aframe
Shohin
I have 'saved' a large CA live Oak from a trash pile: the tree was kept in a 24" box, maybe longer than a decade and left for dead. The tap root(s) have circumvented the perimeter of the square container and left me with a square root ball that is 'fortified' by large lignified roots.
The tree has put on healthy, almost vigorous new growth this season despite drought conditions and no care
I raked out some of the dry, old clay soil from the exterior - no live feeder roots found. I've set the tree in a kiddie pool for the last week, where it's been soaking the bottom 6" of it's massive root ball.
I live in Santa Cruz; winters are mild with brief 28F cold snaps in Feb.
Here's the question for the Oak Pro's, should I:
1. repot the tree as is, in a huge container - leaving the root ball as in it's compacted soil and wait for spring to work roots
Or
2. Defoliate and remove 1/3 root mass from bottom of root ball
Days are warm 55-80 with cool nights 55-65, the tree will get dappled light and have protection from sun and wind. The tree will likely have 4 months before any chance of freezing weather.
I have no idea how Coastal Live Oak responds to heavy root pruning, nor do I know the annual schedule of their root growth...
Was it wrong to let the root ball soak in standing water for a week? I've drained the water
Thanks in advance.
AFRAME
The tree has put on healthy, almost vigorous new growth this season despite drought conditions and no care
I raked out some of the dry, old clay soil from the exterior - no live feeder roots found. I've set the tree in a kiddie pool for the last week, where it's been soaking the bottom 6" of it's massive root ball.
I live in Santa Cruz; winters are mild with brief 28F cold snaps in Feb.
Here's the question for the Oak Pro's, should I:
1. repot the tree as is, in a huge container - leaving the root ball as in it's compacted soil and wait for spring to work roots
Or
2. Defoliate and remove 1/3 root mass from bottom of root ball
Days are warm 55-80 with cool nights 55-65, the tree will get dappled light and have protection from sun and wind. The tree will likely have 4 months before any chance of freezing weather.
I have no idea how Coastal Live Oak responds to heavy root pruning, nor do I know the annual schedule of their root growth...
Was it wrong to let the root ball soak in standing water for a week? I've drained the water
Thanks in advance.
AFRAME
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And it's destined to be a pretty good sized tree as well. Above the roots it has an excellent base and is definitely worth saving. Have you considered that a good option MIGHT be an exposed root style? If it wasn't so heavy I'd volunteer to take it off your hands as I love oaks to begin with. I might be interested anyway if you want to part with it. It's gonna take some work and time to get that old bad dirt out of the base to see what you've actually got to work with. Not sure how this would layer but maybe a new root base could be developed. Now there's an idea.(as the light bulb comes on and I say to myself....) There's also a possibility you could get a bunch of oak seedlings and thread graft a new root system onto it. That has the plus of making it a lot lighter tree and you could just let the old roots down below grow as they are until the grafts were well developed.
