How much sun?

[travislivid]

I have had all of the cedar elms I collected under pretty dense shade. They get a couple hours of direct sunlight and shoots of light through the trees throughout they day. The ones that survived collecting are doing great. My question is how soon after recovery on a tree that is growing well do you move out into more full sunlight? I know better than to drop them in the middle of the raging Texas sun but not sure how much to increase sunlight or if I should just let them adapt until next year?
Thanks

 

[jk_lewis]

I suspect they're fine where they are throughout this growing season (summer).

 

[Poink88]

I recently collected a bunch and they are all out in full TX sun. They are doing fine but not sure yet how they will handle summer heat. How big are your pots & what substrate are you using? My concern is substrate drying and soil heat that might kill the roots.

 

[travislivid]

The smaller ones are in 1 gallon plastic pots. The larger trees with 2"-3" trunks are in 15" clay pots that are about 8" deep. The ground these came out of was heavy clay. I have them in a mix of 50% peat/40% decomposed granite/10% sand. The thought was to transition from clay soil and use the peat to help retain moisture while they are recovering. This dry central texas heat! I closely monitor the soil and have an automatic mist hit them once late morning and once early afternoon. I deep water when they need it. They are really thriving. The growth is extensive but they are sending out really long shoots. I started thinking maybe because of the lack of direct sun they are reaching out and i am not getting dense growth. I know that the main concern the first year is recovery so that is the priority. Is it better to make the grow to get more light or just start to move them more into direct light so the growth is not so leggy in the first year after collection?

 

[Poink88]

Here is one I collected January out in full sun. I've been pinching this though.

 

[cmeg1]

Just a mere hour (more) of direct sun is pretty substantial,beings full sun is only 5 or more hours.I have seen plants go into shock and get really tired looking from abrupt changes in light.

 

[travislivid]

That is a great collected CE! Mine have about the same growth.