New to bonsai. I think I have a problem...

[JPH]

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.

You're on! I'm going to try to get out there tomorrow since I have a box freed up. The smallest of my spruces didn't make it. All the needles went crispy and fell off! I think the cause was a poor root mass during collection. It was found growing completely in sand, and it only had a few tiny feeders. It was one of my only trees that had poor roots when I collected it. I think it dried out faster than it could move water and we had some nasty winds the last few days... I even built up a shelter for them with pallets.

The rest of my trees seem fine though *knocks on wood*, still flexible and green.

My larches are doing great. Here's a picture.

 

[berzerkules]

You're on! I'm going to try to get out there tomorrow since I have a box freed up. The smallest of my spruces didn't make it. All the needles went crispy and fell off! I think the cause was a poor root mass during collection. It was found growing completely in sand, and it only had a few tiny feeders. It was one of my only trees that had poor roots when I collected it. I think it dried out faster than it could move water and we had some nasty winds the last few days... I even built up a shelter for them with pallets.

The rest of my trees seem fine though *knocks on wood*, still flexible and green.

My larches are doing great. Here's a picture.
View attachment 440186

The larch looked like that here about 2 weeks ago. Didn't think there would be that much of a difference between zone 1 to zone 2.

I guess the climates are similar in the fact that its cold, but still drastically different. I'm farther north vut hundreds but of miles from the ocean and it's fairly dry here. You probably a get a lot more wind and moisture by the bay.

 

[JPH]

The larch looked like that here about 2 weeks ago. Didn't think there would be that much of a difference between zone 1 to zone 2. I guess the climates are similar in the fact that its cold, but still drastically different. I'm farther north vut hundreds but of miles from the ocean and it's fairly dry here. You probably a get a lot more wind and moisture by the bay.

You could be right about that. It's only about a 30 minute drive to the coast and the wind coming off the bay is cold even during summer months. We also live right on the south shore of La Grande Rivière. So the humidity is very high for sure. We've also had a cold, windy spring. Yesterday was probably the first "warm" day of the season.

 

[berzerkules]

One month update on that birch stump from post #48 .

A dozen+ sprouts popped off the trunk but they are lower than I wanted. That's to be expected with birch I guess. I'll take what I can get. I'm cautiously optimistic but I'll feel a lot better when I see some roots poking out of that basket.

 

[Gabler]

All you’ve done so far is to collect and chop, right? I’d cut off all the suckers and rub off any buds that are too low. If the tree doesn’t have the energy to push another flush of growth from higher up the trunk, you haven’t really wasted any work, and anyway, I’m not sure it’s worth keeping a tree that can’t be encouraged to produce buds in the right general area.

Maybe there’s a technique to encouraging birch trees to bud evenly, but I’m not aware of it. I’ve not heard good things about birch as bonsai material, so I haven’t bothered experimenting with it yet. I probably will someday, but I already have too many experiments running with trees “bad for bonsai,” so not right now.

 

[berzerkules]

All you’ve done so far is to collect and chop, right? I’d cut off all the suckers and rub off any buds that are too low. If the tree doesn’t have the energy to push another flush of growth from higher up the trunk, you haven’t really wasted any work, and anyway, I’m not sure it’s worth keeping a tree that can’t be encouraged Fto produce buds in the right general area.

Maybe there’s a technique to encouraging birch trees to bud evenly, but I’m not aware of it. I’ve not heard good things about birch as bonsai material, so I haven’t bothered experimenting with it yet. I probably will someday, but I already have too many experiments running with trees “bad for bonsai,” so not right now.

I'm in a work with what I got situation. With a 3-4 month growing season and winter temps of -45f my options of available species is limited. Right now I'm focusing on local native trees because I know they can survive and thrive here. The problem is most of the local native trees aren't known to make great bonsai. Larch is probably the only one that's not bad for bonsai. So far from an ideal location to grow bonsai.

The local nurseries sell trees but none of them specialize in trees so everything is severely neglected and has no character. I don't want to pay for bad grafts, bad roots and perfectly straight trees. Id rather collect interesting local trees.

I just do this because I enjoy it. I doubt I'll ever have a show worthy trees. Even if I did, there are no clubs here so I'd have no place to show them. There is a study group that meets 4 times a year about 350 miles south. I can't really justify a 6-8 hour drive one way and 2 days away from home for a couple hour discussion about little trees.

 

[berzerkules]

Seeds are weird, started a bunch of random maple and crab apple seeds but got nothing. Elm is a completely different situation. I stopped counting when I got close to 100.




I have no idea what I'm going to do with that many seedlings.

 

[berzerkules]

Looks like I got a tricot ot at least a 2.5cot out of those elm seeds.

 

[berzerkules]

Couldn't sleep. A late night bike ride turns into a little alder dig and prunus triloba cuttings.

 

[Cajunrider]

Couldn't sleep. A late night bike ride turns into a little alder dig and prunus triloba cuttings.
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Nice collection!
The only thing I envy you guys near the poles is the freaky long days y'all got in the summer. You can have the winter. It is too cold for this tropical boy.

 

[berzerkules]

Nice collection!
The only thing I envy you guys near the poles is the freaky long days y'all got in the summer. You can have the winter. It is too cold for this tropical boy.

The long summer days are great. I prefer to collect in the middle of the night and smaller birch and alder don't seem to care what time of year I dig them.

Looking at those massive bc stumps you get makes me want to leave the tundra for a swamp sometimes.