Collecting on Roberts Mt.

RKatzin

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We had our first collection on Roberts Mt. this past weekend. Ryan and Tony came all the way from Seattle to dig and what a great weekend we had!
After a week of stormy weather the rains let up for Saturday and Sunday. Window open, skies cloudy, ground soft and wet, waning moon, perfect day for a dig!
Saturday we scouted for trees. We spotted a few good potentials on the way up to the project, I showed some I'd found and they found some others walking around. It was getting late to start a dig so some prospects were tagged for Sunday.
Sunday we hit it early morning, you could taste the excitement and anticipation in the air. We went first to the top of the mountain to look at the White Oak, I think we spent half the day removing two oaks. The rest of the day digging Yew and Live Oak. I think seven trees were hauled back to Seattle.
I know Ryan and Tony both had video and camera going, but I didn't get one pic. I hope they will share some comments and a few pics, because you really have to see it to believe it. Like kids in a candy shop we were!
 

Ry2Tree2

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I've got some midterms this week, so I will be writing about the trees on my blog at a later date. However on the long ride back to Seattle, I was able to clear up a mystery we ran into. We found a red berry on what we were told was an oak and the berry made us think it may not have been an oak. One of my friends who also studies with Dan Robinson was able to identify the mystery species as huckleberry oakand - native only to the Klamath mountains - and our mystery berry was actually a insect larvae causing an oak gall.

I have two pictures of huckleberry oaks we did not collect at this time on my blog's Facebook page.


Tony also posted his timelapse of a Oregon/Gary/white oak he collected.
Tony's blog is www.bonsaiko.com. He may post more from the trip in the future, but I'll give you bonsai nutters a little sneak peak of what I came home with until I get around to posting my stuff.
 

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Ry2Tree2

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RKatzin, it might interest you to know you have a unique subspecies of the Quercus garryana in your area. By the presence of small hairs on the underside of the leaves, I have identified my oak as Quercus garryana subsp. brewerei. They a common to the Klamath mountain region and are known for a more shrubby growth form. Although, I still think the deer pruning helped with the leave size reduction.
 

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RKatzin

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That's great news Ryan! Thank you so much! I'm am especially glad to know the ID of our little Live Oak as Quercus vaccinium, huckleberry oak. That's really exciting! Two rare species in close proximity. How about those little ferny looking accents? Be nice to put a label on those.
 

RKatzin

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Trees are not the only thing being collected here on Roberts Mt.IMG_20171115_114937685.jpg
If you know what this is go ahead and get a tissue and wipe that drool from your lower lip.
This is a Matsutaki, pine mushroom and they are one of the finest mushroom anywhere. A very firm texture and an aroma of cinnamon and almonds. They're chewy and the more you chew the more the flavour bursts in your mouth. Absolutely delicious!
 

RKatzin

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IMG_20171115_120140021.jpg I was on my way here to collect some sphagnum moss when I tripped over the matsutaki.
This area is covered about four inches deep, that little patch filled my bucket.
 
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RKatzin

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IMG_20171115_121509262.jpg I was collecting the moss to go and dig a tree. I've been out here over two hours already. After finding one matsutaki I had to scour around for more. No such luck. So I got my sphagnum and I'm heading across the way to the tree I want to dig. The dogs and the cat are getting antsy by now and they want to go home. The rain has started up again, I guess down again would be more proper, everyone is wearing their face of misery. So I take a little detour through some Manzanita and pop out onto a skid road. When I stepped through the bushes I'm face to face with this.IMG_20171115_122811479.jpgIt's black because it's wet. The rain is over and pouring down. I spent an hour and a half cleaning and prepping this Yew. The dogs are scowling and the cat is screaming and I'm soaked to my innards. The window is shut for now and we drag our butts back to the fire. You gotta love it!
 

Ry2Tree2

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That's great news Ryan! Thank you so much! I'm am especially glad to know the ID of our little Live Oak as Quercus vaccinium, huckleberry oak. That's really exciting! Two rare species in close proximity. How about those little ferny looking accents? Be nice to put a label on those.
I think for the ferny accents, I'll need to see them in flower in spring to identify them. Tree identification is more my speed, but the flower character will give us most all we need to know.

Nice yew, by the way! I think it may be a good idea to put some of the ones you collected in fall against the house and on the ground so they are insulated from wind and cold temperatures once they come. Depending on the quality of root system you assess, I don't think I'd want to do many big cuts on root systems in fall if I weren't either leaving most the root system undisturbed or if I wasn't returning to the mild Seattle area (I'm mostly speculating though).
 
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