Coast live oak repotted

[Potawatomi13]

Aargh! Can't wait for own spring growth. Green with envy! Would not carve top aggressively but would clean up. Be careful not to brutalize roots while working on trunk.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Aargh! Green with envy to see own spring growth. Change of personal tune as to working trunk. Would agree with removing dead wood at top of trunk but would leave lower dead wood alone. However should be careful not to brutalize roots while working trunk. Wish to have your tree.

 

[justBonsai]

Pictures courtesy of my mom who helps with watering when I'm living away for school. By the way the reason I put stones over all my trees is so that they can be watered with a full strength water hose without worry of displacing the bonsai soil. Makes for easier watering then doing everything with a bucket.

Tree is growing very well. I was a little afraid of issues arising due to borers/termites as well as the root reduction but it seems okay. All the rotted infested parts of the tree was removed in addition to multiple imidacloprid treatements. Per suggestions from other threads I also injected some undiluted insecticide directly into the holes of the deadwood. Will do repeat application of imidacloprid later this month or so. As soon as I get time off I plan on doing some basic wiring as the tree lignifies fast.

I read an article on a so called "van meer technique" that I will try out when removing larger branching. Does anyone know how well this works?
http://ofbonsai.org/techniques/styles-and-styling/the-van-meer-technique

Smaller coast live oak repotted 2 weeks ago and appears to be shoving out.

 

[justBonsai]

Here's an update. The side branches have grown out well and have been wired out. I went ahead today and cut one of the large top branches back. I should of made the cut back in spring but I was afraid of the top that encloses the deadwood feature dying back. The tree looked like it was preparing to shove out more buds so hopefully it responds well.

I'm trying an approach graft experiment were I grafted a small side shoot to one of my future primary branches. I figure if I can get more strong growing shoots on the same branch, it will thicken a lot faster.

The plan for now is to feed the tree well and let it grow completely unrestricted to build vigor. When the second strong flush of growth comes after peak summer temps I'll go ahead and cut the big back branch back too.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Having seen concern with deadwood suggest look at Anson Burlingame Daimyo Oak online for inspiration. Tree is in Oakland(?)area so you could visit. Removal of front branch looks wrong. Suggest if it grows anew keeping new branch. Also 3 low branches all together should be reduced to one unless using extras for sacrifice. It and what is above will fill space as needed within 2-3 years if tree stays healthy. This Spring got one of these from club member. Had unfortunately gotten dried out during unexpected hot weather while they were away(middle of rain season)and most foliage was dead and scant. Had seen posts about how these branch out from bare trunks so bought and now is covered with such beautiful little new leaves. It has a lump in upper trunk that must be dealt with and am considering whether to cut off most of tree below this or remove wood to get rid of reverse taper. Guess will have to post on site and see what(if any)constructive opinion emerges. You have great tree.

 

[justBonsai]

Having seen concern with deadwood suggest look at Anson Burlingame Daimyo Oak online for inspiration. Tree is in Oakland(?)area so you could visit. Removal of front branch looks wrong. Suggest if it grows anew keeping new branch. Also 3 low branches all together should be reduced to one unless using extras for sacrifice. It and what is above will fill space as needed within 2-3 years if tree stays healthy. This Spring got one of these from club member. Had unfortunately gotten dried out during unexpected hot weather while they were away(middle of rain season)and most foliage was dead and scant. Had seen posts about how these branch out from bare trunks so bought and now is covered with such beautiful little new leaves. It has a lump in upper trunk that must be dealt with and am considering whether to cut off most of tree below this or remove wood to get rid of reverse taper. Guess will have to post on site and see what(if any)constructive opinion emerges. You have great tree.

I cut it back so it could back bud. The front branch will definitely be apart of the future design, but I'm trying to regrow it from scratch to give taper and rammification as it previously was just a long straight branch.

Side branching is being kept long so it could thicken but will be cut back later. In 2-3 years all the primary branching should be set and I can slowly begin to let it fill in. My goal is to get everything compacted and growing very strong.

My biggest concern with this tree would be the borers causing more dieback but I'm fairly confident after the imidacloprid treatments and injections into the old burrows that the tree is pest free. It does look a little bare at the moment but that's because I went ahead and removed a lot of the long suckers that shot out after spring. I need the front branch that I cut off to back bud so I cut off other long extensions to prevent the tree from abandoning the front. Hopefully it goes well.

 

[Potawatomi13]

I cut it back so it could back bud. The front branch will definitely be apart of the future design, but I'm trying to regrow it from scratch to give taper and rammification as it previously was just a long straight branch.

Side branching is being kept long so it could thicken but will be cut back later. In 2-3 years all the primary branching should be set and I can slowly begin to let it fill in. My goal is to get everything compacted and growing very strong.

My biggest concern with this tree would be the borers causing more dieback but I'm fairly confident after the imidacloprid treatments and injections into the old burrows that the tree is pest free. It does look a little bare at the moment but that's because I went ahead and removed a lot of the long suckers that shot out after spring. I need the front branch that I cut off to back bud so I cut off other long extensions to prevent the tree from abandoning the front. Hopefully it goes well.

Great minds.

 

[justBonsai]

Branch structure being developed. Oaks in their native climate grow very fast. Lower branches are beginning ramification but will be allowed to thicken before I cut anything back. There's a bit more you can't see in this shot but the tree is developing nicely and is very healthy--as far as I can tell no more borers or termites.

I was mistaken to cut off the front branch early in hoping it will back bud--it did actually bud but it was fried in the heat. Fortunately the stub is still alive and green. When I do major cut backs on the larger branches come by next spring I should get a strong shove of growth everywhere. The plan is to let this tree build up as much energy until then.

On a different note I've been protecting the deadwood with beeswax/oil blend I use on some of my tools. It keeps the wood hard and repels water--the appearance is natural and wears away after enough sun and water exposure. When that happens I can just reapply.

 

[Giga]

Um, can I have this tree? It has fantastic dead wood for an oak! Great potential.

 

[justBonsai]

Um, can I have this tree? It has fantastic dead wood for an oak! Great potential.

This was my first "better material" purchase. Was definitely challenging at first to figure out primary branch placement especially that all the branches were straight and unbendable. In the above photo the branches you see on the left were pretty much all developed from scratch this growing season. I had to do some stressful bending on some semi hard wood but thankfully it worked. Some stress cracks on the cambium appeared but they've already began disappearing as the branch thickens. To reposition the left upper branch I actually had to split it so it could bend. You can see how its a little flat on the inner face. It already has calloused over partially and makes for nice character as well.

I was fortunate to get back budding on good locations though. Once a shoot pops out you need to wire it as soon as it hardens, a little late and the branch will become extremely turgid. Wire only needed to be left on for 1-2 weeks for young branches to set as well. After branch thickening the movement becomes subtle and looks real good. Can't wait to begin development on the canopy of the tree by next spring.

On a different note for anyone growing these trees, leaves will get big and with long internodes easily with high nitrogen ferts. I used miracle grow shake n feed at first and the internodes were just way too stretched--good for growing leaders maybe. Switched to organic after than and new growth is much more balanced.

My small live oak is developing even better. I need to get some pictures of it.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Thank you for updates. Much appreciate your little Oaks.

 

[Tieball]

I've been protecting the deadwood with beeswax/oil blend I use on some of my tools. It keeps the wood hard and repels water--the appearance is natural and wears away after enough sun and water exposure. When that happens I can just reapply.

Interesting....beeswax and oil. I haven't heard that one before (not that I can remember anyway). I've only seen beeswax as a solid.....Do you mix it with the oil to something like a toothpaste consistency? What kind of oil? How is the treatment applied? I'm interested in learning more about this treatment.

 

[Potawatomi13]

One must ask why to protect wood? Greatest beauty of dead wood is if weathered, aged, cracked and checked. This takes years of natural exposure. These things show age in tree.

 

[justBonsai]

One must ask why to protect wood? Greatest beauty of dead wood is if weathered, aged, cracked and checked. This takes years of natural exposure. These things show age in tree.

This is true. The wood already has tons of character though--I resorted to beeswax is it is a mild protectant that keeps the natural age of the wood. Some earlier pictures show the deadwood to be very dark (that was after a fresh layer of wax). It has already worn off and the finish is closer to the original deadwood but a tad darker which I want. The wood will definitely continue to age and weather but with such a large exposed surface water and heat will inevitable rot and wear down the wood. When there were el nino rains in Southern California during early January I noticed the very outer layer of the wood became soft enough to scratch off with a fingernail.

Cracks and character are great but I want to preserve the relative integrity of the wood so that 20-30 years from now it still exists.

 

[jomawa]

beeswax/oil blend

I'm ditto-ing @Tieball, will you please tell us bnutters, what kind of oil, what is the method of mixing with the beeswax, and do you use it at all as a cut paste?

 

[justBonsai]

Interesting....beeswax and oil. I haven't heard that one before (not that I can remember anyway). I've only seen beeswax as a solid.....Do you mix it with the oil to something like a toothpaste consistency? What kind of oil? How is the treatment applied? I'm interested in learning more about this treatment.

I'm ditto-ing @Tieball, will you please tell us bnutters, what kind of oil, what is the method of mixing with the beeswax, and do you use it at all as a cut paste?

Its just a mix of beeswax and mineral oil. I normally use it as a protective coat when storing traditional knives and as a light wood finisher. Beeswax has antifungal properties and will repel water until the coating wears off--which is pretty quick. You can just rub it on the wood with your fingers. This is kind of protection requires maintenance and I haven't put on any in awhile since its summer with hardly any rain (I avoid wetting the deadwood when watering). Come by winter to spring I will put on a new coat to protect the wood from seasonal rains. If you really want to protect wood well you can use a hardener like minwax but it will give a plastic look at first that will need to be weathered or brushed away. Because I got sick of constantly trying to manipulate and preserve the look of deadwood I found using beeswax paste to be a simple low cost low effort method that will work for my purposes. A plus is that it will give otherwise white wood a warmer color. You can even put a lighter to the wood while there is paste on it and it will suck up the wax as it expands--I experimented with this but sometimes the resulting finish is too smooth looking.

I've read people using beeswax as a cut paste and I do actually use my beeswax/oil blend as a paste on coniferous trees when I'm to lazy to find my actual cut paste. It works well for any resinous sap trees. On my deciduous trees I've never tested it out and tend to stick with my normal cut paste.

 

[jomawa]

Its just a mix of beeswax and mineral oil.

@bleumeon Please pardon my utter fanatically detail oriented persnicketiness, but can we have more of your details of mixing the oil and wax, huh, pretty please, huh? I appreciate the color of your dead wood. I tend to cringe when I see the normal blinding white of lightened/bleached dead wood, and usually prefer a little artificial/ aesthetically pleasing/coloring.