Projects from Leo's Backyard

[Wires_Guy_wires]

What an impressively messy compilation!

I've worked with a couple of the worlds finest geneticists. Half of my time was spent on figuring out and fixing databases. One third was spent on figuring out where the hell the samples were and how they were(n't) organized, the rest of the time I spent re-organising and doing actual work.
If I'm ever going back to uni, I'm going to make it my life's work to standardize databases in all bioscience.
It's ridiculous how much time is wasted on that stuff, because everyone starts from scratch and changes the entire layout and order halfway through building it.

Just for fun a couple conversations I had:

"Alphabetical, why not numerical? Just take the last number of every animal. No, wait, take the number of every farmer. No wait, it might be better to sort on date of birth. However.. We're not treating them as a population, so maybe it's better to sort on the last six digits of the animal. But they have to be anonimized, so maybe assign each one a unique number after you've sorted them on those six digits. When you're done, generate a unique barcode as well, but it has to be the same as the anonimized number. You know what? Since they all get an unique ID, you don't need to sort them at all."

"I see these samples are sorted alphabetically until 2006, then numerical in 2010, then re-sorted alphabetically in 2011, and after that someone must've done a shuffle a couple of times. Just add the new ones on the bottom and then sort them all again."

"Here's a box of shit/hair/fish/blood, we sorted them, but after an hour we thought it would be faster to not do that. Don't worry, each tube has a number written on it, sometimes upside down, and it's a non-frost-proof marker. The samples need to be kept frozen. The difference between 19 and 61 you ask? Well, look at the handwriting, I did 19 and he did 61. But I did both 66 and 99 so maybe have a look at how tired the writing looks, the worst one is probably 99. Keep in mind that the next batch starts with a zero, so the difference between 01 and 10, 09 and 60, an 08 and 80 might not be obvious, but from there on forward it should be a breeze."

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Ponderosa pine, picked up in 2016, from Andy Smith, Golden Arrow. It's probably around 75 years old, give or take.

When purchased, the 2 living branches were nearly horizontal. I am thinking eventually this will go into a crescent pot, but the roots might not allow that. I have not repotted this tree yet. It is due for a report.

I found if the pot is tilted so that one branch descends below horizontal, that branch weakens and starts dropping needles and small branches. Clearly this tree wants no part to cascade. Which rules out the most obvious style choices. I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Another strange Ponderosa, 2019 from Andy Smith. No clue to future plans.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Another strange Ponderosa, 2019 from Andy Smith. No clue to future plans.
View attachment 315234

Those two ponderosas are real “thinkers”... i’m looking forward to your “evolving design plans”

Eeesh.. I wish I knew more about pines.. all that I collected, except my son’s... perished in late spring..

At least now I know what NOT to do.... when I’m out there... huntin’ pinus.

 

[Colorado]

Have you tried wiring the tips up a bit on the cascading branch? To orient them more towards the sun?

I only have one ponderosa but I have not had that same branch problem.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

While the Ponderosa seems small, the branches are old and brittle. I have been leery of wiring, I'm certain that if I can do it with out cracking branches, that it would help. Just tilting the pot, so one side or the other was up, really made a noticable change in vigor.

An interesting problem. I hate wiring, it is my least favorite task. I just need to do it.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I hate wiring, it is my least favorite task.

I would not have guessed this of you, Leo. (Not judge-mental ) Out of “new guy” curiosity, any particular reason why?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I would not have guessed this of you, Leo. (Not judge-mental ) Out of “new guy” curiosity, any particular reason why?

I'm not particularly good at wiring. I resisted learning to use copper wire until late in the game. Now I prefer copper except for azalea, where I prefer aluminum. If my Cu wire is not perfectly annealed, I tend to year off branches. I'm always cutting too short or too long a piece of wire, leading to waste. I also have trouble getting my wraps at a uniform angle, It seems i never get the wire on the outside of bends, leading to breaking branches. I'm just never happy withy own wiring. It's an exercise in frustration for me.

But I do it when I have to. I don't try to Rub Goldberg a bunch of guide wires the way some do.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I don't try to Rub Goldberg a bunch of guide wires the way some do.

HAHAHA!! I like this!

And understand. (Your overall reasoning)

 

[Dav4]

While the Ponderosa seems small, the branches are old and brittle. I have been leery of wiring, I'm certain that if I can do it with out cracking branches, that it would help. Just tilting the pot, so one side or the other was up, really made a noticable change in vigor.

An interesting problem. I hate wiring, it is my least favorite task. I just need to do it.

I've found Ponderosa to be very easy to wire and bend, even the older branching, though you do have to be cautious to not knock off the old bark and you might need some rafia or similar support for more extreme bends on the decades old branches. I'd get some heavy copper wire on the first one and pull the upper trunk down and to the right and over the base of of the tree, and maybe a bit further, to really define the movement and compress the canopy, and just get more wiggle in all the branching.... given your cold winter, I'm thinking spring would be better then fall to do this, but just guessing. I wonder what Larry Jackel does when bending his Ponderosas.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Thank you Dave, @Dav4
I need to get some raffia or similar binding wrap.

My reluctance is more because I do knock off bark and other clumsy moves. I'm not as dextrous as I want to be.

That first one, with one high branch, was flat horizontal when I first got it. So I have bent it about halfway to where you are suggesting. It is time to get it the rest of the way there.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Did weeding today. This Anderson flat, inside dimensions 16 x 16 x 5 inches. I often mix seed when I am planting out seed. This flat ended up being Ostrya virginiana, hop flowered hornbeam and Pinus bungeana, lacebark pine. The flat was planted in late summer 2014, a wire mesh was tied down on the flat to keep the damn squirrels out, they love pine seed.

The lacebark pines sprouted in 2015, the Ostrya did not sprout until 2016, as they require both a warm dormancy followed by a cold dormancy in order to sprout. So the Hop-Hornbeams are in their 4th summer and the lacebark pines are in their 5th summer.

I initially had quite a few more lacebark pines, but each year I pull a few out of the flat and pot them individually, because weeds and the hop-hornbeams shade them and slow their growth. I think lacebark will eventually make decent bonsai. I really should get them in larger individual pots to size up. You need a stretch of trunk to show off their best trait, their exfoliating bark. Its a long term project, no rush.

The ostrya are also ready to be separated.

Both are nice species to work with as they have been perfectly hardy in my zone 5b winters, with the flat set on the ground, in the sun, fully exposed for winter. Granted they are seedlings, I'll be more cautious with the same species in advanced stages. But hardy bonsai are "good".

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Ostrya virginiana - cut back, in part to force back budding, and mainly to allow sun to the Pinus bungeana seedlings in the flat. Weeding done

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I have several "year classes" of American persimmon started from seed. The oldest tree I started back in 2002, the lone survivor of 2002 was planted in the ground and now is over 25 feet tall, female and bears pretty heavy every year, at my sister's house, some 410 miles from my home. Oh well. She enjoys it.

This Anderson flat is seed stratified winter of 2017-2018, germinated in 2018. It spent winter 2019-2020 on the ground, exposed, out in the sun. fully exposed to wind, cold and winter. I love fully winter hardy species. No kaki or princess persimmon could survive that way. Just did weeding. I believe as bonsai, they will eventually make decent medium size bonsai. Fruit is golf ball size, maybe a touch larger, so the tree needs to be big enough that branches won't break. So probably best at closer to 3 feet tall than shohin at 8 inches. Leaves will reduce moderately well. The ideal display time is without leaves but with ripe fruit hanging. So leaf size is not that important.
before


after

 

[HorseloverFat]

I have several "year classes" of American persimmon started from seed. The oldest tree I started back in 2002, the lone survivor of 2002 was planted in the ground and now is over 25 feet tall, female and bears pretty heavy every year, at my sister's house, some 410 miles from my home. Oh well. She enjoys it.

This Anderson flat is seed stratified winter of 2017-2018, germinated in 2018. It spent winter 2019-2020 on the ground, exposed, out in the sun. fully exposed to wind, cold and winter. I love fully winter hardy species. No kaki or princess persimmon could survive that way. Just did weeding. I believe as bonsai, they will eventually make decent medium size bonsai. Fruit is golf ball size, maybe a touch larger, so the tree needs to be big enough that branches won't break. So probably best at closer to 3 feet tall than shohin at 8 inches. Leaves will reduce moderately well. The ideal display time is without leaves but with ripe fruit hanging. So leaf size is not that important.
before
View attachment 317353

after
View attachment 317354

View attachment 317355

So cool! I love persimmon! Looking good!

(I typed “Looking Goof!” first, there bud. Take it easy, boys.)

Hehe.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

So my friend Cathy came over to the farm today, and helped me measure the circumference of the red oak tree. We got 220 inches, roughly 5 feet, 10 inches diameter. That is one big oak. I'll try to estimate height later. I need to find a protractor. Diameter at Breast Height, dbh, is 70 inches. This is significantly more than the 52 for the Kane County IL champion. So we do have a champion on the farm. I'll have to check more records and get a good height estimate.

According to one website, their formula for red oak suggested the tree might be 470 years old. A different website suggested a different formula, and that it was "only" 290 years old. Of course the only accurate measure would be to cut the tree down and counting the rings. The midpoint between the 2 formulas is 380 years. I'll go with that guess until I find a better way to estimate the age of the tree.

 

[John P.]

Now that’s a tree!

 

[PieterVE]

You should contact https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/
and have it recorded

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Did more weeding. This flat is American persimmon stratified 2016-2017, sprouted 2017 growing season. One year older than the previous persimmon flat. The reason for fewer trees is that we had a colder winter, separating the weak from the hardy. Both flats started with 25 seeds.
Before


After

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Pinus lambertiana - the Sugar Pine - I had read that the needles of this pine from the 5 needle pine group has shorter needles than any of the other North American white pines. Needle length is only a little longer than Japanese white pine, at least according to various Tree websites, and there was not much on bonsai websites. So I picked up seed, and threw it in the refrigerator, and forgot about it.

I did not get around to planting this seed until July 15, 2020, give or take a day. That is late in the year, but I figure I'll protect these seedlings in the well house for the first winter. Sugar pine should be pretty hardy, as it comes from fairly high elevation. Time will tell.

I have squirrels, a plague of squirrels, so the wire mesh is absolutely necessary to avoid giving the squirrels an expensive "pine nut" buffett.

And as long as I was going through the trouble of securing an Anderson flat, I also added Chinquapin nuts. Castanea pumila var pumila. I often mix seed of dissimilar foliage in the same tray, simply as a way to maximize use of space, as in the above mix of Ostrya and Pinus bungeana. Usually works out. Sometimes one grows much faster than the other. Then you have to either prune or transplant to avoid crowding issues. The Castanea seed is mostly failing, so you only see one or two leaves peaking up. But if they make it, they will be a curiosity.



Like all seedling projects, it will be years, or decades before there will be a show worthy tree. But I enjoy this phase of propagation, so I enjoy doing seed cultivation.