Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie Yamadori

[Dysfunctional Vet]

This year I decided I was going to step up my tree game and collect some trees from the wild. I got in touch with the Enumclaw office this spring and they issued me a free use permit for 3 hardwood trees. I’m confident with deciduous trees and to be honest worried I’d kill cool conifers so I’m not going there yet.
They have some funky collection rules, trees have to be less than 2 ft tall and they have to be collected within 50 ft of the road. So I figured I’d be collecting baby trees. It’s a good thing they brush hogged the side of the road a couple years ago. Lol
There was long stretches of road with some awesome alders so I collected a few of those. They were easy to dig and had a good root ball. They’ve had their issues since collecting; fungus, tent caterpillars and a little deer defoliation. But they are doing well and I’m excited about the two with fat trunks.
When potting them I tried to match the soil/rocks composition that they were growing in. Next spring I’m going to get into the roots a little more.
I really really really need to start documenting my trees more. I only have one tree pic from when I potted them.

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

That tree now looks like this.
Granted you’re not supposed to do a lot of work on newly collected trees but this one was growing like crazy and the deer helped. Lol
Still needs tons of work, but it’s a good start. At least in my mind.

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

Here is the other one.

This one struggled a little and I didn’t personally do any trimming on it, but the deer did. Hahahahaha
Should I leave the natural brush hogged look or carve it? I’m undecided at this point so I’m going to leave her alone.

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

The last one is a curvy, semi cascade. Not great but I’m a sucker for oddities.

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

Went a little crazy and decided why wait. Slapped it in a pot. Hahahahaha
Now it looks happy!

 

[Cruiser]

It is good to see other alders here. Yours appear to be Alnus rubra.

Alnus rubra are very fast growing, shade-intolerant, pioneer species. They commonly establish on forest roads where they can get adequate light. At a distance you can even distinguish forest roads in the hill side by the presence of zig-zagging alder canopies. They can grow almost anywhere there is enough light but appear to do best in wetter/riparian zones. Keep them in full sun and well watered.

You may have noticed the root nodules when you dug up your alders. They house bacteria that have a symbiotic relationship with the trees. The relationship fixes nitrogen into the soil and is a good thing. I would limit the amount of nitrogen you give them, otherwise it could create even longer internodes.

Alders are susceptible to cankers that create large black lesions on trunks. They eventually rot out, creating interesting cavities in the process. It’s fairly common at higher elevations where black bears scrape away at the bases of trees, which creates openings for pathogens to enter.

In a forest setting they often become long, graceful, leaning trees with little taper and nearly all their canopy in the top 1/3 of the the trunk.

In an open setting they respond like most other broadleaves, they retain lower branches and take on a shorter wider appearance.

Your trees show some character. Keep up the good work. Please share observations and/or findings you come up with along the way.

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

It is good to see other alders here. Yours appear to be Alnus rubra.

Alnus rubra are very fast growing, shade-intolerant, pioneer species. They commonly establish on forest roads where they can get adequate light. At a distance you can even distinguish forest roads in the hill side by the presence of zig-zagging alder canopies. They can grow almost anywhere there is enough light but appear to do best in wetter/riparian zones. Keep them in full sun and well watered.

You may have noticed the root nodules when you dug up your alders. They house bacteria that have a symbiotic relationship with the trees. The relationship fixes nitrogen into the soil and is a good thing. I would limit the amount of nitrogen you give them, otherwise it could create even longer internodes.

Alders are susceptible to cankers that create large black lesions on trunks. They eventually rot out, creating interesting cavities in the process. It’s fairly common at higher elevations where black bears scrape away at the bases of trees, which creates openings for pathogens to enter.

In a forest setting they often become long, graceful, leaning trees with little taper and nearly all their canopy in the top 1/3 of the the trunk.

In an open setting they respond like most other broadleaves, they retain lower branches and take on a shorter wider appearance.

Your trees show some character. Keep up the good work. Please share observations and/or findings you come up with along the way.

View attachment 486480

Yup, they are red alders and I collected from a spot that looks exactly like that picture. They were growing on the ditch side of the road. Lots of gravel with mud. I was t very nice about digging them up, had to use a rock pick to make a trench around them and then work my way under. No long tap roots to worry about due to the rocky conditions. But I did save some of the nodules on each of the trees because I figured they were for nitrogen, but wasn’t positive. The one I repotted this year had filled the pot with roots in one growing season so I knew I’d be safe. But I’ll keep you posted on how they do. I want to try a ground layer on one, not sure if they do that but I’m going to find out. Lol

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

One thing I do know is they are thirsty trees. 1-2 watering a day. Zero root issues, so far. I didn’t completely bare root them at time of collection. The mix I filled in with was a 60/40 bark/pumice. When I did the repot into the smaller pot I switched to mix to 60/40 pumice/bark since it’s a smaller pot. It likes it so far.

 

[pandacular]

The tree in the red pot is now in my collection! I plan to move this to a box this year. I will make my own thread for this tree shortly, probably once I put it into a box.