JudyB
Queen of the Nuts
It is looking nice, are you going to be able to keep it from freezing for the rest of winter?
It is looking nice, are you going to be able to keep it from freezing for the rest of winter?
Nice work Tom. Consider exaggerating the movement in the trunk just a bit more. The appearance of movement seems to be coming more from the wire than from the trunk itself if you look closely at it.
I purchased my second collected tamarack at the end of December, and last weekend I styled it at a wiring class with John for Kaikou school students. I like larch as a species so I was happy to get another one. I think that in a few years I should be able to get this tree looking pretty nice. I will be trying to time the repot correctly this spring so that we can get started on encouraging the roots to grow laterally. Judging by how the before mentioned layer looked, it's probably a mess under the soil. Let me know what you think, it's pretty rough.
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I am looking at this tree as if it were mine. It bothers me that there is an almost straight trunk (common with Larch) that extends up to the point where it sharply goes to the right. What I am considering is the possibility of putting a bend in the trunk below that jog to the right. Looking at the trunk there is a slight curve to the left near the base that could be accentuated to take the strident reach for the sky feature out of the bottom half of the tree.
I am making the assumption that the trunk is not much bigger around than maybe my thumb which makes bending this portion of the tree not so much an impossibility as one might think, provided it is wrapped with raffia and the right weight of wire. For this I would definitely use copper because of its strength. Just a thought.
Thanks for your input Vance. I agree with the straightness of the trunk but this is probably a bit bigger than you see. It's probably something that I could bend with rebar I would think. Bjorn bjorholm shows this on some of those YouTube videos I think on a white pine clump in particular.
As your larch continues its growth, we have gone to the effort of defoliating the tree towards the end of July. People do it on maples to make the leaf size smaller and it accomplishes the same thing on the tamaracks. It's not to be done every year or you will weaken them. I would wait until its healthy and had the right branch structure. It really works to shrink the size of buds and radically increase the number of them.
Could you please define what you mean by defoliating? How do you do this, please describe. I have been growing Larch for over twenty years and I have never encountered this technique before, but I am willing to listen. There are other ways to shrink the size of buds and control the new growth.
In Nicks book, he does write about pulling every needle on his finished larch I believe during the summer. I've never tried it nor do I plan to, but he does.
I have been growing Larch for over twenty years and I have never encountered this technique before, but I am willing to listen.
There are other ways to shrink the size of buds and control the new growth.
Hi Vance,
As others mentioned Nick describes the technique in his book, with pictures. If you are saying you have never encountered this technique, I am assuming this means you have never read Nick's book. Incredible for someone who has been growing larch for 20 years! All I can say is get the book! Regardless of whether or not you agree with his techniques, the book is an incredible read for Tamarack lovers like us.
It is very cheap at stone lantern. I've read the larch and thuja chapters many, many times.
You will definitely enjoy it.
How do you do it? Standard stuff like no ferts in the spring, finer soil, and less repotting? Or something else?
Cheers
Yes agreed, would love to see pics if you have them. Good to know though maybe ill give it a try this year.