Big Cork Oaks

justBonsai

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I purchased 2 cork oaks from Barry's sale today. I made sure to get there early and picked out the best 2 :D. Sorry snoozers.

These trees with the native soil were immensely heavy and I spent all day working the roots, setting em in trainers, and getting tarps up. It was a lot of work so I couldn't be bothered to take progression pics. Once they come out of the incubators (and hopefully live) I'll upload high quality photos. Not pictured are the trees after structural pruning, major chops, and partial defoliation.

Typically it would be too late to repot oaks in Socal but I noticed the trees were only barely beginning to push buds and new growth. Likely those 3 weeks of unusually cold weather extended dormancy a bit longer.

I've been developing oaks for 3 years now and have had good success. If I do major root work I've always done partial or full defoliation. If it's just minor work and transfer of containers I don't defoliate. Half of the root mass was cut off and the remaining worked out with a chopstick and hose. I don't know if it makes a difference but I do a root drench in some seaweed fert and mycorrhizal inoculant. I pot em in equal parts pumice, lava, and DE but also add a little bark since my oaks have grown well in it. I tarp them after and let the trees sit in full sun to get humid and hot. If all goes well within 2 weeks I can start weening the trees off the tarps and remove it completely within a month.

This is exactly how I treated my coast live oak which went from a weakened borer infested state to a healthy vigorous tree. I'm crossing my fingers as these are nice older trees. I'm pretty confident in the larger first one as there we a lot of shallow feeder roots. The second tree had more roots in the lower section I cut off but I still left the tap root a little long as I'm hoping the stored sugars will pull it through. The subtrunk on that one was cut back and I completely defoliated the outer canopy. I am hoping enough foliage was removed to prevent transpiration stress that is known to kill oaks.

Oh yeah, I'll add a photo later but my coast live oak I've posted before made its way into a terra cotta trainer last month. It's only 1-2 seasons away from fitting in a bonsai pot if need be. 3+ year effort to bring it from a 15 gallon can down to a healthy compact root system. My large cork oak is now in the pot my coast live oak used to be in.

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justBonsai

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AAAAAHHHH!!! I was too sick for the sale :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Very good oaks though!
Oaks by far are my favorite species to grow as bonsai. It was unfortunate to hear that Barry did not have any more coast live oaks as he sold em all the last 2 years. Never owned any larger corkers though and the bark is very nice. Didn't anticipate picking up 2 trees but the price was good and these are getting harder to find. Pretty excited for these trees.
 

JosephCooper

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Oaks by far are my favorite species to grow as bonsai. It was unfortunate to hear that Barry did not have any more coast live oaks as he sold em all the last 2 years. Never owned any larger corkers though and the bark is very nice. Didn't anticipate picking up 2 trees but the price was good and these are getting harder to find. Pretty excited for these trees.

I love oaks too, their trunks are HUGE here. I don't even care that they are hard to develop.
 

justBonsai

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I love oaks too, their trunks are HUGE here. I don't even care that they are hard to develop.
Maybe not as easy as some other deciduous varieties but not as hard as people make it out to be. Using oaks native to your area is a big part though. These Mediterranean oaks will not do well in the midwest unless you have good winter storage options like a greenhouse.

Once they get going they develop exceedingly fast. I get 3 flushes of growth per season and branches develop quickly. From what I hear cork oaks are fairly fast growers as well so I will treat them just like my coast oaks. 3.5 year difference between first and second photo here. The white stuff is a wet paper towel in an attempt to save a damaged thread graft.

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_#1_

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Those are some fine barks! Love oaks myself.

Hand saw to the roots huh lol :p Took me forever when I cut my english oak last year. Next root chop will be done with a reciprocated saw. That will make root work much more pleasant.
 

justBonsai

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Those are some fine barks! Love oaks myself.

Hand saw to the roots huh lol :p Took me forever when I cut my english oak last year. Next root chop will be done with a reciprocated saw. That will make root work much more pleasant.
I haven't used so much elbow grease in a LONG time. Those silky saws are top notch but it was a huge pain in the ass. Next time I need to use a reciprocated saw.

I always like reading Las Pilitas articles: https://www.laspilitas.com/classes/mycorrih.htm

I wish I visited their Escondido location before it closed down. I think they were aware of bonsai and had a lot of good selection for native prebonsai. Interesting article on mycorrhiza relations with oak. I wonder if I should collect some oak leaf litter and use it as top dressing for my oak trees
 

Tieball

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Maybe not as easy as some other deciduous varieties but not as hard as people make it out to be. Using oaks native to your area is a big part though. These Mediterranean oaks will not do well in the midwest unless you have good winter storage options like a greenhouse.

Once they get going they develop exceedingly fast. I get 3 flushes of growth per season and branches develop quickly. From what I hear cork oaks are fairly fast growers as well so I will treat them just like my coast oaks. 3.5 year difference between first and second photo here. The white stuff is a wet paper towel in an attempt to save a damaged thread graft.

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Fabulous natural deadwood on the trunk. Mighty fine!
 

milehigh_7

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I purchased 2 cork oaks from Barry's sale today. I made sure to get there early and picked out the best 2 :D. Sorry snoozers.

These trees with the native soil were immensely heavy and I spent all day working the roots, setting em in trainers, and getting tarps up. It was a lot of work so I couldn't be bothered to take progression pics. Once they come out of the incubators (and hopefully live) I'll upload high quality photos. Not pictured are the trees after structural pruning, major chops, and partial defoliation.

Typically it would be too late to repot oaks in Socal but I noticed the trees were only barely beginning to push buds and new growth. Likely those 3 weeks of unusually cold weather extended dormancy a bit longer.

I've been developing oaks for 3 years now and have had good success. If I do major root work I've always done partial or full defoliation. If it's just minor work and transfer of containers I don't defoliate. Half of the root mass was cut off and the remaining worked out with a chopstick and hose. I don't know if it makes a difference but I do a root drench in some seaweed fert and mycorrhizal inoculant. I pot em in equal parts pumice, lava, and DE but also add a little bark since my oaks have grown well in it. I tarp them after and let the trees sit in full sun to get humid and hot. If all goes well within 2 weeks I can start weening the trees off the tarps and remove it completely within a month.

This is exactly how I treated my coast live oak which went from a weakened borer infested state to a healthy vigorous tree. I'm crossing my fingers as these are nice older trees. I'm pretty confident in the larger first one as there we a lot of shallow feeder roots. The second tree had more roots in the lower section I cut off but I still left the tap root a little long as I'm hoping the stored sugars will pull it through. The subtrunk on that one was cut back and I completely defoliated the outer canopy. I am hoping enough foliage was removed to prevent transpiration stress that is known to kill oaks.

Oh yeah, I'll add a photo later but my coast live oak I've posted before made its way into a terra cotta trainer last month. It's only 1-2 seasons away from fitting in a bonsai pot if need be. 3+ year effort to bring it from a 15 gallon can down to a healthy compact root system. My large cork oak is now in the pot my coast live oak used to be in.

Thanks for the process pointers! Maybe next year I will be in a position to come out.
 

justBonsai

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Thanks for the process pointers! Maybe next year I will be in a position to come out.
When I first started growing oaks I asked PaulH and Eric Schrader here a lot of questions. Read a ton of stuff in the archives and of course asked Barry who's been growing em for decades. The advice was good and I have proven results and experience now.
 

milehigh_7

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When I first started growing oaks I asked PaulH and Eric Schrader here a lot of questions. Read a ton of stuff in the archives and of course asked Barry who's been growing em for decades. The advice was good and I have proven results and experience now.

I had some nice ones before we lost our house. If I ever get settled and start getting stock for myself again Oaks are at the top of the list. I love them.
 

Mr.E

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I guess I was one of the snoozers, I'm pretty sure I was the last stragler in. He still had a few good ones left. I picked up a pretty sweet one myself. Nice work on starting to reduce the rootball, I'm sure they will come through just fine.
 

CasAH

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Julian, I was hoping you saw the sale thread.

I see you got two nice trees, and cannot wait to see how you develop them.
 

justBonsai

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Hot and steamy, just how I like it ?

Hopefully I get good backbudding. I've had excellent results doing this on my other oaks.
 

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justBonsai

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After almost a month, it's out of the cooker. Excellent backbudding on the big cork oak. The small one died back a bit. I only did a half root ball reduction but unfortunately most of the roots were in the lower section. I should of done a full defoliation as it showed signs of transpiration stress and dropped leaves. But it's still green so I'm crossing my fingers and leaving it tarped still.

But I'm happy that the nicer of the two transitioned without missing a beat. It was misted a few times a day to keep the humidity up and sat in full sun. I was able to cut back much harder today as there were plenty of buds over the entire tree. I am slightly cautious in cutting back to no green, especially for oaks. Had I overworked the roots and there was insufficient energy to shove new buds, I'd lose key branches or sub trunks.

As you can see in the picture I even had budding through the old and thick cork on the main trunk. Quarter for sense of scale. The tree will be allowed grow freely the next few months. After new leaves flush and harden I'll start fertilizing aggressively. I should be able to establish primary branch lines this season given how quick oaks grow here. There is still some tap root that needs to be removed which I will most likely do in 2 seasons.

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