A few Questions

[Alec]

1. Overwintering. Some of the trees I have are in plastic pots, ones are rather root bound, others are properly potted in growing quality pots. I wanted to store my trees at my father's he has offered two places. Either in the basement, which is normally over 40 degrees, or the garage that has no car and no wind. But reflects the temps outside. I want to leave them to the cold, I think 40 degrees is too warm for a healthy dormancy, and I want to get them ready for the negatives after the first snowfall.

What do I need to winterize these native trees?
Mulch in a container? Take them out of their pots?
I've overwintered trees in the ground, but this isn't an option.

2. When is it recommended to prune trees for my area? I know I can style these guys at any time of the year, but that spruce I have needs to be pruned like heck. Should I wait after the color weather next year? Or can things like that safely be done now.

3. Someone explain deadwood to me? I see that you can encourage deadwood, and then there is a graft.. the phoenix graft? If you treat the deadwood with a preservative, how long does that last? Are the years numbers to how long something like that sticks around, especially on outdoor trees? What about using driftwood from the ocean? Deadwood is a very interesting concept to me. I imagine you can carve a piece of driftwood to fit a tree. Pines and deadwood are very common around here, naturally.

4. Anyone want to point me to affordable wire? I don't really like copper, so aluminum wire?

That's all I got for now.. feel free to point me in any direction these questions where answered.

 

[Dav4]

I can answer your first question (I think). It's the most pressing one to be answered for you time wise. As far as the other questions you have asked, like the timing of pruning, it is usually species specific and somewhat complicated to explain...much can be learned with a little research here or elsewhere. As far as wire goes, take a drive down to Bonsai West in Littleton, MA or New England Bonsai Gardens in Bellingham, MA...and I bet you won't come home with just wire. There are loads of internet sources, as well.

Overwintering trees need to be kept cold and dormant, out of the wind and sun. The garage will work great if it is unheated. Put your trees together, in their pots, on the floor (some recommend placing sheets of styrofoam insulation on the floor first, I never did and all was fine) and mulch up and over the pots with wood chip or bark mulch. I used to use landscape fabric to keep the mulch from mixing with my soil. Water in and your done. The goal is to keep the temps in the garage at 40 F or lower from now until next April...frozen is just fine, too if your trees are all hardy to your zone. Get yourself a digital min/max thermometer to monitor temps in there. Heat gain WILL be an issue for you by mid winter, unless the garage is completely shaded by a larger structure. Also, you will likely need to deal with rodents through the winter...spring loaded traps and/or moth balls have all worked well for me.

 

[Alec]

Overwintering trees need to be kept cold and dormant, out of the wind and sun. The garage will work great if it is unheated. Put your trees together on the floor (some recommend placing sheets of styrofoam insulation on the floor first, I never did and all was fine) and mulch up and over the pots with wood chip or bark mulch. I used to use landscape fabric to keep the mulch from mixing with my soil. Water in and your done. The goal is to keep the temps in the garage at 40 F or lower from now until next April...frozen is just fine, too if your trees are all hardy to your zone. Get yourself a digital min/max thermometer to monitor temps in there. Heat gain WILL be an issue for you by mid winter, unless the garage is completely shaded by a larger structure. Also, you will likely need to deal with rodents through the winter...spring loaded traps and/or moth balls have all worked well for me.

I would probably prop them on a desk rather than ground level as my father has chipmunks, by mid-winter there should be a constant snow on the ground and it wouldn't be difficult to just dig them into the snow for the rest of the winter until thaw? It would provide them with potential water and keep them out of the wind.

The garage is a log garage, with black asphalt shingles, so heat gain certainly does make sense. I can talk to him about it, it is very dark in there and is probably the best solution. If the snow came sooner I wouldn't even need to do a thing I'm sure, just let the snow cover them and keep an eye on them.

So there is no danger to the actual clay pots? Or should I still keep an eye on them specifically. I know for a fact these trees have wintered before, they're old enough for it. They're in good health, I don't doubt them a bit.

 

[Dav4]

High fired clay pots- (stoneware) are frost resistant and will likely do just fine. Lower fired clay pots, like terra cotta, or just lower quality pots, may not fair so well.

 

[Neli]

Dead wood comes from different type of trees. Some are hard wood and will last longer, some will not last at all. It depends on the tree it comes from, but generally all dead wood rots. Some slower and some faster.
I use wood hardener and wood glue on top of that.

 

[JudyB]

Some glazed pots do indeed spall and loose chunks of glazing in the winter. Mostly cheaper Chinese pots. So I take my outdoor stored trees in glazed pots and put them in either unglazed or trainers for the winter. I always pick a pot with slightly more space, and fill in with more soil. I think it helps protect the roots.
I would not do the basement, but a building that may heat up isn't a great option either. Can't you do a quick wire mesh and wood structure to keep the chipmunks out of the trees if you store them on the ground? On the ground is better than above it, and the chipmunks will be able to get on the desk anyway....
I have gotten alum. wire on ebay- I've been happy with the quality of this wire. I recently bought some from Stone Lantern, and am not as happy with the wire from there, but it was cheaper... (I used to get good wire from bonsaimonk, but I think they are gone online.)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1Roll-500g-...518254?pt=US_Garden_Tools&hash=item2329e1c8ee

Spruce you can hard prune in the late fall, just be sure to leave some foliage on the branches you cut back. Leave weak branches alone. I usually wire mine then as well. Vance can help you better with spruce than me, I only have one of them. I wouldn't really worry about too much protection for spruce, they are really hardy trees.