The Mighty Oak

[VAFisher]

I was walking around in the woods behind the house on Sunday looking for a nice Virginia Pine to dig up and came across this oak. It has great bark, nice movement and some nice lateral roots (now buried) so I decided to dig it up. The tree was probably about 10 feet tall and I chopped it at about the 2.5' mark and went with the Zach Smith method of major root reduction. I really hope it survives the collection because I think it can be a nice tree in time. I knew it would need to be a large tree to deal with the leaf size issue. I'm not sure what kind of oak it is yet - hopefully I'll get a chance to find out.

 

[Waltron]

hmm you sure zach smith performs that method on oaks? the way I understand his method, is he basically cut backs all roots to only structural nubs, on hornbeam and elms and haws and other trees that can take it. Oak is from the beech family, and is very apprehensive about aggressive root work. its a nice trunk and I do like oaks, very curious to see how this goes for you. I think there's a fair chance it lives, id have it in some type of rehab environment though, like a greenhouse or poly tent, high humidity and wind protection..or maybe do the bag method and open it once a day till it pops buds.

also, oaks will bud from the chop.. seems a bit high, just a thought.

 

[VAFisher]

hmm you sure zach smith performs that method on oaks? the way I understand his method, is he basically cut backs all roots to only structural nubs, on hornbeam and elms and haws and other trees that can take it. Oak is from the beech family, and is very apprehensive about aggressive root work. its a nice trunk and I do like oaks, very curious to see how this goes for you. I think there's a fair chance it lives, id have it in some type of rehab environment though, like a greenhouse or poly tent, high humidity and wind protection..or maybe do the bag method and open it once a day till it pops buds.

also, oaks will bud from the chop.. seems a bit high, just a thought.

I repotted the water oak I purchased from him this year and it looked pretty much like what I did. I cut the tap root off and made a flat bottom, then cut the big, heavy roots and left as many smaller roots as I could. There were a fair amount of feeder roots coming from closer in on the trunk. We'll see if it works. Either way I'll have learned something I guess. I don't have a greenhouse available but I'll look into the bag method. Thanks for the tip.

I left it tall on purpose for 2 reasons. I tend to like taller, slender trees and I figured it needed to be a tall tree because of leaf size.

 

[Giga]

Nice tree there, hope it does well for you. This weekend I plan on either getting a massive oak or beech. Last collection of the season.

 

[Waltron]

right on, its a water oak then? or red oak? cool tree either way. I dug a red oak a few weeks ago, put it in the garden bed though.

 

[VAFisher]

right on, its a water oak then? or red oak? cool tree either way. I dug a red oak a few weeks ago, put it in the garden bed though.

This one? I'm not sure what kind of oak it is yet. It had one shriveled up leaf still attached that I couldn't id, and I'm not good enough to tell by the bark. The water oak I was speaking of is a tree I purchased from Zach last year and put into a bonsai pot this year. I was just comparing my root reduction on this tree to the root reduction he did on the water oak. Note, he thought this was a red oak when he collected it but it turned out to be a water oak. Here are pics of what he did:

https://bonsai-south.com/oaks-as-bonsai/

I have a thread on that tree here that I'll update when I have a chance to take some pics. It's leafing out now.

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/water-oak.24193/

 

[Waltron]

there are a few tid bits in Zach's article to reflect upon, he actually thought it was a water oak, and used water oak methods to collect, and then thought it was a red, but it turned out to be a water, although maybe he would have used the same techniques if it were a red, idk a few other comments: timing, soil, and aftercare will all be variants between his and your methods, I've never seen him leave one that tall, I see right where to chop it, where the old bark turns grey, chop in the middle of the straight section there. look very closely for little dormant buds in that area, it would still be overly tall for the standard base/height ratio. random idea.. maybe inoculate with some of your water oak soil if possible... also, look very closely for borer holes, and attacks once its warm. hard for me to say, ive never seen wild water oaks, but further up the tree looks grey somewhat similar to red oaks that I see. that crumpled up leaf could have shed a lot of light, I could easily tell the difference between a water oak and red oak leaf, even if it was shriveled and dry. either way, good tree, I think it will be fine.

 

[just.wing.it]

That's cool, nice movement.
I like tall trees too...but not always ....
But in this case, I'm with you.

 

[JudyB]

Hope it makes it! I would also go lower, just because there isn't much taper, and taller just sort of accentuates that for me. Good luck!

 

[VAFisher]

that crumpled up leaf could have shed a lot of light, I could easily tell the difference between a water oak and red oak leaf, even if it was shriveled and dry. either way, good tree, I think it will be fine.

I know for certain it's not water oak - their range doesn't extend this far north.

 

[VAFisher]

Well, the mighty oak did not bud out very mightily. But it's alive. I've got 2 shoots coming from the roots and nothing from the trunk. I guess I'll let it grow and see what I can make out of it.

 

[Waltron]

oh well. do I see something peeking out just above the base on the right? keep watering it, I had a beech, which is related to oak, not bud out until late July/august last year, and its doing great now.

I collected a red oak way early this year, it has not opened yet, but it has a growing red little bud at the tip of the chop. basically, you are probably right, but its surely too early to call it.

 

[VAFisher]

oh well. do I see something peeking out just above the base on the right? keep watering it, I had a beech, which is related to oak, not bud out until late July/august last year, and its doing great now.

I collected a red oak way early this year, it has not opened yet, but it has a growing red little bud at the tip of the chop. basically, you are probably right, but its surely too early to call it.

Yeah, I'll keep watering and keep hope alive. The shoot you see on the right is coming up from the roots too.

 

[petegreg]

Harry Harrington recommends submerging eu. oaks for few weeks after collecting. I've tried it with two collected this spring and they're fine, one collected dormant and one leafed. But not sure if it works for these.
http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATquercus rootpruning and repotting.htm

 

[Waltron]

im growing an oak seedling in a collander for shits.. I will say.. that root shoot of yours is growing quite well. wire it up or chop it later or something why not right?

 

[Waltron]

Harry Harrington recommends submerging eu. oaks for few weeks after collecting. I've tried it with two collected this spring and they're fine, one collected dormant and one leafed. But not sure if it works for these.
http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATquercus rootpruning and repotting.htm

ive read that article about 30 times over the years. maybe ill try it some day lol

 

[Velodog2]

Doh! The best laid plans ...

 

[Waltron]

have you tried the scratch test? see if you can find any live cambium somewhere on that trunk

 

[VAFisher]

im growing an oak seedling in a collander for shits.. I will say.. that root shoot of yours is growing quite well. wire it up or chop it later or something why not right?

This was mostly for shits too. Yeah, I'll see what I can make out of the root shoot and maybe a big ass deadwood trunk. You're right, why not.