WEI
Sapling
I was fortunate enough to nab some great stock from the cedar rose stewartia class of '24. will be posting updates as I go since relatively few of these are documented on this forum, compared to other more popular deciduous species.
fresh out of the box (packed very well, only a few tiny twigs snapped during shipping)
preparing the pot: deep chinese production with a mound of aoki blend (80% akadama, 18% kiryu pumice, and 2% fuji suna lava)
after combing out the outer roots, I left a bit of perlite-heavy (?) soil near the center. chalk it up to inexperience but I was too timid to completely bare-root given all the advice not to bare-root some deciduous species, and into the pot it went. while choosing the front, I thought the first image had balanced side branching, but the trunkline felt a little static. so I opted for a more graceful leaning front. this will be subject to change and am open on suggestions here
nothing like some sweet iced tea on a rainy repotting night after work. here it is balancing precariously for a glamour photo:
and that's it for now. the tree will sit on a shaded southern-facing balcony before transitioning to full virginia sun, and will receive some biogold fertilizer in a few weeks or so. I'm leaning toward just leaving it alone to grow this season, though I'm itching to wire/do some minor pruning (yes/no?). the eventual goal is a show-worthy tree. it'll be another 3-4 years minimum to develop this into a minimal viable product on those lines. I'd like any and all advice from folks familiar with this species - is this a sound plan? any errant steps made already?
fresh out of the box (packed very well, only a few tiny twigs snapped during shipping)
preparing the pot: deep chinese production with a mound of aoki blend (80% akadama, 18% kiryu pumice, and 2% fuji suna lava)
after combing out the outer roots, I left a bit of perlite-heavy (?) soil near the center. chalk it up to inexperience but I was too timid to completely bare-root given all the advice not to bare-root some deciduous species, and into the pot it went. while choosing the front, I thought the first image had balanced side branching, but the trunkline felt a little static. so I opted for a more graceful leaning front. this will be subject to change and am open on suggestions here
nothing like some sweet iced tea on a rainy repotting night after work. here it is balancing precariously for a glamour photo:
and that's it for now. the tree will sit on a shaded southern-facing balcony before transitioning to full virginia sun, and will receive some biogold fertilizer in a few weeks or so. I'm leaning toward just leaving it alone to grow this season, though I'm itching to wire/do some minor pruning (yes/no?). the eventual goal is a show-worthy tree. it'll be another 3-4 years minimum to develop this into a minimal viable product on those lines. I'd like any and all advice from folks familiar with this species - is this a sound plan? any errant steps made already?
