John P.’s SoCal Oak Thread

[John P.]

Myth 4 — Oaks Can’t Take Drastic Root Pruning

I’ve seen this stated often. My experience here, as you will see, applies to Coast Live Oak specifically as I can’t say that every oak will rebound like this one did because I haven’t tried.

One of the three trees that I replanted from the pond basket on February 23, 2020 had its roots so intertwined that I lost patience and decided it would be a perfect time for an experiment. I had read that one should remove only 1/8, 1/4, or a similar scant amount of roots when replanting oaks.

Each tree’s root mass was similar—something approximating this:


After I worked through my impatience on this particular tree here’s what was left. In terms of percentages, I removed at least 3/4 of the roots. I wired the tree to a piece of styrofoam and planted in 100% orchid seedling bark mix in a raised bed:






Most all of the leaves browned out entirely in the weeks following the replanting. The trunk was still green—most easily recognized when wet. I watered just as I normally would.

On May 2 things started turning around:




Here’s the same tree on June 1, 2020:


This is good to know for when it’s time to put one of these in a bonsai pot.

 

[BrianBay9]

Myth 4 is indeed a myth for coast live oak. I've now collected 8 coast live oak, with trunks up to 6 inch diameter. While all had some roots remaining I guarantee I removed 99% + of the roots during collection. All sprouted out and are growing. Local experts advised me to completely defoliate when collecting and wait for new buds. I think you pretty much did the same with that guy.

 

[Housguy]

Wow John, that is really cool what you did with that coast live, hope that produces some nice nebari down the road! How old is that coast live by the way?

 

[John P.]

Wow John, that is really cool what you did with that coast live, hope that produces some nice nebari down the road! How old is that coast live by the way?

Thanks: These three are probably 3-4 years old from acorn. They’d probably be bigger if I would have tended to them better, earlier. Fertilizing every week or so these days.

 

[John P.]

Myth 4 is indeed a myth for coast live oak. I've now collected 8 coast live oak, with trunks up to 6 inch diameter. While all had some roots remaining I guarantee I removed 99% + of the roots during collection. All sprouted out and are growing. Local experts advised me to completely defoliate when collecting and wait for new buds. I think you pretty much did the same with that guy.

There are so many around here, I’ve certainly been tempted. Did you collect them all in the spring?

 

[BrianBay9]

There are so many around here, I’ve certainly been tempted. Did you collect them all in the spring?

Collected in December and January. They were budding out by February.

 

[ihaveaspaceship]

That matches my experience too. I have collected one coast live oak in May and one in September. Both threw out buds and almost never skipped a beat. I also defoliated and placed in pure pumice. The one tree collected in May had almost no roots on it when collected. Both were very vigorous growing trees when collected. Elevation @ about 3k. I'm going to try summer collecting this year too. Somewhere around 4k-5k elevation.

 

[rollwithak]

Here’s the same tree on May 26, 2020:
View attachment 306556
View attachment 306557
View attachment 306558
Not bad for around a month and a half.

What supplies did you use for this? Zip ties and???

 

[John P.]

What supplies did you use for this? Zip ties and???

I wanted more of a bend in the trunk, so I used zip ties and some silicone airline (fish tank) tubing over the ties where it contacts the trunk. Not sure why I bothered, as I’ll probably cut tue trunk shorter than that area, anyway.

I think the bend is set, but I’m leaving it on so the trunk won’t move and damage the new layered roots.

 

[rollwithak]

I wanted more of a bend in the trunk, so I used zip ties and some silicone airline (fish tank) tubing over the ties where it contacts the trunk. Not sure why I bothered, as I’ll probably cut tue trunk shorter than that area, anyway.

I think the bend is set, but I’m leaving it on so the trunk won’t move and damage the new layered roots.

Yeah I only ask because I have a trunk that looks very similar to that I wasn’t sure how I’d get some movement into in but after seeing this, I think I can pull it off. Just couldn’t tell what that tubing was... did you get this all at your hardware store?

 

[John P.]

Zip ties are from Home Despot, and the airline tubing is from an aquarium store. You could use a sponge or chunk of garden house, really.

 

[Mikecheck123]

I’m surprised they’re not more common around here

I think it's a pretty popular opinion, although you're right that you don't see too many of them.

 

[Mikecheck123]

There are so many around here, I’ve certainly been tempted. Did you collect them all in the spring?

I see so many nice ones in ditches and along railroad tracks. Who would miss it???

 

[John P.]

I see so many nice ones in ditches and along railroad tracks. Who would miss it???

Seems to me you could collect them and then send the railroad an invoice for track maintenance.

 

[rollwithak]

Ok, took some pictures of my oaks this morning when I was out walking my plants with some coffee. Most of this is all pre-bonsai material that I’m just learning to care for right now.

These 4 pics are my Coast Live Oak and my Quark Oak... the live oak is the one like yours that I need to add movement into!

 

[rollwithak]

Here are some Blue Oaks from acorn seeds I collected in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada’s on my brothers property. Also a little sprout that I collected that has just been chillin for a couple years now. Kind of just letting the sprout grow to see what it becomes.

 

[rollwithak]

Here are some potted trees that I’ve just gathered from clearance sales at nurseries and big box stores. Few black oaks, a shumard oak, and a regal prince oak (which has a really cool trunk but not suitable for bonsai)

 

[Housguy]

Here are some Blue Oaks from acorn seeds I collected in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada’s on my brothers property. Also a little sprout that I collected that has just been chillin for a couple years now. Kind of just letting the sprout grow to see what it becomes.

I thought those were blues, they grow much slower than cork and coast live oaks. I have a few as well and were planted the same time as my cork and coast live and the cork and CL few past the blues in growth.

 

[Mikecheck123]

Here are some Blue Oaks from acorn seeds I collected in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada’s on my brothers property. Also a little sprout that I collected that has just been chillin for a couple years now. Kind of just letting the sprout grow to see what it becomes.

Here's a branch on my blue oak (about 15 inches high). You can get some mighty short internodes.

 

[John P.]

Great oaks! Nice collection; thanks for posting!