My shohin coast live oaks in development

[BrianBay9]

Just defoliated

 

[BrianBay9]

 

[oddirt]

Nice. Are they from acorn?

 

[BrianBay9]

No, these all were from 1 gal pots I found at a central valley tree nursery.

 

[parhamr]

Wonderful! I’m excited to see these progress.
It’s so cool you already have them barking up just a bit.

 

[cmeg1]

Nice trees!

 

[MrWunderful]

#4

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

nice

 

[John P.]

Very nice. I’m about to transplant 3 of mine from a pond basket to a raised bed. Any tips about timing and how much cutting back of the roots is possible?

I’m thinking of doing it in the next couple of weeks. I’m in coastal Orange County, CA.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Just defoliated

Why?

 

[BrianBay9]

Why?

These "evergreen" oaks lose their leaves each year, just not all at once. I usually treat them like other deciduous trees - when repotting, if any leaves are still hanging on, I remove them. They usually look like crap by then, and as you can see, the trees are already budding out strong. I get a clean look at the tree's structure and can make easier pruning choices based on the issues and location of new buds.

 

[Pitoon]

First one would make a pretty cool looking twin trunk.

 

[Potawatomi13]

These "evergreen" oaks lose their leaves each year, just not all at once. I usually treat them like other deciduous trees - when repotting, if any leaves are still hanging on, I remove them. They usually look like crap by then, and as you can see, the trees are already budding out strong. I get a clean look at the tree's structure and can make easier pruning choices based on the issues and location of new buds.

Thank you. A cork oak I had was evergreen and mostly did not shed. I left leaves for same reason tree was evergreen. Photosynthesis and appearance.

 

[jonathanvperth]

Great work! I have a few oaks, english and Portuguese Leaf size greatly reduces with defoliation. But in development you’re probably not too worried about that.

 

[BrianBay9]

Great work! I have a few oaks, english and Portuguese Leaf size greatly reduces with defoliation. But in development you’re probably not too worried about that.

These guys naturally have leaves much smaller than English oaks. If I keep after them I can push their leaves very small. Not exactly what I want right now, but I tried it on a couple to see what's possible.

 

[John P.]

@BrianBay9 How much root mass percentage would you say is safe to remove in a repot on a Coast Oak?

 

[BrianBay9]

The only tricky part seems to be when first moving from a nursery pot and cutting the major tap root. Some of my Q agrifolia sulked for some time after that, but they developed more feeder roots and now don't seem to mind repotting at all. Same for my Q suber (corkbark). But the Q lobata (valley oak) has been more sensitive to the process. I killed one and nearly lost another, and these were young trees. So I'd recommend some caution on the first go. Maybe cut back to some side roots first, then take the tap root off the second season. Once established in shallow pots they seem to take root pruning just fine. I've taken off 50% or more at that point to get into small pots.

 

[John P.]

Thanks for the advice. This will be the first root prune for them, as I got them as seedlings with acorns still attached. Now they’re 3-5’ tall and ready for some work.

 

[John P.]

I’m aiming for something resembling these guys:


When wiring the trunks last year I realized how quickly they can get wire bite. Fast growers here in their native land! I’ll definitely need to put a lot of metal on the trees to accomplish this look.

 

[BrianBay9]

I’m aiming for something resembling these guys:


When wiring the trunks last year I realized how quickly they can get wire bite. Fast growers here in their native land! I’ll definitely need to put a lot of metal on the trees to accomplish this look.

Where are you located?