Oak tree seedling

[bonsai-novice]

Hello,

I have just remembered that I have an English Oak seedling that is in its second year of growth I think?

I know it is a bit small to do anything with yet, but it seems stupidly tall and leggy.

Does anyone have any advice about whether I should start doing anything to it yet, or whether I should just leave it for a few more years?

All help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[B.uneasy]

You can start wiring the seedling now to add some shape and character to it when it is still young and flexible. In the progression of this tree, it will get chopped so don't worry about shaping the upper part of the tree and wasting any of your time. They are slow growers, so if possible I would chop the tap root and plant inside the ground for several years to thicken.

 

[bonsai-novice]

Thanks for the advice, it is greatly appreciated. I am completely lost when it comes to dealing with seedlings. I only seem to be able to grow them into full sized trees.

 

[BrianBay9]

Your general approach should be to grow out until you get the trunk girth you're looking for (faster if planted in the ground), then cut back and work on branching. It's going to be very slow going with most oak seedlings. I hope you're young!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

English oaks can go tall and skinny faster than they go fat.
I cut mine back to size every fall.
This helps in keeping the lower buds active. Even though they can bud from anywhere, I prefer everything to develop more or less equally and proportionate.

I'm not a big fan of trunk chopped oaks. That's a personal preference.

Dealing with the tap root is a good first step. It might not want to live afterwards, so getting that out of the way will tell you what your options are.

 

[eryk2kartman]

I have several English Oaks seedling 1 year old, its their 2nd growing season, i chopped tap root on all of them when i was repotting from they seed tray, they all leafed out and doing well, i keep them in the greenhouse for the moment...
Best of luck with yours.

 

[bonsai-novice]

Thanks for all the helpful tips.

Is it too late to cut the Tap root, or would it be best to leave it until winter now?

 

[eryk2kartman]

If thats the current photo you showed, its to late, you want to do it in early spring when buds swallow before it leaf out.

 

[sorce]

Lotta folks are saying summer is better for oaks root work.

Welcome to Crazy!

I'd cut it back to that first branch just cuz it seems to be asking for it.

Sorce

 

[bluesky]

Personally I would wait til winter to de-taproot. It's still pretty young to risk a mid summer job imho. Wire it now if you want to add some movement but be prepared to remove and rewire at least twice this year to avoid wire bite.

 

[Housguy]

Definitely get a wire on it and get some shape for the lower part of the tree before it gets to strong to put a bend in it. I work with a lot of oaks (cork and coast live oaks), don't know if yours would react differently than mine, but I wire them young to get shape and top them when they get to lanky or when it is needed and they bud back nice. Good luck, luv the oaks!

 

[bonsai-novice]

Thanks for the tips. I have attempted to wire it, though probably rather inexpertly. not 100% sure about the shape yet, so will play around with it a bit. I've just put a curve in it, so it is sort of circling around and up. If anyone else has any other shaping suggestions I'd very much appreciate hearing them.

 

[B.uneasy]

Lets see your wire job buddy!

 

[bonsai-novice]

Here is what I have done, though wondering whether it would be better to cut it back to the first small branch, to try and make a more natural curve?

 

[Housguy]

Not bad, if you can get the bend lower in the trunk before it gets to strong to bend, go for it, if not, you have a nice start.

 

[ragenmoan]

Cant see detail in your photos, but, if there are buds above the first branch (and below the new green growth), i'd cut it at that junction to force more branches lower on the plant. it all depends on how tall you want this tree. If you vision an even shorter tree, I'd cut it just above the first branch...

 

[ragenmoan]

Here's some of my "corkeys" (cork bark oak). It is a smaller leaf variety very popular here in California. Your English Oak have much larger leaves so scale your tree accordingly.

 

[bonsai-novice]

I don't suppose I could have some help with this oak seedling?

I haven't looked at it since I put it out of the way for the winter.

You can see that since 22nd April 2020, it has put out quite a few new shoots.

Here is what I have done, though wondering whether it would be better to cut it back to the first small branch, to try and make a more natural curve?

I am now thinking may be it would be nice to cut it down to either the first or second branch (blue/orange), but I dont know if now would be a good time to do this. That is probably only about 10cm high, but it has some nice shame (or I think anyway). Does anyone know if that is too short for all the different proportions to be right?

I also thought I would look a little under the soil so I cleared it a bit. You can sort of see a rather thick root which I have tried to mark out in blue to make it clearer.

Is it best to chop this off, or would there be a way to try and incorporate some of it into the design of the tree?

It has been in this pot for less than a year, so would it be a good idea to remove that root now, before it gets any bigger, or would it be better to let it become a little more established?

 

[bluesky]

If it were mine I would leave the top to grow for another year and put some more girth and strength in the trunk. Leave the side branches to grow too, they may help with taper somewhat.

But that fat root... I think you need to sort it out, otherwise it will just get bigger and will prevent a nice radial roots at the base of your tree. Do it when the buds start swelling ready to pop in spring, so all the sap has moved back up the stem. First check that there are plenty of fine feeder roots under the main trunk base, so it can survive losing that fat root. I mean to say don't prune off that fat root if it's the only root!!
(If there are very few other roots then you might need to prune the big root in two stages this spring and 2022 spring. )

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Is it best to chop this off, or would there be a way to try and incorporate some of it into the design of the tree?

Hijacking a thread isn't good practice ;-)
Girdle the taproot so that it produces new roots above the girdle. I'm using zip ties for that.
Or dig it up come spring and see how you can turn this root into a twisty trunk. Oaks can bud from almost everywhere if given the chance and time. Either way, it's going to have to come out of the ground.