BIG gray oak yamadori

[aml1014]

Hey everybody, I wanted to share with you my latest tree.
It is a collected gray oak that I ordered from our one and only @arcina . The tree is currently about 16"tall and the canopy is about 24"wide. The trunk is around 8 inches, but it's kinda hard to measure lol it had 5 living trunks and I plan on styling it into a grove.

Already too many words, this tree speaks for itself!

There are several hollows on this tree.
This tree is very old and I consider it my BEST material I've ever purchased, and at a great price to.
This will be such a fun tree to develop in the future, and it is native/collected here in New Mexico so that's another plus.
I apologize for the poor photos, this tree alone makes me want to go buy a nice camera!
Check out his website http://www.chobonsaiyamadori.com/#/ I promise you'll find something you want lol

Good day
Aaron

 

[Vin]

Very cool! There's a Sumo in there for sure..

 

[Wilson]

Gnarly! Makes me think of some huge deciduous yamadori that Graham Potter works with.

 

[PiñonJ]

View attachment 117156

WTF, Aaron, you collecting bodies, too?

 

[aml1014]

WTF, Aaron, you collecting bodies, too?

Hahaha third question about it this week.
My fiance LOVES Halloween and is all ready setting up.

Aaron

 

[just.wing.it]

Wow, that will offer some coolness! Nice buy!

 

[sorce]

Interesting....

Very cool it is local!

Sorce

 

[rockm]

cool tree. I've got one of these coming in the Spring. Wanted to get it an entire growing season here to acclimate a bit before winter storage.

 

[aml1014]

cool tree. I've got one of these coming in the Spring. Wanted to get it an entire growing season here to acclimate a bit before winter storage.

Lol he actually sent me pics of your tree on accident a few weeks back. Your gonna have some fun wiring! Great choice though for sure. I'm glad I don't need to acclimate thus one, it actually looks happier since it arrived! Lol it knows it's home again.

Aaron

 

[MACH5]

Nice oak!

Does anyone know if these guys are deciduous and how hardy are they up north?

 

[Dav4]

Nice oak!

Does anyone know if these guys are deciduous and how hardy are they up north?

I want to say hardiness around zone 7...so lows in the single digits? I've debated trying my hand at one of these but I'm still on the fence...I don't need another tree that requires special attention to thrive here and I'm concerned about what our relative high humidity might do to the deadwood +/- foliage. I'll be watching Mark's tree closely.

 

[aml1014]

Nice oak!

Does anyone know if these guys are deciduous and how hardy are they up north?

Thanks!
They are considered hardy to zone 6 but in 2011 a local nursery had every single one they had live threw -19°f with no due back whatsoever. They are considered evergreen but are deciduous in their coldest region.

Aaron

 

[Giga]

Oh - I'll be watching this one

 

[rockm]

Lol he actually sent me pics of your tree on accident a few weeks back. Your gonna have some fun wiring! Great choice though for sure. I'm glad I don't need to acclimate thus one, it actually looks happier since it arrived! Lol it knows it's home again.

Aaron

I'm looking forward to getting it.

FWIW, I have found that wiring old oaks is not a great idea, at least on the live oak I've had for a while. Wood tends to turn extremely brittle in short order.

Two year old wood and older will snap pretty easily. Older wood also can't be bent into introduce any meaningful movement. You usually wind up with "rainbow" bends that are unconvincing.

Hard pruning and thinning is the way to go from what I've seen with older collected trees with more established branching. Clip and grow, clip and grow...pushes character and movement into branching pretty quickly.

 

[MACH5]

Thanks!
They are considered hardy to zone 6 but in 2011 a local nursery had every single one they had live threw -19°f with no due back whatsoever. They are considered evergreen but are deciduous in their coldest region.

Aaron

Great thanks Aaron! Good to know. I am in zone 6a. I am prepared to give a tree reasonable winter care but don't want something that requires too much. I have enough of those as is!

 

[rockm]

Nice oak!

Does anyone know if these guys are deciduous and how hardy are they up north?

I am in Zone 7 in Va. I'm taking a chance on one next spring.

I have had a Texas-collected escarpment live oak (quercus fusiformis) for over 20 years now. It is a more drought and cold tolerant relative of the southern live oak.
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=995

It's hardy to Zone 7, but I have overwintered it in a cold greenhouse for over 17 years or so. It can survive winters here, but before I started using a cold greenhouse, it would sulk in the spring and never seemed vigorous.

Escarpment live oak is species from the inland prairie. Grey Oak (quercus grisea) is a higher altitude species, so I'm hoping it's a bit more cold hardy. I'm not really counting on it, though. I don't plan on overwintering it in a greenhouse, but in the backyard under a heavy layer of mulch. We'll see how it does...

FWIW, one-time survival of extreme cold can be misleading. The long, sustained low 20's and teens and even single digits we can get in late Jan. and Feb. are the biggest problem for these and other southern and southwestern deciduous trees in Zone 7 and lower. I'll take one or two nights of sub zero over a month of teens and low 20s. That kind of sustained cold freezes through mulch piles, even thick ones, in a week or so. It can also push temperatures in the mulch into the teens too, which can kill roots.

 

[MACH5]

I am in Zone 7 in Va. I'm taking a chance on one next spring.

I have had a Texas-collected escarpment live oak (quercus fusiformis) for over 20 years now. It is a more drought and cold tolerant relative of the southern live oak.
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=995

It's hardy to Zone 7, but I have overwintered it in a cold greenhouse for over 17 years or so. It can survive winters here, but before I started using a cold greenhouse, it would sulk in the spring and never seemed vigorous.

Escarpment live oak is species from the inland prairie. Grey Oak (quercus grisea) is a higher altitude species, so I'm hoping it's a bit more cold hardy. I'm not really counting on it, though. I don't plan on overwintering it in a greenhouse, but in the backyard under a heavy layer of mulch. We'll see how it does...

FWIW, one-time survival of extreme cold can be misleading. The long, sustained low 20's and teens and even single digits we can get in late Jan. and Feb. are the biggest problem for these and other southern and southwestern deciduous trees in Zone 7 and lower. I'll take one or two nights of sub zero over a month of teens and low 20s. That kind of sustained cold freezes through mulch piles, even thick ones, in a week or so. It can also push temperatures in the mulch into the teens too, which can kill roots.

Good luck with yours and hope it does well. I am thinking about getting one but unsure.

 

[rockm]

FWIW, a picture of a mature grey oak in Big Bend area of Texas.


A link to Grey oak on SW biodiversity
http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/imagelib/imgdetails.php?imgid=254117

 

[aml1014]

I am in Zone 7 in Va. I'm taking a chance on one next spring.

I have had a Texas-collected escarpment live oak (quercus fusiformis) for over 20 years now. It is a more drought and cold tolerant relative of the southern live oak.
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=995

It's hardy to Zone 7, but I have overwintered it in a cold greenhouse for over 17 years or so. It can survive winters here, but before I started using a cold greenhouse, it would sulk in the spring and never seemed vigorous.

Escarpment live oak is species from the inland prairie. Grey Oak (quercus grisea) is a higher altitude species, so I'm hoping it's a bit more cold hardy. I'm not really counting on it, though. I don't plan on overwintering it in a greenhouse, but in the backyard under a heavy layer of mulch. We'll see how it does...

FWIW, one-time survival of extreme cold can be misleading. The long, sustained low 20's and teens and even single digits we can get in late Jan. and Feb. are the biggest problem for these and other southern and southwestern deciduous trees in Zone 7 and lower. I'll take one or two nights of sub zero over a month of teens and low 20s. That kind of sustained cold freezes through mulch piles, even thick ones, in a week or so. It can also push temperatures in the mulch into the teens too, which can kill roots.

During that winter when it got down to -19° it was in February and it was about 10 days of sub freezing temperatures where we got into the negatives several times. They handled it well at that nursery. I'm convinced they can handle zone 5 winters if established in the ground.

Aaron

 

[Giga]

Good luck with yours and hope it does well. I am thinking about getting one but unsure.

me too me too - I found some live oak for collecting this year and I'm pretty excited