Randy Knight collection-talk, questions

I have a question. Randy said to put fieldgrown decidious trees in a sawdust bed for one year after collection. Why?
Fieldgrown would have had a more favorable environment to grow in right? The roots would also have been worked on prior to collecting.

And what’s the difference between fieldgrown and urban yamadori? Part from beeing purposefully planted in growbags, on tiles, root-pruned etc.

Its the ”dont try anything else (but coarse sawdust) especially when collecting from field or hedgerows..” that’s a bit confusing.


One last thing; can someone explain why coarse sawdust would’nt work in a wood box placed on the ground?
Randy uses coarse sawdust on a weedcloth, rebar’d to a woodframe made from pallets… I dont see the big difference.

I’m not totally sure, but sawdust in addition to being kinda open may have some heat, due to it decomposing that would be good for root growth.
I’m assuming he is doing this to hard pruned roots… it’s been a while since I watched that.
I’ve had success, just planting hard pruned deciduous in sifted pumice.

Everything I've learned in horticultural school says this is a bad idea but if it works for him I'd be interested in learning the science behind what it's achieving.

shohin_branches said:

Everything I've learned in horticultural school says this is a bad idea but if it works for him I'd be interested in learning the science behind what it's achieving.

Click to expand...

Growing up in Asia I have seen people making collection trip into the jungle. They will carry home many sacks of trunks of deciduous trees all chopped and severely root pruned. Those trees were kept mostly in shade buried halfway up the trunk in coarse sawdust or rice hulls with hardly any watering. As the trees budded and grew, they are lifted out of the saw dust and planted in pots. The time they spent in saw dust could be as long as a year. I don't see me doing that where I am now but that is a common practice in tropical climate.

I think the saw dust / rice hulls kept the water loss to those trunks to a minimum. The trees then have time to respond to the chops and develop buds and roots for survival. Plus this practice gave the collectors time to handle very large amount of trees that sometimes can be hundreds.

I don't see the point in putting them in sawdust for a year instead of bonsai soil from the outset. I've done that for years with any number of deciduous species. Works fine. Putting them in sawdust seems to me like adding an unnecessary step. I guess you could do the same with long fibered sphagnum moss as well as sawdust, but that's still an extra step (and how do you get rid of all that sawdust when you actually move to bonsai soil...

rockm said:

I don't see the point in putting them in sawdust for a year instead of bonsai soil from the outset. I've done that for years with any number of deciduous species. Works fine. Putting them in sawdust seems to me like adding an unnecessary step. I guess you could do the same with long fibered sphagnum moss as well as sawdust, but that's still an extra step (and how do you get rid of all that sawdust when you actually move to bonsai soil...

Click to expand...

For me I saw it as keeping the trees in stasis to give time for collectors to pot the trees. I don’t see the point in keeping them for a year if I can pot them right away.

Cajunrider said:

For me I saw it as keeping the trees in stasis to give time for collectors to pot the trees. I don’t see the point in keeping them for a year if I can pot them right away.

Click to expand...

If you're collecting so many trees you can't get tend to them adequately in after care, you may be collecting too many trees...

rockm said:

If you're collecting so many trees you can't get tend to them adequately in after care, you may be collecting too many trees...

Click to expand...

I was talking about the practice in Asia. People make expedition trip to the jungle and get as many as they can. Then they go home and develop them to sell to the market to make a living.

For me, my time is limited and often focused on other tasks so I only get a very few at a time.

Cajunrider said:

I was talking about the practice in Asia. People make expedition trip to the jungle and get as many as they can. Then they go home and develop them to sell to the market to make a living.

For me, my time is limited and often focused on other tasks so I only get a very few at a time.

Click to expand...

I was talking about Randy K.

rockm said:

I was talking about Randy K.

Click to expand...

He is trying to make a living?