Links to articles about Douglas Fir.

[chicago1980]

I am close to adding a wonderful Douglas Fir to my collection, and was hoping Bnuts could share any knowledge, articles, links, books about this species.

I want to provide a good home for this tree.

Thank you.

 

[chicago1980]

Anyone?

 

[wireme]

Ha, good luck!

I've looked around, never found much. How long ago was it collected?

 

[chicago1980]

Ha, good luck!

I've looked around, never found much. How long ago was it collected?

April 2016

 

[chicago1980]

Outside of Ryan Neil's Mirai live, I am not finding great solid info.

 

[wireme]

I've never seen any solid info myself. There's been a number of threads on forums over the years.
Treat the pruning like a spruce, give it soil and water like a juniper. I'm not going to say that's best but that would keep it alive and at least moderately healthy in my climate just fine.

Make sure you trust the collector and they have experience with Doug fir if it's collected that recently. They can stay green without active recovering roots for a long time after collection.

 

[chicago1980]

I've never seen any solid info myself. There's been a number of threads on forums over the years.
Treat the pruning like a spruce, give it soil and water like a juniper. I'm not going to say that's best but that would keep it alive and at least moderately healthy in my climate just fine.

Make sure you trust the collector and they have experience with Doug fir if it's collected that recently. They can stay green without active recovering roots for a long time after collection.

If the tree is inactive, could you tell by the lack of water up take? 15 months and dead but still going. That is difficult

 

[wireme]

If the tree is inactive, could you tell by the lack of water up take? 15 months and dead but still going. That is difficult

I always put collected Doug fir into coarse substrate, mainly pumice. It's pretty hard to tell if water is being used or just evaporating. If it's growing well it should be fine. I've just seen them stay green without growing for 1, 2 even three years. Mostly they have lived in the end. I recall one that died after staying green and not growing for 2 years and one that did the same for three years. Ever since those two I'm not confident just because it's not brown, gotta be growing well too.

 

[chicago1980]

I always put collected Doug fir into coarse substrate, mainly pumice. It's pretty hard to tell if water is being used or just evaporating. If it's growing well it should be fine. I've just seen them stay green without growing for 1, 2 even three years. Mostly they have lived in the end. I recall one that died after staying green and not growing for 2 years and one that did the same for three years. Ever since those two I'm not confident just because it's not brown, gotta be growing well too.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing

 

[Bavarian Raven]

If it's a wild collected Doug for I'd almost plant it in a well draining compost mix for a year or three to strengthen it up and help build its taper before reporting it into bonsai soul. Imho. But that's just me.

 

[chicago1980]

If it's a wild collected Doug for I'd almost plant it in a well draining compost mix for a year or three to strengthen it up and help build its taper before reporting it into bonsai soul. Imho. But that's just me.

I'm all about taking a bit if time to make sure the tree is healthy & happy.

 

[Bavarian Raven]

I'm all about taking a bit if time to make sure the tree is healthy & happy.

My experience with Doug firs come from my landscaping trade, and not bonsai, but I have found Doug fits to be a tough tree once established. Best of luck. Cheers.

 

[wireme]

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing

No problem, looking forward to seeing what you get and what you do with it. I didn't mean to discourage you, it's easy to tell you're devoted to doing the best you can with your trees, I'm sure it wil be fine. As long as climate is good, I don't know anything about Chicago climate, I was there once in January, it wasn't warm.

 

[chicago1980]

I can definitely take my time. This is the tree in it's current condition. Should make it to Chicago in August. Will sit in it box till it is strong and healthy.

 

[Bavarian Raven]

Doug fir is a temperate tree. If you're in Chicago you're going to have to make sure the roots don't freeze over the winter or that it gets wind burnt.

 

[wireme]

I can definitely take my time. This is the tree in it's current condition. Should make it to Chicago in August. Will sit in it box till it is strong and healthy.

Well, looks like a crazy and cool thing there!
Hopefully you don't have to
Wait too long. One of mine that's probably the best in terms of raw materials is going on season 4 after collection now and this is the first year it's had strong growth. Still not nearly strong enough to play with. It's going to be at least 6 years after collection before doing anything at all to that one. I'll bet that it will take me 15yrs from collection at the very least until that one is well potted and well on the road to a maintenance stage. It's a nice old collected conifer with a great trunk but that doesn't always mean it wil be fast. I know it can often be much sooner and I'm not saying yours will take that long!

 

[chicago1980]

Doug fir is a temperate tree. If you're in Chicago you're going to have to make sure the roots don't freeze over the winter or that it gets wind burnt.

Ok I will take that in consideration when placing in the yard. This tree came from Colorado.

 

[chicago1980]

Well, looks like a crazy and cool thing there!
Hopefully you don't have to
Wait too long. One of mine that's probably the best in terms of raw materials is going on season 4 after collection now and this is the first year it's had strong growth. Still not nearly strong enough to play with. It's going to be at least 6 years after collection before doing anything at all to that one. I'll bet that it will take me 15yrs from collection at the very least until that one is well potted and well on the road to a maintenance stage. It's a nice old collected conifer with a great trunk but that doesn't always mean it wil be fast. I know it can often be much sooner and I'm not saying yours will take that long!

Is your tree in pumic & where are you located? Where was the tree collected? Glad to find some else invested in this species.

 

[chicago1980]

Well, looks like a crazy and cool thing there!
Hopefully you don't have to
Wait too long. One of mine that's probably the best in terms of raw materials is going on season 4 after collection now and this is the first year it's had strong growth. Still not nearly strong enough to play with. It's going to be at least 6 years after collection before doing anything at all to that one. I'll bet that it will take me 15yrs from collection at the very least until that one is well potted and well on the road to a maintenance stage. It's a nice old collected conifer with a great trunk but that doesn't always mean it wil be fast. I know it can often be much sooner and I'm not saying yours will take that long!

Can you share a photo of your tree

 

[0soyoung]

Doug fir is a temperate tree. If you're in Chicago you're going to have to make sure the roots don't freeze over the winter or that it gets wind burnt.

Freezing roots is not a worry. It is a "temperate" tree only because it isn't a "tropical" tree. It could be called "alpine".

A few deepening frosts and their roots will routinely withstand -30F.
It is vital that buds get at 1700+ hours below 40F over the winter or there will never be new foliage.

Neither of these issues should be a problem in Chicago or thereabout (USDA zone 5).