JPH
Mame
Love the fireweed! Tons of it here too! No mountains though. I've never seen a mountain in person. Must be a sight to behold.
New to bonsai. I think I have a problem...
- Thread starter berzerkules
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berzerkules
Shohin
Oh wow! Moving to Nome as your first place in Alaska. That had to be a shock. I have a good friend that did the same thing. He moved from Georgia to Nome. I'm living in Fairbanks. You're right, I can go down the street and collect trees. On more than one occasion I've collected trees off the side of the road while biking. I'm sure people look at me funny when I have a tree strapped to my backpack while biking through town, but no one has ever said anything. I keep a basic kit for collecting in my backpack most of the time just in case I see something.I bet you can take a hike, heck even walk down the street and collect like 100 treesThat would be super hard for me to have restraint too. When I first moved there I lived beside the Bering Sea in Nome. It was during the month of November and it was so cold it hurt my face to be outside lol Then I moved inland to Wasilla. I did travel around a bit on weekends for work to Valdese, Bethel, Homer and Talkeetna. Whereabouts are you? Oh yeah I forgot the leaves/snow pack being awesome insulation. And you can tell in the one picture it was Midsummer from the Fireweed
Trees for days….
JPH
Mame
This resonates with me a lot... and is actually part of the reason why I love living here. Everyone in the community harvests things from the bush as part of everyday life. Wild meat, berries, fish, wood etc... They see me strolling down the trail with a tree on my back and no one cares. People plant spruce and larch saplings that they gather in their yards all the time. Same with raspberries and other things. People from all over town cut their own Christmas trees every year, and slash trees and bushes to blaze new four-wheeler trails.
The freedom has really grown on me despite the lack of a lot of conveniences you find in cities. I don't think I could live in a city at this point. They sort of freak me out.
berzerkules
Shohin
I lived out of town in dry cabins for years and only moved to town a couple years ago. The kids wanted running water, can't blame them. It's weird though, I'm still not used to seeing my neighbors. It's more convenient I guess. I don't have to haul water, deal with firewood or a 40-50 below outhouse but I still miss it.This resonates with me a lot... and is actually part of the reason why I love living here. Everyone in the community harvests things from the bush as part of everyday life. Wild meat, berries, fish, wood etc... They see me strolling down the trail with a tree on my back and no one cares. People plant spruce and larch saplings that they gather in their yards all the time. Same with raspberries and other things. People from all over town cut their own Christmas trees every year, and slash trees and bushes to blaze new four-wheeler trails.
The freedom has really grown on me despite the lack of a lot of conveniences you find in cities. I don't think I could live in a city at this point. They sort of freak me out.
JPH
Mame
Can't say I've gone THAT deep into the bush life yet. We're lucky enough to have plumbing!
Orion_metalhead
Masterpiece
I get these around Christmas time too!
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
berzerkules
Shohin
Finally got out to dig my first tree of the year this morning, found this copper red birch and I had to dig it. Pretty easy dig, shallow layer of sphagnum moss and random organic debris above a layer of sand. Roots weren't deep, tree already had a wiggle to it before I started digging.
You can see that first 4 inches up the trunk where it was buried in sphagnum, looks like it's set up to pop a bunch of roots. Would be nice to get roots in that area so I could eventually flat cut below that. Knock on wood. There are also at least half a dozen swollen dormant buds and 3-4 sites of branches that got dropped in favor of high up branches. Hoping those pop and it doesn't just send shoots from the base like birch likes to do. Knock on wood again.
It's about 2 feet tall, pretty sure I'll end up taking another 4-6 inches off the top depending on where I get buds.
I'm feeling fairly confident about this one, but not enough to start a new thread so I'm dumping it here.
You can see that first 4 inches up the trunk where it was buried in sphagnum, looks like it's set up to pop a bunch of roots. Would be nice to get roots in that area so I could eventually flat cut below that. Knock on wood. There are also at least half a dozen swollen dormant buds and 3-4 sites of branches that got dropped in favor of high up branches. Hoping those pop and it doesn't just send shoots from the base like birch likes to do. Knock on wood again.
It's about 2 feet tall, pretty sure I'll end up taking another 4-6 inches off the top depending on where I get buds.
I'm feeling fairly confident about this one, but not enough to start a new thread so I'm dumping it here.
Gabler
Masterpiece
Looks like a nice find. I’d keep the current root flare, but bury it deep to ensure the roots recover. Any roots that grow higher up the trunk can be removed. You can flatten the base without removing too much root mass.
JPH
Mame
That has potential to be something special!
Sounds just like where I do most of my collecting. Isn't it satisfying when the tree just pops out? I dug a little tamarack a few days ago. Same thing! Organic matter on top of compacted sand.
Sounds just like where I do most of my collecting. Isn't it satisfying when the tree just pops out? I dug a little tamarack a few days ago. Same thing! Organic matter on top of compacted sand.
That’s because you’re in Alaska and having trees strapped to your backpack is probably not the oddest thing to see
And yes Nome as a first landing spot was very interesting to say the least. -25°F was brutal! I wish I would’ve been there through February to see the Iron Dog race, I have a friend who does that race every year.
berzerkules
Shohin
Its so nice finding spots like that. Today the wife, kids and I went on a walk by a lake and of course I have a little shovel, pruning shears and a folding saw in my backpack. Scooped this alder up in less than 10 minutes. Same thing, radial roots in the top 3-4 inches above a layer of sand. Easy digging.
JPH
Mame
She's a beaut'! I'm loving those Alders! I haven't been able to find one suitable yet. All the ones I've seen so far grow in a bushy form with shoots stemming from a central "ball" of wood. I'm keeping my eyes peeled though! Can't wait to see them in a few years!
berzerkules
Shohin
The older alders here seem to grow into uninteresting, uncollectable clumps. I've collected quite a few young little ones. There seems to be an age range where they aren't whips anymore and they aren't an unmanageable mess yet. They like water and I find a lot of alders around rivers, lakes and swampy bogs so I just wander thosee areas a lot looking at a lot of trees and collecting very few.
JPH
Mame
Advice to live by, friend. It's tempting to want to collect everything. Showing restraint is admirable. We have to be mindful of the environment we're taking from, as well as the effort/payoff of the process of collecting. It takes just as much work to extract and care for an "uninteresting" tree as it does an "interesting" one. So we might as well be as sure as possible that it's worth it.
berzerkules
Shohin
20 mile bike ride for 2 trees. Was a good day.
Little bushy roadside larch up front and another ditch dug alder in the back.
Quick photo op at the local hs. Don't worry, I wasn't digging trees at the hs, just needed a drink of water.
Larch after round 2 of hacking off about half of the foliage, might go back for round 3. This thing was a mess.
I like these alders, they just take a beating. I cut this one back some more after I potted it up. Kind of a bad angle but it's the only pic I took. Going to have to do for now.
Little bushy roadside larch up front and another ditch dug alder in the back.
Quick photo op at the local hs. Don't worry, I wasn't digging trees at the hs, just needed a drink of water.
Larch after round 2 of hacking off about half of the foliage, might go back for round 3. This thing was a mess.
I like these alders, they just take a beating. I cut this one back some more after I potted it up. Kind of a bad angle but it's the only pic I took. Going to have to do for now.
Cajunrider
Imperial Masterpiece
Gorgeous tree.
berzerkules
Shohin
A little walk rewarded me with some little larch trees. I went out with no intention to collect but I didn't expect to see any larch.
JPH
Mame
Loving those larches!
I have my eye on two near my place. Might go tomorrow if I have time. I was able to collect a tree today finally, another Picea.
Still no luck with nice alders yet! Hoping my luck changes!
I have my eye on two near my place. Might go tomorrow if I have time. I was able to collect a tree today finally, another Picea.
Still no luck with nice alders yet! Hoping my luck changes!
berzerkules
Shohin
I don't see many interesting larches around here. Most older ones are tall Christmas trees and the rest are smaller versions of that. I was pretty excited to find little healthy seedlings on my walk today. I'll have the chance to shape them from the start.
Alder on the other hand is everywhere. I found one I liked last week that I pruned back pretty hard and dug a circle around. I might grab it come fall or wait until next year. The urge to dig is strong though.
I look forward to seeing the larch you pull. It's cool seeing the pics you post, it looks a lot like home. Good to see others playing with trees in extreme climates.
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