GRAY OAK (QUERCUS GRISEA)

yenling83

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I'm sorry about the picture. I got some of them many years ago. Let me know which one is the one and I'll remove it.

Were you able to see the site? It is a little spotty with Safari but I'm working on it to change the whole site to be mobile friendly.

No worries! You can keep it on there:) I just thought it was interesting and funny. My pic is either a Jeffery or Ponderosa pine on the front page with a blue sky in the background. I see that tree a few times per year. Yes I found the site, works well, I also like your selection of material!
 

MACH5

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This oak seems to be coming out well from its winter dormancy. Lost a couple of small secondary branches but that seems to be it as far as I can see. A very late bloomer for sure! Buds just beginning to swell now.

This is the tree as it looked before the work.






The oak after its first styling work. I decided to change its front in order to close the spacing between the two trunks. More importantly, I tilted the tree towards the right to increase the movement from left to right as it seemed to look too static in its original planting angle. I am waiting a bit for the tree to start waking up so that I can perform a partial repotting. The plan is to take out about a quarter of the original root mass by sawing off the right section. A wooden board will then be screwed in inside the existing box in an effort to gradually contain and reduce the rootball. The objective is to make it smaller and tighter so that it can eventually go into a pot. More to come on that.









 
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rockm

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Nice tree!

My grey oak is pushing growth and seems to be a couple of weeks ahead of yours, since we've been a bit warmer (with some notable late freezes--had to bring it in a couple of times to avoid those)...I've noticed this species drops older branches in favor of pushing new growth. I lost some branching myself over the last couple of winters, but some stronger shoots have developed elsewhere. Given the oak that I have has more than a few dead older branches, that had died off a very long time ago, I suspect branching on this species in bonsai training is going to be interesting...
 

MACH5

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Nice tree!

My grey oak is pushing growth and seems to be a couple of weeks ahead of yours, since we've been a bit warmer (with some notable late freezes--had to bring it in a couple of times to avoid those)...I've noticed this species drops older branches in favor of pushing new growth. I lost some branching myself over the last couple of winters, but some stronger shoots have developed elsewhere. Given the oak that I have has more than a few dead older branches, that had died off a very long time ago, I suspect branching on this species in bonsai training is going to be interesting...


I agree Mark. Thanks for the info. We are now at the pioneering stage of this species and sharing experiences I think will prove critical to determine the viability of the gray oak as a good bonsai subject. To complicate matters, a few of us (you included) are also growing them outside of their "comfort" zone. Go boldly and forwards!
 

Lars Grimm

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Thanks for the nice updates Sergio. That change in angle is perfect! I am in love with this species and now have 4 specimens in my collection. I am always amazed at how late they leaf out. A couple are only just opening leaves when my tridents have already hardened off and had a first cut back. Fortunately, no die back for me this year.

What is your strategy to build ramification? Several of mine have been pushing growth distally and getting very leggy. I've been letting them run to build thickness, but am close to being able to transition to working on more compact foliage now.
 

Tieball

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Well done! An incredible tree with tremendous character and story.
 

MACH5

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Thanks for the nice updates Sergio. That change in angle is perfect! I am in love with this species and now have 4 specimens in my collection. I am always amazed at how late they leaf out. A couple are only just opening leaves when my tridents have already hardened off and had a first cut back. Fortunately, no die back for me this year.

What is your strategy to build ramification? Several of mine have been pushing growth distally and getting very leggy. I've been letting them run to build thickness, but am close to being able to transition to working on more compact foliage now.


Lars, what I'm doing now is simply let it grow and then cut it back. These species puts out a strong second flush. As I am sure you have seen, it also has no problems budding even from very old wood. The new branches grow and thicken very quickly.

In your case I would simply cut back hard those long leggy branches.
 

markyscott

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Thanks for the nice updates Sergio. That change in angle is perfect! I am in love with this species and now have 4 specimens in my collection. I am always amazed at how late they leaf out. A couple are only just opening leaves when my tridents have already hardened off and had a first cut back. Fortunately, no die back for me this year.

What is your strategy to build ramification? Several of mine have been pushing growth distally and getting very leggy. I've been letting them run to build thickness, but am close to being able to transition to working on more compact foliage now.

That’s interesting - mine leafed out a bit before my Southern Live Oak. It wasn’t the first to leaf out, but it definitely wasn’t the last.
S
 

markyscott

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The plan is to take out about a quarter of the original root mass by sawing off the right section. A wooden board will then be screwed in inside the existing box in an effort to gradually contain and reduce the rootball.

FWIW. I reported mine in January, Sergio. I reduced a pretty large root significantly as it didn’t seem to be supporting many feeders, then did a 1/2 bare root. Didn’t seem to miss a beat.

Scott
 

MACH5

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FWIW. I reported mine in January, Sergio. I reduced a pretty large root significantly as it didn’t seem to be supporting many feeders, then did a 1/2 bare root. Didn’t seem to miss a beat.

Scott


Thanks Scott! I was going to proceed more carefully but I may be now emboldened to take out a bigger chunk. I did do a more aggressive repotting on my small one and seems to be just fine.
 

markyscott

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Thanks Scott! I was going to proceed more carefully but I may be now emboldened to take out a bigger chunk. I did do a more aggressive repotting on my small one and seems to be just fine.

As always, trust your judgment. This was the piece I sawed out of mine. I reduced it significantly.
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MACH5

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Partial repotting done today. I ended up removing just about a quarter of the rootball. Large 3"+ tap root had to be dealt with. Most likely grew sideways due to the rocky terrain the tree lived on for more than two hundred years.

Here are a few pics from today of the process. Next year I will remove again another portion of the rootball. In two more years I will do a final cleaning of the original rootball and put it into a bonsai container.

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markyscott

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Well done. It didn’t look like there were many feeder roots coming off that thing, but it definitely looked alive. Could you see anywhere it might have split closer to the trunk?

s
 

MACH5

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Well done. It didn’t look like there were many feeder roots coming off that thing, but it definitely looked alive. Could you see anywhere it might have split closer to the trunk?

No, you're right Scott. Not a lot from that root but it was alive for sure. I did pull out other fine roots in the process coming from else where. I don't know yet how or if that tap root splits closer to the trunk. I will know more next year. I am proceeding slowly with this one. Perhaps too cautious but better safe than sorry. :rolleyes:
 

Potawatomi13

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As this is old and special Yamadori and Oak why working roots every year instead of longer wait time?
 

MACH5

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As this is old and special Yamadori and Oak why working roots every year instead of longer wait time?


Fair question. My approach is informed by trusted sources such as @markyscott and @Lars Grimm reporting good success with rather aggressive root work. If anything my approach, by comparison, seems a lot more "gentle". I think if I was doing a full on repotting every year, cleaning the roots etc it would be a different story altogether and I don't think advisable. But I am just pushing back the rootball while leaving most of it intact. My planned root work schedule depends of course on how the tree does and responds. I am seeing now the tree is pushing nicely. A good sign!
 
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