A Few of my Favorite Trees

[kad1979]

New to bonsai but I’ve enjoyed these three trees in my neighborhood for a long time.

The grand oak is in my backyard and is 158” in diameter. I have an arborist look at it every now and then. Some dieback happening at the top and he thinks it’s probably 125 years old and we may only have another 15-20 years left with her.

For those of you in Sarasota, FL. I’m sure you know where that huge banyan is.

Interesting. John Ringling and Thomas Edison were good friends. Edison gave Ringling a bunch of banyans as a gift from his trips to the far east.

 

[dr.tenebris]

When was the last time the oak got a pruning?

Might help that beautiful tree live a few extra years... And possibly give you cuttings for bonsai as well, clones of a tree you love is always a worthy project in my book

 

[Gabler]

When was the last time the oak got a pruning?

Might help that beautiful tree live a few extra years... And possibly give you cuttings for bonsai as well, clones of a tree you love is always a worthy project in my book

If you can root oak cuttings, I'd love to know your secret.

 

[dr.tenebris]

If you can root oak cuttings, I'd love to know your secret.

Hormex rooting powder no:8 has the appropriate amount of hormones to get it to root,

Treat like a regular cutting.
Cuttings Should be around 7in in length, near nodes and carve some.bark away to reveal extra cambium.

At least I'd assume that it's no different from any other cutting so apply the artificial rooting hormone (again hormex is super reliable and they recommend their number 8 strength for oak) and propagate using your preferred strategy.

 

[BrightsideB]

The oak is nice! Maybe look for seedlings sprouting or collect it’s acorns or whatever seed it produces.

@dr.tenebris do you have evidence of your theory? Or personal success? I have heard oaks are pretty much futile to try cuttings. Specially an old oak.

 

[dr.tenebris]

The oak is nice! Maybe look for seedlings sprouting or collect it’s acorns or whatever seed it produces.

@dr.tenebris do you have evidence of your theory? Or personal success? I have heard oaks are pretty much futile to try cuttings. Specially an old oak.

A quick Google shows plenty of oak propagation from cutting videos,

Further hormex has a list of what plants to use which of their products on specifically mentioning oak. And given most plants only require up to hormex no.3 with only stubborn plants requiring higher... Seems likely it works.

I would go get a cutting from an old oak but they aren't prevalent in my area, and I'm certain the scrub oak on the mountains wouldn't satisfy the same criteria...

Further pruning a tree is healthy for it and so you should have a few stick to mess around with anyways sooo doesn't hurt

Quickly skimmed over this he seems to have many oak cuttings and is successful in his process which didn't differ to far from my suggestions give it a watch if your curious, oaks are wonderful trees but I certainly don't feel drawn to researching them

 

[Gabler]

A quick Google shows plenty of oak propagation from cutting videos,

Further hormex has a list of what plants to use which of their products on specifically mentioning oak. And given most plants only require up to hormex no.3 with only stubborn plants requiring higher... Seems likely it works.

I would go get a cutting from an old oak but they aren't prevalent in my area, and I'm certain the scrub oak on the mountains wouldn't satisfy the same criteria...

Further pruning a tree is healthy for it and so you should have a few stick to mess around with anyways sooo doesn't hurt

Quickly skimmed over this he seems to have many oak cuttings and is successful in his process which didn't differ to far from my suggestions give it a watch if your curious, oaks are wonderful trees but I certainly don't feel drawn to researching them

I've used the exact method you suggest, and none of the cuttings struck. Air layers haven't been successful either. Countless other members here have also shown the same (lack of) results. The video you shared doesn't show any results, either. Go give it a try yourself. I'm eager to see you prove me wrong.

 

[BrightsideB]

@dr.tenebris I just thought you personally had some wisdom on the subject.

 

[Dav4]

I've used the exact method you suggest, and none of the cuttings struck. Air layers haven't been successful either. Countless other members here have also shown the same (lack of) results. The video you shared doesn't show any results, either. Go give it a try yourself. I'm eager to see you prove me wrong.

Yeah, I've never heard of anyone here or elsewhere who has successfully struck them from cuttings. In his tome "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants", Dirr doesn't even mention cuttings as a means of propagating Quercus species... Just acorns .

 

[BrightsideB]

Yeah, I've never heard of anyone here or elsewhere who has successfully struck them from cuttings. In his tome "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants", Dirr doesn't even mention cuttings as a means of propagating Quercus species... Just acorns .

Acorns strike well if you can keep the 🐿 away. Lol

 

[dr.tenebris]

I've used the exact method you suggest, and none of the cuttings struck. Air layers haven't been successful either. Countless other members here have also shown the same (lack of) results. The video you shared doesn't show any results, either. Go give it a try yourself. I'm eager to see you prove me wrong.

Looks like I'm buying a nursery oak soon to get some cuttings from

 

[Gabler]

Looks like I'm buying a nursery oak soon to get some cuttings from

I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I just hoped you knew something I didn't. Be sure to document your technique carefully in case you manage to root some oak cuttings. There's a lot of folks here who would love to know how to do it.

 

[dr.tenebris]

I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I just hoped you knew something I didn't. Be sure to document your technique carefully in case you manage to root some oak cuttings. There's a lot of folks here who would love to know how to do it.

Will do, like I said oaks are gorgeous trees, their natural canopies are breathtaking for sure, so it's not like I'd be wasting anything by getting one, I'll record it all and then try to time lapse it via photos.

Do you think a scrub oak would be work around the same as other varieties? The mountains have hundreds of the lil fellas so if they are similar enough I might just go collect cuttings there instead of purchasing a nursery tree might need to scope out my surrounding neighborhoods to try and find a large oak.

 

[Gabler]

Will do, like I said oaks are gorgeous trees, their natural canopies are breathtaking for sure, so it's not like I'd be wasting anything by getting one, I'll record it all and then try to time lapse it via photos.

Do you think a scrub oak would be work around the same as other varieties? The mountains have hundreds of the lil fellas so if they are similar enough I might just go collect cuttings there instead of purchasing a nursery tree might need to scope out my surrounding neighborhoods to try and find a large oak.

I have no idea. We don't have scrub oak around here. It's my understanding that the trouble with cuttings is a feature shared by all oaks, but I could be wrong. I haven't tried all species of oaks—just a few of them.

 

[dr.tenebris]

I have no idea. We don't have scrub oak around here. It's my understanding that the trouble with cuttings is a feature shared by all oaks, but I could be wrong. I haven't tried all species of oaks—just a few of them.

Doing some research the variety that grows around here is the "Gambel oak" so I'll hit the Mountain as soon as the snow melts, fortunately I do have some extra hormex rooting hormone no:8 (which was a mistake I meant to grab 3)

I'll just do the traditional, 7in cutting- small incision along the bark to increase cambium contact then let it be. I'll use this tread to keep you up to date.

Gabel oak I believe is also called White oak. And given its love of rocky soils I figure it should make a decent bonsai, assuming I find a nice cutting for the purpose of this

 

[dr.tenebris]

I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I just hoped you knew something I didn't. Be sure to document your technique carefully in case you manage to root some oak cuttings. There's a lot of folks here who would love to know how to do it.

Hiked up the mountain to collect some cuttings today.
Processed them as I regularly do any other "in the soil cutting" with the number 8 hormex rooting powder.
Photos below,
(Describing the process)
Collect cutting, reduce available buds you want around 4-5, snip the base of the cutting back a little and carve a notches into the cutting to reveal as much cambium as possible, dip in water, dip in rooting hormone, tap on the side of the container to remove any extra rooting hormone, stick in soil..

I had to use an random mix of soils as I'm officially out XD so it's a mix of peat moss guarding soil and perlite.. I also had to "red-neck" a container for this

I'll probably make a post to keep the oak cuttings up to date (I did verify it's an oak by leaf shape and acorns on the tree, everyone calls these fella's scrub oak here so hopefully it's the oak I described earlier)

I'll admit I did rush the process a bit but I think at least one of the cuttings should be successful (I hope that narly one survives)
Also I have glasses that make it very difficult to see outside so the photos might suck but I think I described most of this well enough.