English Oak ( Quercus Robur )

[Ashbarns]

This oak was collected about ten years ago. I put it back into the ground four years ago and it fattened up a great deal. The wound near the base was a result of a sawed off branch which will be carved very soon to unite it with the existing shari. The leaves on this oak are very small in comparison with others in my yard which attracted me to it in the first place.

The future of this tree is to keep it at the height it is presently, 14" ( the base is 4"). It will go into a bonsai pot in Spring next year ( possibly an oval or round ).

Ash

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I love oaks. However I have never seen an oak I liked in a bunjin or windswept style. Typically I think of oaks as squat and thick in a broom style, formal or informal upright. It is difficult to see from your photos, but the trunk feels very long to me. What would you think about forcing the foilage down and reducing the trunk by about 50%?

 

[Ashbarns]

Thank you for your thoughtfully worded reply. I have never seen an English oak in the broom style.
I really don't consider this tree to be bunjin more O-Myogi. With regard to your preferences that is your taste not mine so the yamadori will remain at the height it is. Whilst carving the lower trunk today I noticed new shoots emerging lower down the trunk which will prove to be a bonus.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I am looking forward to see what it ends up like The great thing about bonsai as an art form - impressions are always personal, and the tree is always changing. I remember well trees that I thought were amazing, and then I look at photos of them years later and I see things now I don't like. At the same time, trees that didn't impress me a while ago I now return to with a different understanding or perspective. Perhaps the tree doesn't change, but rather I grow into the tree

 

[paddles]

Whilst carving the lower trunk

Photos! Please! As a beginer I find the fact that some people carve the trunks facinating, (Bonsai Today has an artical out on it,) but different people do things different ways. I think I will need to learn some more about carving.

(I have 3 oaks that i put in the ground, so plenty for me to experiment on one day!)

 

[Ashbarns]

First carving which may need refining, we know nothing is set in stone with bonsai. So the shari is now united with the base carving which needs to dry before lime sulfur is applied. I shall mix the sulfur with Indian ink to darken it. The tree has much more growth since the pics above were taken.
We shall now await new shoots appearing down the trunk and decide whether they will add anything to the design.

Ash

 

[BrianBay9]

I think that's a big improvement Ash....well done. Hopefully you'll get the backbudding you want and be able to pull the foliage in.

Good luck
B

 

[paddles]

Fantastic! oaks do backbud quite easily? don't they?

 

[robert gardner]

I have just started working on a Qurrus Robur Oak it has a trunk diameter of about 1/2 inch. It is now in a pot and just starting to leaf out, in order to get the trunk bigger should
I take it out of the small pot and maybe put it into a large nursery pot. Planted in the ground it would gt lost or maybe mowed down. It is only about six inches tall, not worried about
the now just trunk diameter.. Any response will be taken in good faith.

THANKS,
Robert Gardner

 

[Potawatomi13]

Best wait untill late Winter 2021 to re pot. Large relatively shallow grow box better than nursery pot unless pot is shortened. Does trunk have any movement down low? Please add location to profile.

 

[robert gardner]

This OAK is located in the town of SNOHOMISH, WASHINGTON. I forgot to add that in the last message.

 

[_#1_]

Best wait untill late Winter 2021 to re pot.

Why you say that?

You can pop the whole thing out the small pot now. Don't cut a single root. Replant in a wider pot at around the same depth and fill with similar soil.

That's what I would do.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Why you say that?

You can pop the whole thing out the small pot now. Don't cut a single root. Replant in a wider pot at around the same depth and fill with similar soil.

That's what I would do.

This is Oak and if likelihood of soil falling apart even partly will be same as regular repotting. Unless a case of emergency waiting till dormancy will give less of setback to tree. Maples and some others like weeds and can be done now but not so good with Oak? Discretion and patience.

 

[BobbyLane]

This is a very old thread, the op has likely moved on.
This is Harry harrington a well known bonsai expert repotting an oak yest...


if yours is already leafing out, you could slip pot it into a larger pot and fill in with fresh soil.
do you know what slip potting is??