Collecting Mountain Laurel

Gabler

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I've identified a cluster of mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) on my parents' property, and this spring I plan to collect a couple of them. Information on them is limited. The extent of the information I've gleaned is that they like moist, well-drained soil, high acidity, and a high organic content. Gardening websites recommend tilling peat into the soil before planting them in the ground. They seem to like part shade, but not full sun nor full shade. It's also recommended to dead-head the flowers to promote better flowering the following season. While certainly helpful, that information isn't nearly complete enough for bonsai cultivation.

How do they handle collecting/transplanting? Is it safe to chop the trunk, or do they take after coniferous evergreens, refusing to back bud if all the foliage is removed? Are there any other considerations to keep in mind for bonsai cultivation? I've noticed a few members here have collected mountain laurel in the past, and I'm hoping for some insight into my questions. If not, are there any sources you'd recommend that I check? Thanks in advance!
 

mrcasey

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Several years ago, I read (don't recall where) that most mountain laurel neither transplants well nor thrives in a container situation once dug. I've got some beautiful mountain laurel I'd like to collect, but I've been scared off by all the rumors. That, and I kind of suck at collecting yamadori.
 

Dav4

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Several years ago, I read (don't recall where) that most mountain laurel neither transplants well nor thrives in a container situation once dug. I've got some beautiful mountain laurel I'd like to collect, but I've been scared off by all the rumors. That, and I kind of suck at collecting yamadori.
Agreed... when I lived in MA, I had limited success transplanting them, never mind collecting them and having them survive in a pot. One other negative would be the extremely large leaves and overall coarse growth habit.
 

Gabler

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Agreed... when I lived in MA, I had limited success transplanting them, never mind collecting them and having them survive in a pot. One other negative would be the extremely large leaves and overall coarse growth habit.

I'm not scared off by the coarse growth habit. I can just grow more of a literati style tree with minimalist branching. I am concerned about killing a nice specimen. As an alternative, I've already taken some hardwood cuttings, and hopefully they root this spring or summer. I think I will try to collect one this spring and baby it to help it recover.

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This particular specimen has a tuft of leaves growing low on the trunk, so I can eventually chop it back to lower growth. There's also a few little sprouts I could collect. It'll just take a while to get them to thicken up.

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Forsoothe!

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I can't claim any real skill with them, but I have one that did poorly in my yard that I put its remnants in a pot and it lived. I concur with everything said about them, but I love the foliage. This is a dwarf and is smaller than it looks...
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I'll be heading it back next summer, but have been timid with it because I was unsure how it would do. I has shown a lot more vigor last summer than the previous ~3 or 4?.
 

Tall Guy

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I have collected very neat clumps of mountain laurel several times. When collected with tons of undisturbed roots and put in a large grow box they initially did well. However, as soon as any root reduction was done to get them anywhere near to being in a bonsai pot they all died. I have tried probably 5-6 times. I’ve come to the conclusion that they are very intolerant of any kind of root work... at least for me. These were clumps where the roots were large mats and I left most of the foliage on. I tried trunk chopping a few larger plants, and couldn’t get these to live either. Difficult material for sure.
 

Gabler

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It sounds like I'll need to do some experimenting and figure out what works and what doesn't.
 

Gabler

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Update: The three root suckers I dug up and potted in the fall are all still alive and growing new leaves. They could still die come summer, but for now, they're growing normally. The larger specimen I collected in the spring is doing best of all. Here's a picture of its new leaves. Notably, some are growing from bare stems, so evidently, you can cut them back to old wood, unlike conifers.

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Additionally, I discovered another drawback of mica pots. Apparently, squirrels like to chew them. Notice the teeth marks in the photo below. They leave the same tooth marks in the plastic composite Adirondack chairs.

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Gabler

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Still in good health.

 

Gabler

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The tree spontaneously aborted a few branches, but wild ones do that frequently. I’m thinking of moving the tree to a cascade pot, since the branches are healthier on one side than the other. Not this year, though. Maybe next year, if not the year after.

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Deep Sea Diver

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We have Kalmia latifolia “Olympic Fire“ in our backyard as a shrub. These plants are in the ericacace family, so you should easily get away with treating them just like an azalea or rhododendron. Same water and soil needs, do well in the same semi shaded areas and leaves get yellowish sometimes when it gets too much sun.

Prune after flowering. Ours is in a 50/20/20/10 = Small bark/peat/soil/manure mix like all the azaleas and rhodies built above our clay soil so it has decent drainage.

Willing to bet they would do well in Kanuma media, or any other proven azalea bonsai media.

Good luck
DSD sends
 

Gabler

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Right now, the tree is in a mix of 85% Kiryu soil and 15% peat (for the acidity) because that’s what I had available. When I go to repot, I’ll look into ordering Kanuma, since that seems to be a proven winner.

As for sun, I normally find these growing as an understory tree along stream banks. They seem to enjoy the gap in the canopy provided by the stream. They also seem to like areas dominated by oak and beech. Well-established forests rather than disturbed areas.
 

Deep Sea Diver

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Yep, the media you are using could use some improvement at some point. A basic nursery Rhody/azalea media is about 70 peat/bark and 30 perlite, so lots of air and water retention. Pumice is a bit less water and air retention then perlite.

Kiryu is a hard dense pumice about half way in characteristics between pumice and lava. So less water and air retention then the pumice we like to use.

Looking forward to seeing your results.

btw I was reading established Kailma latifolia can take a hard cut back like an azalea or rhody 😎

Cheers

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Gabler

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In the short term, I slipped her into a grow bag for improved drainage/aeration. I suspect my ultimate choice to acquire a good semi-cascade pot will prove beneficial to the roots, since deeper pots drain better than shallow pots. I added a tiny bit of Holly Tone to the soil for acidity.

Note that the leaves are a little sunburned. I moved from shade to full sun too quickly. Midday shade with direct morning or evening sun seems best.

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WNC Bonsai

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Update: The three root suckers I dug up and potted in the fall are all still alive and growing new leaves. They could still die come summer, but for now, they're growing normally. The larger specimen I collected in the spring is doing best of all. Here's a picture of its new leaves. Notably, some are growing from bare stems, so evidently, you can cut them back to old wood, unlike conifers.

View attachment 367837

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Additionally, I discovered another drawback of mica pots. Apparently, squirrels like to chew them. Notice the teeth marks in the photo below. They leave the same tooth marks in the plastic composite Adirondack chairs.

View attachment 367840
Make squirrel stew!
 

Gabler

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The three root suckers died. The big plant is still alive and budding out this spring, albeit late. I'm documenting its progress in a thread for the Five Year Native Tree Contest. I am almost certain it will not be anywhere close to showable condition in five years. It has been extremely slow to grow and back-buds sparsely.

I believe this is because I did not provide ideal conditions over the winter. To protect the roots, I buried the pot in straw on the ground. I believe the roots were too wet over winter. These guys seem to prefer well-aerated soil. Accordingly, I removed the tree from its mica training pot and slipped it into a larger grow bag, where the soil would be deeper for better drainage, and air could penetrate the sides of the container. It is still potted in a mix of Kiryuzuna soil and organic matter. I also left the branches too exposed over winter. The tips of the branches (i.e. all of the new buds) dried up and died back. The tree is budding out late this year because it had to generate new buds when spring arrived. In the future, I may keep this tree in an unheated greenhouse over the winter, and I will certainly do more to protect the branches from dry wind. In the mean time, I am happy to report that the tree is persisting. I will leave it alone this summer to generate enough energy to make it through next winter. I am hopeful that a moderate dose of Holly Tone fertilizer at the time I placed the tree into a grow bag will give the tree the nitrogen it needs to put on plenty of new growth this summer. Fingers crossed.
 

Gabler

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Needless to say, with the top branches dead, this tree is lending itself to cascade.

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Fortunately, the bottom branches are all pushing buds.

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Deep Sea Diver

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Glad your tree made it through its first year. The tree like wasn’t strong going into the winter. There are a lot of ins and outs when wintering over. Protecting from the wind, sun, freezing, fungus and watering, if in a greenhouse, are a few.

Holly tone is a good choice for fertilizer for a laurel.

Best of luck for good growth this year!

cheers
DSD sends
 
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