actually quite narrow before ballooning out. I can settle it deeper if I want to, but I think this will make for a more interesting piece as is. There will be a lot of options also for angle of planting. My goal for this year is to do some light wiring to introduce some movement and then really increase the root mass and vigor of the tree.

MACH5 · May 14, 2019

Fantastic material Lars! WOW! You probably own;t have to worry too much about protecting in winter like I do. Looks like you already have quite a few branches to work with. I cringed a bit when you took the end of the tap root off with all the fine feeders. But happy to see it somehow bounced back! I wonder if in your location it will remain evergreen?

Lars Grimm · May 14, 2019

MACH5 said:
Fantastic material Lars! WOW! You probably own;t have to worry too much about protecting in winter like I do. Looks like you already have quite a few branches to work with. I cringed a bit when you took the end of the tap root off with all the fine feeders. But happy to see it somehow bounced back! I wonder if in your location it will remain evergreen?

In retrospect, I think I might have created a two box setup with some roots distally in one box and then the other roots underneath in the base in a second box. Then, I could have progressively tourniquetted the long exposed straight section to force more roots proximally.

MACH5 · May 14, 2019

Mine had also a tap root growing side ways but it came with lots of fine roots close to the trunk. My plan is to cut back the tap root another several inches next spring and block off about one quarter of the existing box footprint with another piece of wood. I should be able to do so without taking the tree out at all.

arcina · May 14, 2019

Lars Grimm said:
This was in the end of March 2019 and I put it into a large Anderson flat and gave it some wind and sun protection. It proceeded to shed a bunch of leaves slowly and I was pretty sure I had screwed myself. However, I think it was just sulking. There were buds all over the limbs, but none of them were pushing. However, just yesterday we have new growth! Buds all over are popping up.

View attachment 242239

Here is what it looks like on the bench today. I'll get some better picture soon, but this will be a very interesting project. There is a lot of great deadwood on top. The base at the soil line is actually quite narrow before ballooning out. I can settle it deeper if I want to, but I think this will make for a more interesting piece as is. There will be a lot of options also for angle of planting. My goal for this year is to do some light wiring to introduce some movement and then really increase the root mass and vigor of the tree.

View attachment 242240

Great job. It is going to be great. I have been experimenting with cutting off the big tap roots if I find enough feeders close to the trunk and the trees seem to do well. They always drop off all the leaves but then bounce back from the process

Lars Grimm · May 14, 2019

arcina said:
Great job. It is going to be great. I have been experimenting with cutting off the big tap roots if I find enough feeders close to the trunk and the trees seem to do well. They always drop off all the leaves but then bounce back from the process

The leaf drop really is terrifying! I definitely waited on creating this thread until I was sure I didn't have a big dead hunk of wood.

Potawatomi13 · May 14, 2019

Lars Grimm said:
The leaf drop really is terrifying! I definitely waited on creating this thread until I was sure I didn't have a big dead hunk of wood.

LOL

!

arcina · May 24, 2019

Lars, this is an example of one I have been doing for few years:

Collected Time:

Pot after collection:

It was a very long wooden box.

First repot: As you can see I was able to reduce a lot on both sides. The tree responded well (lost 90% of leaves) but it is good this spring and pushing a lot of new growth. The tree can be found in my website (better pictures and 360 view)

Gray Oak 56
http://chobonsaiyamadori.com/#/deciduous

Lars Grimm · May 25, 2019

arcina said:
Lars, this is an example of one I have been doing for few years:

Collected Time:

View attachment 243745

Pot after collection:
View attachment 243746

It was a very long wooden box.

First repot: As you can see I was able to reduce a lot on both sides. The tree responded well (lost 90% of leaves) but it is good this spring and pushing a lot of new growth. The tree can be found in my website (better pictures and 360 view)

Gray Oak 56
http://chobonsaiyamadori.com/#/deciduous

View attachment 243747

Looks great. A very nice bit of deadwood there. What watering sprinklers are you using? I've seen those before online, but can't find the brand name.

Lars Grimm · Aug 6, 2020

A quick update on the tree from some recent shots at different angles. You can see that it has successfully survived the very aggressive removal of a large tap root. There are several nice branches on the right. This year, I am just fertilizing and watering to try and produce as much root growth as possible.

Lars Grimm · Aug 6, 2020

I also reached out to @MACH5 for some design ideas. Sergio now offers a digital painting service and anyone who doesn't appreciate his design skills has been living under a rock. Here is the preferred design style he sent me. It may be hard to appreciate from my pictures at first glance, but there is some inverse taper where the tree meets the soil. I really like leaning in hard and emphasizing this along with the semi-cascade style. I am very happy with the inspiration.

Potawatomi13 · Aug 6, 2020

LOVE Alvaros old Oaks

. A consideration if one may. Front lone branch may or likely keeping wood on front of tree alive. If were mine would develop this as strong ancillary trunk part of design to keep from developing more dead wood and rot

.

Shima · Aug 6, 2020

A real challenge styling this outrageous monster!

Lars Grimm · Aug 7, 2020

Potawatomi13 said:
LOVE Alvaros old Oaks. A consideration if one may. Front lone branch may or likely keeping wood on front of tree alive. If were mine would develop this as strong ancillary trunk part of design to keep from developing more dead wood and rot.

I've thought about the left branch a lot. Most of the wood in the front is actually dead already, but I was a little worried about some instability in the root system if I remove it. However, the tree has grown so strongly on the right that I think the contribution from the small branch on the left is small. Also, using the small branch on the left would throw off the movement of the tree. I couldn't figure out how to incorporate it in a cohesive design and @MACH5 agreed as well. I am always open to suggestions though.

Potawatomi13 · Aug 8, 2020

Personal concern about rotten wood still major concern as also yours about root system. How about Cascading or reaching branch? Also could go upward and "flow" same direction as others. Today is small twig but tomorrow could be magnificent part of tree. Hate to see it removed and remember from acorn mighty Oaks grow so could this branch be

. Cmon Sergio. Just know you have something up personal sleeve

.

MACH5 · Aug 9, 2020

@Potawatomi13 Sure that left branch could be kept to keep that side alive but... I do think design wise it would balance out the strong movement to the right and make the tree more static. Also notice its exit point comes out roughly at the same level from front to back and side to side the branches on the right. Thus I favored just getting rid of it. Playing with it and turning upwards etc in my opinion would convolute the design beyond need.

Potawatomi13 · Aug 10, 2020

Always hate to see part of old old tree die in struggle to survive however is not my tree so thank you for consideration of decent answer. Most excellent drawing skill as always

.

LG Grey Oak

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