AusBonsai

I drive past a line of really nice black(I think?) sheoaks every day on the way to work. I often dream of stealing a few to train up as they are a good size and have great trunk characteristics with movement and corky bark. Just recently I noticed that the site has been marked out for road widening, it looks like the whole line of trees will have to be removed.

I'm thinking about approaching the council to see if they will allow me rescue a few from the chipper, but am wondering about the chances of them surviving if they are dug up? The ones I am most interested in have trunks about the thickness of a 1.25L coke bottle and are probably around 6-7foot high. Has anyone had success digging sheoaks this size and them surviving?

I've grown Black Sheoak from seeds. They are easy to work.

As far digging I'm not sure how they would go as mine tend to want lots of water with roots going deep down. Mine have only had moderate root disturbances but they haven't had any stress from it.

Being bigger collected trunks you want I think you would need to make sure you get some established roots with the trunk. The is a good chance for back budding. It may be a moderately risky dig but if you can collect a few and willing to try risk it I think it could be worth the effort.

I've collected torulosa growing in crap soil with virtually no roots but large ones and all died excepted the biggest of them. Don't know if this was a total fluke or the energy reserves was what helped. If they are going to be bulldozed then you have nothing to lose except the opportunity if you don't try.

this is what makes our pass-time/passion great. What have you got to lose? What have you got to gain? From where I sit, you may lose some time and effort. You may gain 1, 2, or 7 nice new project trees.

I've shot an email off to the vic roads dept in charge of the project asking who I need to speak to about the possibility.

Hopefully they get back to me, it would be a shame to see them mulched. My biggest concern is that they are in a centre median strip of a 4 lane road so they are likely to say no to just collecting them due to safety concerns, I would probably have to wait until work starts and maybe ensure I'm around when then decide to rip them out.

Possibly contact the site foreman when work starts - the further up the line you go, the less likely they are to take responsibility. Good luck, they can be dodgy.

Gavin

GavinG wrote:Possibly contact the site foreman when work starts - the further up the line you go, the less likely they are to take responsibility. Good luck, they can be dodgy.

Gavin

Very true. Primarily because of legal ramifications if you get hit by a car whilst taking the trees out. The council will not have insurance for this if they have obliged you to remove them. More often than not, you are best just showing up and asking the foreman as GavinG states. I would likely think you will get a 'sorry, our insurance does not cover this' generic speal reply.

Hi
I did something similar last year with vicroad and received a call back. The guy told me I can take them but he can't give me written authorisation as he cannot ensure my safety. He said provided it is done safely, go for it. Mine were pine seedlings.
I went, got some and they are now happily growing in pots at home.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, I've often seen amazing stock growing on the side of the road, or at the edge of the freeway. But caution has always deterred me from obtaining them, after hearing about so many accidents when people have been hit by cars doing 'strange' things at night, such as this. Unless it is 100% safe, it always has the potential to go horribly wrong. I guess the problem is, some random person driving home after a 20 hour shift isn't thinking there is going to be a person crouched down near the road, trying to dig out a tree, and if he accidentally swerves a bit from the centre of the road, it is all over. If the lure is too compelling....perhaps wear a very bright council jacket with a headlight.

Normally I'd be tempted to do a covert dig, but in this case its not really possible being in the middle median of a reasonably busy road!

Vicroads did get back to my email enquiry and said they would look into who is contracted to do the work and will hopefully provide me with some contact details. If not I'll just have to wait until the actual works starts and hopefully catch someone onsite to talk to before they rip them out. It seems at least one BSV member has noticed these particular trees before as well