White Cedar, should I collect?

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I have been looking at this White Cedar and wondering about collecting next spring. Thoughts? It looks like a good one with some natural deadwood but its growing on a hill side with a weird angle.
 

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sorce

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Looks pretty nice.
But possibly really far extending roots?

Have you found the ends of it?

Sorce
 
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Yeah some of the roots are far extending, I cut them back to try and get some roots closer. I'm going to have to give it another look though and make sure. I haven't killed a cedar yet after collecting, they seem to fill any pot with roots nice and quick
 

Cypress187

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I can barely see it, so much braches and foliage in the way, but if you like it you should most definitely collect it :)
 
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I went back to visit this one today and check on the root situation, I had cut a few of the extending roots last year and it seems to have alot of good feeder roots up close to the trunk. It is showing its winter color right now but looks less yellow in person. At this moment I am thinking semi - cascade but I will look at it for a year or two and decide. Looking forward to 2017 or 18 :).
 

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coh

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Nice tree, and looks very healthy. Of the options you presented, I prefer the last (tallest) one.

These things do produce tons of roots, I've got one that is pushing itself up out of the pot and will need to be repotted in the spring.

Chris
 

fourteener

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Great material. Keep plucking the foliage and shallow pots work well. These trees like there roots pretty moist. The can fill up a pot with roots pretty quick!! It will be fun to see if there are more live and dead veins in the future!!
 
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thanks, in person the detail of the trunk is pretty interesting. I am leaning toward the second virt and for now I think I will keep a short version of the long spire jin out the top.
 
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Was it a tough dig, to collect?
We are blessed with sand around here. Just some cutting around with a hand saw for the larger trailing roots and a couple gentle pries and it was out (I did cut that long trailing root in 2015 to encourage roots by the trunk and then collected in spring 16'). The area that I found it in was a really steep and high bank off of Lake Michigan. I've read that really steep banks have some of the oldest trees in the world because those places are not forested. A lot of the other trees are damaged in this area because of parts of the sand cliffs breaking off. It's one of my landscape clients properties. I am excited to do some more hiking around there next spring.

For anyone interested in old White Cedars or just old trees in general I really liked this book: The Last Stand ... its about Ancient WC along the Niagra Escarpment. https://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-Journey-Cliff-Face-Escarpment/dp/1897045190

This book might make you second guess collecting a tree. Certainly not all gnarly old trees should be collected.
 

Waltron

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IMG_5832.JPG IMG_5911.JPG Good ol Lake Michigan. truly a wonder of the world. a few photos I took while walking the endless miles of shoreline this summer. I wont be collecting these but it was a good sign for me, as I knew that terrain is a yamadori producer. I have friends that own a huge portion of of dune and private beech near where these photos were taken. I'm intrigued by ground juniper as well. good tip on that book. thanks
 

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Awesome Waltron, that looks alot like shoreline around here. The hard part are finding the spots where you have permission but it sounds like you might have a good connection there. When I search for WC I always look for dead tops with green near the base. Alot of the naturally dead topped trees have deadwood that extends all the way to the base (that is how I found this tree).
 

Waltron

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I think this tree has world class bonsai potential. Only one year after collection and it is already a stunning image. do an image search on google of white cedar bonsai and it bests most of them, including this one, which is on the cover of Lenz's book.
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nickcovertree.jpg
 
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