2021 Collected Aspens

[Flowerhouse]

These little ones are ready to pop some buds, same timing as my yard aspens. I collected these about a month ago from private property in Colorado, at 8,500 ft elev. They are from a little colony that is growing in granite, on a slight north slope. This spot collects a few feet of snow in winter, then stays wet for a bit as snow higher up melts. Most of the area is Ponderosa and Pinyon, so overall a rather dry area. The biggest aspen in the colony is maybe 15 ft tall, all the rest have been grazed by cows, elk, deer, horses.


The first is a nice little triple trunk.



The other has some interesting curves. There is still some dead wood to cut out.


Should I get these planted in pumice, or lava, or a mix?

 

[Colorado]

Nice aspens! What are they planted in now? I don’t know that I would go and repot them again if they were just collected a month ago.

Aspens are thirsty trees, I think they’ll be fine in that organic looking mix for a year.

 

[Flowerhouse]

Thanks, @Colorado. They're in potting mix that I had on hand, mostly peat and perlite, I think. I was second-guessing that choice because I read on another thread about planting aspens in lava. I know aspens in the landscape like to have wet feet.

 

[Pitoon]

I love seeing the wind blowing on the leaves on a large colony.

That triple trunk would look sweet if it was air layered right at the base of those 3 trunks.

 

[Flowerhouse]

I love seeing the wind blowing on the leaves on a large colony.

On some perfect days, the wind hits my yard aspen just right and makes its leaves clack while nothing else moves. On other equally perfect days, the winds clacks the leaves on my hybrid poplar, while the aspen is silent and still.

That triple trunk would look sweet if it was air layered right at the base of those 3 trunks.

In RL both will need to be layered to get rid of the pole between ground level and the clone root, or whatever that is called. Next year, after they have a chance to grow some more roots?

 

[andrewiles]

Very cool. Looking forward to hearing how they progress. I know they have a bad rep for bonsai but I'm hoping as a forest some of those bad traits are less critical.

I dug up some in eastern Washington a few weeks ago. They are very accessible at low elevations in much of the state with the right permit. They were just beginning to bud. Hacked off the tops but kept a low branch or two on each. Don't have pictures from today, but they have all leafed out and look not-dead so far. Since they are all connected to the collective colony underground it's hard to get many close-by roots. I'm hoping I have enough.

Do you have any photos of the root ball before you potted? Curious how many roots you managed to take.

Mine are in either a sandy loam soil from a local nursery, or hemlock bark. I figured I'd try both and learn. Mine were basically growing in sand when dug up.

From initial collection:


Roots:


And for the fun of it:


Btw, the mature trees where I was at were not what I typically see in places like Colorado. They were almost flat-tops like BCs. Maybe a cool future design idea.

 

[Flowerhouse]

I didn't take photos of the roots, 'cuz that would have been ugly lol. On each little tree I got a chunk of the clone root with a few fine feeder roots. Mine were extricated from granite. Your twin trunk looks like it has a good head start in the roots department.

 

[ghues]

Good luck with them.
Glad to see others using this species. I’ve had one for a number of years now and as it got rootbound it sent up suckers just like they do the the Wild.
Here is mine....on the right.

 

[andrewiles]

Love the leaves. Have you been able to reduce them much?

 

[Flowerhouse]

Good luck with them.
Glad to see others using this species. I’ve had one for a number of years now and as it got rootbound it sent up suckers just like they do the the Wild.
Here is mine....on the right.View attachment 375766

Seeing yours in another thread is what made me want to try aspens. We have to change the terminology, though. Clones. They sent up clones, because they want to colonize that nice grow box. Yours looks lovely! My buds are popping a bit more today, excited to see them all leafed out.

 

[PiñonJ]

Love the leaves. Have you been able to reduce them much?

Small container, small leaves (and small tree).

 

[andrewiles]

It seems the leaves do reduce nicely. Here's a shot from earlier today showing two different trees for comparison. They were both bare rooted this spring but the one on the left had no fine roots. I didn't otherwise try to reduce the leaf size.

So yeah, just cut off all the roots and the leaves will shrink

 

[Flowerhouse]

My triple trunk aspen grew nicely this summer. It now has only a few clinging leaves Here's a shot of a few leaves when it was starting to get some color. My full tree shot from today won't load yet. I'll try later.

The other one didn't make it. It leafed out, then dieback took the shoots one by one. I had clipped back dead stems on both of the little guys, using rubbing alcohol on my pruners between cuts and between trees. Fungus is present in my landscape willows and it is killing my hybrid poplar. One of my landscape aspens has a couple of patches that it seems to have compartmentalized, the other seems fungus free. I didn't start spraying the little aspen until mid-summer. Next year I will need to start before it leafs out.

 

[BeepBeepBonsaiSheep]

Interesting. My aspen’s leaves just look burnt like a maple