5yr Native Tree Challenge - Fonz's Quercus Robur

[Fonz]

Yeah I know, I picked a fast grower
Dug this 3 year old seedling out of the piece of land next to my home while excavators where preparing the land to build a house on. That was exactly 2 years ago, it's been in this beautiful pot since then.
That would make it 5 years old now.

 

[Fonz]

I pruned the branches back earlier this winter and this week I put the whole thing in a wooden growbox. In 4years it can come out and go in a real pot.

 

[Fonz]

Forgot to take pictures of the development and work I did on it last winter while it was leafless.
Anyway, this is what the tree looks like now. The trunk has almost doubled in thickness. The final tree will be about half the size of this tree. Top half is a sacrifice branch.

 

[Fonz]

The oak is doing good. I removed the wiring a few weeks ago.
The leader can stay there for another year to give the trunk some extra thickness.
2nd pic is the size it is supposed to become.
3rd pic you can see it's even growing acorns this year. I removed about 80% of them but left a few just because...
Who's in for a "10 year grow your own tree from seed from your project tree" contest?

 

[Fonz]

Put the little bastard on the turntable today and took off the leaves before putting on some new wire.
The branch with the leaves still on is the sacrifice branch that will come off at the end of next year. Until then it can help thicken the trunk a little more.

 

[Gabler]

What are your plans for the overall shape of the crown?

 

[Fonz]

What are your plans for the overall shape of the crown?

Building some better ramification over the next yearrs so the tree fills up nicely and starts looking like a tree you could find in the wild.

 

[Gabler]

Building some better ramification over the next yearrs so the tree fills up nicely and starts looking like a tree you could find in the wild.

So a rounded silhouette?

 

[Fonz]

So a rounded silhouette?

In time yes, but that can change ofcourse

 

[Fonz]

Ok, took off two sacrificial branches and guided the branches to the right direction. Next spring it goes into a bonsai pot.

Before:



After:

 

[Fonz]

So...... I decided to put the tree in its bonsai pot 1 year ahead of planning. It's a nanban pot by Steve Drossaer of Black Pigeon Pottery here in Belgium.
So the tree can recover from the repotting this year and next year I can fine tune some more details on it.