Nursery english oak - how to do it

[barrosinc]

I have wanted a nice oak but those don't exist as yamadori here.
I had one seedling for 2 years and decided to ut it in the ground and the gardners thought it should be pulled...

Oh well...

So I am starting to look at nurseries that have these and found some in large pots. Not too much movement, but still decent.
Can I chop these to no buds? Or should I leave the lowest bud? (I did this with a beech and didnt get any backbudding).
Can I chop and repot in the same season? (Or should repot and not chop or chop and not repot)
Can I chop now to no buds (end of spring) and repot next winter?

Thanks

I read this thread and says that these don't like roots being messed with.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/yamadori-oak-trunk-chop-question.28576/page-2

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I can only tell what I have done on young(!) oaks:
- chopped to 2 buds in summer. Doing it again in spring this year.
- repotted once a year in spring, no root cutting except for the taproot.
- Max 1 repot per year, then no work for that entire season.

As far as I know, wild oaks almost never stop growing when they're chopped and in good health. It could take a year of dormancy, but they'll push out either a truckload of suckers, or new branches somewhere higher up. You wouldn't want the suckers because they suck. So I guess working it back slowly is the way to go. Do seal the wounds! I have lost a few foot of trunks due to dessication.

There is this guy in the UK who does his repotting/collecting in full leaf. I tried his method with a 100% death rate so I keep to spring.

 

[barrosinc]

Thanks. I would probably chop and leave in original soil.
Next year bare root repot.

There is this guy in the UK who does his repotting/collecting in full leaf. I tried his method with a 100% death rate so I keep to spring.

Sounds like a good warning. Winters are mild here in a 9b zone. Sip begining off spring should be his.

Thanks, wires.

 

[BobbyLane]

Thanks. I would probably chop and leave in original soil.
Next year bare root repot.


Sounds like a good warning. Winters are mild here in a 9b zone. Sip begining off spring should be his.

Thanks, wires.

theyre a little different to beech.they can be left with no buds on branches or trunk and back bud from old wood, if healthy. they build up mycorrhizal fungi in the roots so i wouldnt bare root.you will never know if a tree can be re potted and chopped at the same time unless you do it yourself?

by now you should know whats a safe amount of root to remove from a nursey tree for it to not bat an eyelid after a chop.

 

[BobbyLane]

so regarding nursery trees that have been in their containers for a long time and well established, pot full of roots. whats a safe amount of root to leave on if it was chopped around the same time. bearing in mind you want to power new growth and build a new tree in the quickest time....

about this much maybe
2018-02-15_08-22-53 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

well on its way after only one season
IMG_7081 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

maybe a bit less
20180321_175048 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

could show you many examples

theres a bit of an obsession with getting trees into bonsai soil as quick as possible, in most cases folks want to re pot because 'its not draining' 'its pot bound' its in 'nursery soil' more often than not, the tree was doing much better before it was bare rooted and had all its roots cut off and transferred into bonsai soil. for a smooth transition and maximum growth i recommend simply scraping away the top soil to uncover nebari, find front, cut some root away from edges and base, just slice it like a cake and transfer into a decent size training pot and then next year reduce a little more, until there is not much old soil left.

 

[just.wing.it]

theres a bit of an obsession with getting trees into bonsai soil as quick as possible, in most cases folks want to re pot because 'its not draining' 'its pot bound' its in 'nursery soil' more often than not, the tree was doing much better before it was bare rooted and had all its roots cut off and transferred into bonsai soil. for a smooth transition and maximum growth i recommend simply scraping away the top soil to uncover nebari, find front, cut some root away from edges and base, just slice it like a cake and transfer into a decent size training pot and then next year reduce a little more, until there is not much old soil left.

This is true and good advice.
I'm one of the obsessed ones....

 

[barrosinc]

So I am back to hearing as much info about these as possible. It is almost winter here and time to search nurseries.

Any more tips?

 

[Shibui]

When pruning to reduce length prune the entire tree. Whenever I have shortened lower branches they failed to bud if upper branches were left. Hard pruning is OK if the entire tree is pruned. Oaks seem to resent drastic root reduction so I think Bobby Lane is on the right track with only partial root reduction at any time.

 

[Forrestford]

I bought this oak on sale at homedepot in the beginning of May. it was 12 ft high and I chopped it to a few inches has a really Really nice buttress and it just sprouted new growth this week maybe 20 days after the chop. Still not sure it will make it I did A LOT of root work. But 14$ so w.e?‍