Evergreen Garden Works Grafting Questions

[eugen_onegin]

I'm very interested in investing in a few grafted pine's from evergreengardenworks. What is everyone's take/experience on the grafts of these trees. Will I have to airlayer further down the road or are these grafts as low as they say.

Any suggestions on where to find other cork bark and jwp seedlings.

 

[Nybonsai12]

I haven't bought one of brents grafted pines so I can't comment on how good they are, but I can say that I've been happy with all of the other material I've got from him, all high quality stuff. I just wish he'd update his website with some new material!!

check with Matt Ouwinga for JWP seedlings.

 

[dpowell]

I've purchased some of his older grafted & cutting material (different JBP varieties) all created in the late 90's. The cutting grown trees have a very noticeable swell at the base, but other than that it's near impossible to tell that the tree was grafted. Maybe in 20 years when the thicker bark starts to form, but even the roots are barking up and I can't see any sort of graft line.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Bent is the real deal. You can rest assured the cultivars are correct, and the grafts are good. I have always had stellar experiences working with Brent. I have a berm with 6 individual stands in it. Usually, 5 of those 6 stands are inhabited by a tree from him, not to mention the other benches and what's in the ground!

Buy the largest stock you can get your hands on, because waiting on corkers to cork is actually less exciting than watching grass grow. I have about half a dozen cultivars, and it's about 4 more than I need!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I've purchased some of his older grafted & cutting material (different JBP varieties) all created in the late 90's. The cutting grown trees have a very noticeable swell at the base, but other than that it's near impossible to tell that the tree was grafted. Maybe in 20 years when the thicker bark starts to form, but even the roots are barking up and I can't see any sort of graft line.

Cutting-grown trees, by definition, will not have a graft union.

If you have a graft, try to plan the front so as much of the cork scion is facing front as possible, and the soil line is right at the graft. Do this early.

The cutting-grown corkers I've seen and own have a nice swelling base and corky surface roots developing. This is a cutting-grown Hachi-Gen from Brent, about 10 years old.

 

[fredtruck]

This is a cutting-grown Mi Nishiki which is about 16 years old. Again, the base adds a nice taper to the tree.

 

[Cmanz]

All my favorite trees have come from Brent at Evergreen Gardenworks. His grafts are as good as they get. Keep in mind that even with great grafts like those from Brent, rootstock and cultivars respond differently. Most my grafted pines from Brent are smooth and blend right at the root crown, but one tree (Katsuga cultivar) has a great buttressing right at the graft giving good taper even on a 4 year old tree. I think that is the luck of the draw. Here is a pic of that tree's graft, front and back.

 

[eugen_onegin]

Wow Fredtruck. They really are slow growing if that is 16 years old. That's why I would like to get started asap. Maybe when I'm about 60 I can sit back and appreciate something nice.

beautiful tree by the way.

 

[dpowell]

Sorry, I mis-typed. I meant to say that I have both grafted and cutting grown pines from Brent and the only way I can tell which is which without looking it up is which one's have the swollen base.

The first 2 pics are a grafted Mi-Nishiki originally grafted in 97, I'm hard pressed to find the union. The second 2 pics are a cutting grown Hachi Gen, probably grown around the same time. The swollen base gives it away as a cutting grown tree.

-Danny

Cutting-grown trees, by definition, will not have a graft union.

If you have a graft, try to plan the front so as much of the cork scion is facing front as possible, and the soil line is right at the graft. Do this early.

The cutting-grown corkers I've seen and own have a nice swelling base and corky surface roots developing. This is a cutting-grown Hachi-Gen from Brent, about 10 years old.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Dpowell, thanks for posting those photos, it's always cool to see others of the same cultivar. Our Hachi Gens look like they're from the same batch, right down to the base. Here is the oldest photo I can find, from '07. His label notes it was struck in '98.

What are your plans with yours?

 

[dpowell]

Brian - Ours definitely looks similar, but I've only had mine for 1-2 years. I've been thinking about these one's a lot and I'm actually going to have Peter Tea over next month where we might do some chopping, but here's what I'm thinking so far.

The Mi-Nishiki (pictured above) - I'm going to let it grow. The base of the trunk is probably 3", but I want a larger tree so I'm going to grow it out for a while.

Hachi Gen #1 - Pictured above and pics 3-5 below, I'm probably going to have to chop it low for the next trunk section. It has a long taper-less section above the bottom branches and the trunk has been partially cut through already from before I got it. Might do that this year.

Hachi Gen #2 - Pictures 1-2 below, I had initially thought of chopping this one really low as well and going with the obvious low leader, but it has nice movement and ok taper going with the primary leader it has now (seen in picture 2 with the tag on it right below the sacrifice stubs).
I need to plant it lower and will probably make it more upright next repotting, but I think this one has the most potential out of the 3.

I've only had these for 1-2 years so far so haven't really done much to them other than repot and let them grow. Hopefully I'll have some interesting progressions to show of them in the next couple years.

-Danny

 

[augustine]

Fully in agreement, you can buy from Brent with complete confidence.

Best regards,

Augustine