Live oak yardmadori

[aml1014]

Today I went to a customer of mine to do some work in his yard. I went to transplant an atlas cedar for him into a sunnier spot.while I was there I noticed a small live oak with I nice big trunk that looked absolutely pathetic and was in a full shade spot. I naturally offered to take it off his hands and he agreed. He's been at the house for 25 years and he said the tree was there when he moved in so it's definitely got some age to it.

It had just started to push leaves so I hope I'm not too late on it.
I pruned the three subtrunks it had to the first green there was. The tree stands about 36" tall right now and is about 7.5" at the base!
Here's pics of the tree.
I got a good amount of roots but didn't take a pic until I was already shoveling soil in.
Here's the whole tree.
And that sexy base with coarky bark!
I hope this guy lives, which I have good hope for it.
Let me know what you think!

Aaron

 

[Waltron]

nice one, there is a dude on Instagram that collects these all the time, out in cali, giant old ones. seems to always have luck. this one will make it for sure. he uses lava and sphag moss only, as his soil mix. @Duncan100, he puts up a lot of good photos and info about (cali) live oak. he has some nice red woods too.

 

[Vance Wood]

nice one, there is a dude on Instagram that collects these all the time, out in cali, giant old ones. seems to always have luck. this one will make it for sure. he uses lava and sphag moss only, as his soil mix. @Duncan100, he puts up a lot of good photos and info about (cali) live oak. he has some nice red woods too.

Do you have a link for this guy?

 

[Waltron]

if you have an instagram, hes @Dunkis100, sorry his name is Duncan hah. its public account so if you follow him you can look at all his photos, tons of great bonsai accounts on instagram actually. lot of foreign stuff out there I have no idea what some of them write in the captions, but its photos of bonsai trees.

 

[Waltron]

haha i figured he was on here what up @Dunkis100!

 

[sorce]

This is well into, one of your better ones, maybe far as best.

Sorce

 

[AaronThomas]

Pretty cool movement on this guy Aaron!
Look forward to seeing more pics down the road!

 

[aml1014]

Starting to get buds.

Aaron

 

[aml1014]

This thing is coming along very nicely. I've got new little leaves everywhere and it's still swelling buds I'm other places as can be seen in the pic
Aaron

 

[aml1014]

Nice red color to the new foliage and it is budding all over the place.
Aaron

 

[Vance Wood]

I know nothing of the tree except that which I can see. What I see is the opportunity to get a really nice tree. If it were mine I would probably let the tree develop this year without bothering it then next year I would cut it down really low so that I could develop a bonsai that is only about 1/3 the height of what you have now.

 

[aml1014]

I know nothing of the tree except that which I can see. What I see is the opportunity to get a really nice tree. If it were mine I would probably let the tree develop this year without bothering it then next year I would cut it down really low so that I could develop a bonsai that is only about 1/3 the height of what you have now.

That's exactly what I was planning, it's a bit tall right now. When I collected it I cut it down to the lowest branches with leaves there was, as I've never collected this type of oak and was unsure as to how it would act. Now that I have lots of budding I plan on letting it grow all year and cutting back to what I get down low.

Aaron

 

[aml1014]

Growing like crazy, I'm almost having the dumb thought to chop this thing back to some of those lower branches.
I know I need to leave it be though.


Aaron

 

[Vance Wood]

I would do some checking around to see if anyone knows more about the tree than you do and ask for suggestions. However; sometimes it is better to do it now than to whish you had done it latter.

 

[aml1014]

So I've been thinking a ton lately where I should chop this thing next spring, and was thinking about the 6to1 ratio. This tree has an inch trunk which would translate to a 48 inch tall tree. It's only 30 inches to the tip of the new growth as of today. I know I'll need to do some chopping but I don't think it'll be as much as I was thinking about doing.


I'm thinking since it splits into 3 subtrunks that I may decide to go closer to a 3to1 ratio making it a 24inch tall tree full size.

Aaron

 

[mattspinniken]

Really cool tree! I don't know anything about this species but I personally would chop to get better taper and movement and not worry about the ratio. If you only chop it 6" lower, wouldn't you be stuck with some long straight bits?

 

[markyscott]

Hi Aaron - can you take a couple of pictures at eye level from a few different perspectives, including your preferred front?

Scott

 

[aml1014]

Really cool tree! I don't know anything about this species but I personally would chop to get better taper and movement and not worry about the ratio. If you only chop it 6" lower, wouldn't you be stuck with some long straight bits?

I actually plan on chopping them to between 4 and 6 inches. That would make the subtrunks slightly shorter then the main trunk and put the tree around 12 inches to those chops. Since I already have low branching, those can be wired as new leaders which will make the tree around 16 to 18 inches tall. Give it about 10 years after that and it should be close to 24 inches with lots of taper and movement.
I don't take the short root with most of my trees. That's why only about 50 or 60 are in actual bonsai pots, most of my trees have quite a few years until they are ready IMO.

Aaron

 

[aml1014]

Hi Aaron - can you take a couple of pictures at eye level from a few different perspectives, including your preferred front?

Scott

Yes sir I definitely can do that. I get off in about 3 hours and will post some then, I'd really like your opinion on this tree.

Aaron

 

[aml1014]

Here's those pics @markyscott
What I think should be the front (open to options of course)
Aaron