Question about defoliating and repotting an oak

bonsai barry

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I hope to repot this oak tomorrow. In earlier posts a few experienced members talked about defoliating their oak tree before repotting. Is it a good idea to defoliate an evergreen oak when repotting?
 

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PaulH

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Nice tree. Do you know the species? Looks to me like a virginiana. If so I don't have experience. If its a coast live oak then I would defoliate if you are going to do a lot of root work. If not I would only partially defoliate removing just the larger and older leaves. This is what I do with my cork oaks.
 

Poink88

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Agreed, nice tree indeed.

My live oaks just dropped their leaves and got replaced with new ones the past couple of weeks. If it is a live oak (or similar), I bet you can partially defoliate it safely as Paul suggested.

BTW, I bought a live oak last week...chopped it to a stump and did the same with the roots. From 8 feet nursery tree down to less than 12" (including pot). We will see if it survives. :D I did the same on another but smaller one last year...it is doing okay now.
 
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i believe the idea here is to balance the roots and the top - is that what we're suggesting here guys?
 

Poink88

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Poink88

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Just checked the pics...the other one was chopped 2 years ago (not last year). From 4 feet down to 6" (from top of soil) w/o any leaves left (same as the one done recently).

When I got it (5/19) and after a bit less than 2 months (7/17).

See the rootball loose in the pot? It was rolling w/o the pot (and losing soil) at the back of my in-laws pick-up while traveling 300 miles to me. I also did not know they had it until the following day. Pic was taken while I am re-hydrating it and being soaked. They are tough. ;)
 

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