Can I collect Spruce Yamadori in the Fall?

[Mark Landry]

Hi all,
Found an amazing Engelmann Spruce in the Rocky Mountains.
I've done 100% of my collecting in the spring, but wondering your thoughts on collecting in the Fall.
Everything I've read so far says it's OK as long as precautions are taken for wintering it.
Also, about 90% of this tree's roots are laying on top of a flat rock. This will be the easiest tree I've ever harvested, and the least amount of trauma to the system, FYI.
Anyway, thanx for your thoughts!!
Mark

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I did it twice with norway spruce. Worked out fine both times.

 

[M. Frary]

If it's a really good tree stick with the time you have the most confidence in.
You've been having luck collecting in spring,do it then.
I'm a big fan of collecting trees in spring.
My winters are too rough for fall collected material.
I know.
I've tried.
Killed them all.

 

[0soyoung]

Go get it.
It will be fine, given your competence in yamadori gathering (assuming "100% of my collecting in the spring" means something more than 1/1).

Trees have a high capacity for root growth/recovery following the summer solstice.

 

[ghues]

You bet, majority of my Yamadori were collected from late August to mid October but we have (generally) mild winters.
Ps would help if you provide your location.

 

[Vance Wood]

Hi all,
Found an amazing Engelmann Spruce in the Rocky Mountains.
I've done 100% of my collecting in the spring, but wondering your thoughts on collecting in the Fall.
Everything I've read so far says it's OK as long as precautions are taken for wintering it.
Also, about 90% of this tree's roots are laying on top of a flat rock. This will be the easiest tree I've ever harvested, and the least amount of trauma to the system, FYI.
Anyway, thanx for your thoughts!!
Mark

I repot most of my Spruce in the late summer, early fall and they do fine. Collecting a Yamadori is an entirely different problewm. If the tree is growing on the top of a flat rock and will require little disturbance to the root system I would go for it.

 

[Saddler]

I’ve collected three yamadori spruce in the fall and have repotted two of them each once in the fall and the last one twice, both times in the fall all over the last four years. No special over winter care but we don’t get more then a month or two of below freezing. I pretty much only repot my spruce now in the fall so I can spread out the Spring repotting a little.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Hi all,
Found an amazing Engelmann Spruce in the Rocky Mountains.
I've done 100% of my collecting in the spring, but wondering your thoughts on collecting in the Fall.
Everything I've read so far says it's OK as long as precautions are taken for wintering it.
Also, about 90% of this tree's roots are laying on top of a flat rock. This will be the easiest tree I've ever harvested, and the least amount of trauma to the system, FYI.
Anyway, thanx for your thoughts!!
Mark

Contact Todd Schlafer/First Branch Bonsai. He collects these and in this general area and is pretty expert at it.

 

[sorce]

Can't go wrong talking to Todd.

He'd be the guy to know if Engelman collects better in spring.

I'm a get it now.

But you gotta tie it in, then don't baby it. Give it the winter it would have seen anyway.

Sorce

 

[Bavarian Raven]

YUp. Fall is fine.
But make sure to plant it "tight" so that it doesn't uproot in the winter. DOnt want the roots to freeze.

 

[Vance Wood]

The best way to deal with Spruce in this condition over winter is to bury them under snow as much as possible.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@Mark Landry
You have not mentioned your location. Location matters.

How you plan to winter your trees matters.

That said, if spring works, why mess with success.

If you have mild winters, or can protect your trees in winter, there are plenty of people who have had success with out of season collecting, but there have been plenty of failures too.

 

[Timbo]

I'm a big fan of collecting trees in spring.
My winters are too rough for fall collected material.
I know.
I've tried.
Killed them all.

That's why I hesitate to dig anything up in fall, It goes from mild weather to freezing in heartbeat. I have had success with a few larches and pines though....big rootballs.

 

[clem]

Any pic of this great spruce ?

If it's a really good tree stick with the time you have the most confidence in.
You've been having luck collecting in spring,do it then.
I'm a big fan of collecting trees in spring.
My winters are too rough for fall collected material.
I know.
I've tried.
Killed them all.

+1 i think it is better to ensure succes, especially if the spring collecting works fine and if the tree is very good. Imagine, for any reason, the tree collected in autumn dies, you'll blame yourself for years : 'if only i collected it in spring '

 

[sorce]

Of course, we never really know when any particular tree is about to throw mad roots.

Sorce

 

[Colorado]

I know that many of the professional collectors out here in the Rockies put their fall collected material in a heat bed over winter (only for the first winter, to regenerate roots).

I think you’re rolling the dice unless you have a specific plan for winter protection. First frost isn’t that far off. And you don’t want to being doing the “bonsai shuffle” with a newly collected yamadori...

Safest to just wait till spring.

 

[Timbo]

I repot most of my Spruce in the late summer, early fall and they do fine. Collecting a Yamadori is an entirely different problewm. If the tree is growing on the top of a flat rock and will require little disturbance to the root system I would go for it.

I'm sure it depends, but do you collect conifers in one season in this Michigan sand? With the larger ones, I'm trying to trench half the tree and put it in a garbage bag to hopefully produce enough roots to take it out next year.

 

[Vance Wood]

I'm sure it depends, but do you collect conifers in one season in this Michigan sand? With the larger ones, I'm trying to trench half the tree and put it in a garbage bag to hopefully produce enough roots to take it out next year.

Most of my collecting was done in another place and time. I have become too infirmed to make the trips necessary to locations where collecting can prove fruitful. Nursery, seed, and cutting cultivation with the occasional air layer seems to be the limit of my cultivation these days.