AusBonsai

Went on a combined club dig on Sat. I got a couple of Oaks and some corky bark elms I don't have photos yet but will as soon as I can. What I want to know is.
1. do I put them in shade, part shade or full now?
2.Should I prune the trunks back on the Oaks at all?
3. One of the elms is starting to bark up, it's about 2 1/2cm thick at the base. It has a couple of good curves near the base then is straight for a couple of feet. Do they back bud on old wood. Should I cut it back now or let it recover and reduce slowly?
4. One of the oaks is a clump and the other is a multi trunk but very low growing. Thick bases. When I collected them I managed to get a reasonable clump of dirt with them. Should I remove the dirt and pot up into good potting mix, or should I plant it as is and clean it up once they grown and recover. They are in seasol at the moment.
5. Any other tips

These are great trees with great potential so really want them to survive so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've never had oaks or carky barks before.

Josh
PS I will try and get photos tomorrow night

Hi, cut your trunks back now as they will try and shoot from the top. I have found that if you don't cut them now, you will wish you had in 1-2 or 3 seasons time. leave the original soil on them now and bareroot & repot in 12 months time. miyagiman.

Thanks miyagiman, I have photos now so hopefully that will help. How far do I cut them back. Do I trunk chop the corky bark back to just above the lower bends or is that to much?? Thanks for any help. Ok so now I have photos up anyone want give ideas how far back would you cut them. I have never grown oaks or elms so really have no idea

Josh
Ps can the mods change the title to include photos now, thanks.

Hey Josh it was good fun Saturday! I've got the blisters and blackberry cuts to prove it!

How long are you going to let them soak in Seasol for? I was thinking a couple of days for mine, but then I read someone on here someone soaked for a week with good results What do other people think

Also, the Corky Barks are Oaks, and the MASSIVE root cuttings you got I think are Ash. All the others we got were English Oaks.

look at each tree / Trunk as is there Any movement, taper, Features you can utilise in the final design? If so cut a few inches above that so you allow for die back or recutting / cleanup.

if nothing outstanding. maybe cut about 4 -6 times longer than the girth of the tree. ie if 1" diameter, cut to 6 inch long. This allows for die back and cleaning up your cut later, and hope you get shoots that you can use to regrow the tree.
once you have new shoots and a plan. you can cut back further to your new leader.

Pot up in Fresh Mix ( some bare root now) and then allow to recover. Even thosu still winter, i will use Seasol 2 times a week until well recovered in Mid - late spring.

Ken

cre8ivbonsai wrote:Hey Josh it was good fun Saturday! I've got the blisters and blackberry cuts to prove it!

How long are you going to let them soak in Seasol for? I was thinking a couple of days for mine, but then I read someone on here someone soaked for a week with good results What do other people think

Also, the Corky Barks are Oaks, and the MASSIVE root cuttings you got I think are Ash. All the others we got were English Oaks.

Yeah it was a great day collecting, thanks for helping organise it and thanks for helping with the digging. You might have blisters and cuts but I have the photo I really felt it the following day.
So I potted up the triple trunk tree, the last we collected. Really excited about this tree. I will pot the other one tomorrow night (ran out of time tonight. I will spray the foliage and trunks each day and water every couple of days (as needed) with seasol. I'll do this for the next 4-5 weeks. This is my usual routine after collecting.

Josh
edit, thanks for the correction on the corky's being oaks not elms major brain fade. And yes the roots are Ash, guess I'll find out which one when it has some leaves

kcpoole wrote:look at each tree / Trunk as is there Any movement, taper, Features you can utilise in the final design? If so cut a few inches above that so you allow for die back or recutting / cleanup.

if nothing outstanding. maybe cut about 4 -6 times longer than the girth of the tree. ie if 1" diameter, cut to 6 inch long. This allows for die back and cleaning up your cut later, and hope you get shoots that you can use to regrow the tree.
once you have new shoots and a plan. you can cut back further to your new leader.

Pot up in Fresh Mix ( some bare root now) and then allow to recover. Even thosu still winter, i will use Seasol 2 times a week until well recovered in Mid - late spring.

Ken

Thanks Ken, appreciate the help. I have followed your lead so far and hope I do the tree justice (hope it makes it). I will need to reduce the rootball some time but I assume I let it recover the big dig first and then reduce at repots??
With the corky barks, will they handle being cut to bare trunks??
Thanks again

Josh

Well all the smaller trees shot away pretty quickly. The taller (6ft) tree Ryan and I dug out of the middle of the blackberries did absolutely nothing The branches slowly started drying out and dying off I kept watering and spraying the trunk with seasol even though there were no leaves. I was sure it was a goner as all the branches were just dying back.
Then a week or so ago I noticed the tip of a small bud. I thought could it be
Well in the last week it has gone nuts with buds the entire length of the trunk from top to 1cm from the dirt.
It has buds everywhere. Needless to say I'm one happy camper. How are everyone else's going?

Josh.

Out of the two large roburs (english), one dead one hanging on , all the little subers (corkies) got potted together and appear to be ok.

Good news on your larger suber as they are evergreen it should just keep on growing now

Merry Christmas to you too! J said G'day, hope you're on the mend

cre8ivbonsai wrote:Out of the two large roburs (english), one dead one hanging on , all the little subers (corkies) got potted together and appear to be ok.

Good news on your larger suber as they are evergreen it should just keep on growing now

Merry Christmas to you too! J said G'day, hope you're on the mend

A shame about the English not making it. Glad the corky's made it.
I thought I had lost the big corky but its going for it now. Thinking it might get air layered a couple of times yet of its possible.
Thanks for the well wishes. First 4 days this week were a right off. Back on my feet now so all good. Sorry I missed the last meeting though. Have a great Christmas.

Josh.