Gabler’s 27-Year Nebari Challenge

[bonsaiwood]

Bringing this back before the end of the year. Love the idea, count me in. I have Liquidambar that have sprouted up in the wrong places around the yard and an A. Rubrum I plan to dig out in spring, work the roots and plant in a grow box or perhaps re-plant in the ground...

 

[Gabler]

Bringing this back before the end of the year. Love the idea, count me in. I have Liquidambar that have sprouted up in the wrong places around the yard and an A. Rubrum I plan to dig out in spring, work the roots and plant in a grow box or perhaps re-plant in the ground...

I look forward to following your thread.

 

[Gabler]

I put these white oaks through washers. They do a lot of growing below ground before they bother growing much above ground.

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This one was a bit too fat for the washers I have, so I just chopped off the tap root.

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The washer treatment was not as effective as I had hoped. Some of the washers rusted. Others did not. The trees with rusted washers had dead black tissue around the washer. I discarded those trees.

Here's one of the trees with a rusty washer.





Of the healthy trees most produced only a few roots above the washer.



Just one produced many roots.



I chopped off the taproot and washer, and I planted the trees to see what happens.

 

[Gabler]

The washer treatment was not as effective as I had hoped. Some of the washers rusted. Others did not. The trees with rusted washers had dead black tissue around the washer. I discarded those trees.

Here's one of the trees with a rusty washer.

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Of the healthy trees most produced only a few roots above the washer.

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Just one produced many roots.

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I chopped off the taproot and washer, and I planted the trees to see what happens.

For comparison, I chopped off the taproots on all of these English oaks last year, and all nine grew much more than the white oak seedlings I put through washers. It's hardly a controlled experiment, but I'm not convinced that using a washer produces better results than just pruning off the taproot.

From Seed Division: Gabler’s Chestnut Oaks

These Quercus montana seedlings survived their first winter. I believe I can use the nine of them to make a decent forest planting in the next seven years.

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Gabler]

Last year I planted a bunch of Acer rubrum seedlings. The buds were starting to awaken, so I selected the individuals with the most red coloration in the buds and the shortest internodes. I pruned off their taproots, and potted them up individually. I kept somewhere between twenty and thirty seedlings. I didn't bother counting them.







The seedling pictured above is about six inches.

 

[Cajunrider]

I am in with Batman. I'm gonna push it as hard as I can. Whether I can move it depends.
It has an all-around base with deep flutes that stretches out to 36" already. Pushing the base flatter and further out to 48" will be my 27 years goal.
Right now I am trying to keep it alive. When I get to PA, I will move it to a big pot and get started.
PS: If it starts to throw up a lot of knees, I will build a pot with a moat!
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I am withdrawing Batman. I will enter a tiny BC instead. We will see how that will go.

 

[Gabler]

I am withdrawing Batman. I will enter a tiny BC instead. We will see how that will go.

I look forward to seeing your thread.

 

[Cajunrider]

Here is my tiny BC entry. 2” trunk straight stick has been operated on today. The base was tripled in size to 6”. I had to hide some of the base to maintain the tree viability. All the roots were pushed outward and the feeder root pushed downward. The goal is a 18” exposed base in 2 years. I have no idea what 27 years will bring.

 

[ShadyStump]

Oh yeah, I should get on this.
Don't have forever.

 

[Gabler]

The beech ground layer worked perfectly.

 

[Cajunrider]

Here is my tiny BC entry. 2” trunk straight stick has been operated on today. The base was tripled in size to 6”. I had to hide some of the base to maintain the tree viability. All the roots were pushed outward and the feeder root pushed downward. The goal is a 18” exposed base in 2 years. I have no idea what 27 years will bring.
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The tree wilted for about two weeks but is recovering now. It is starting to push growth again. I figure I will remove the tape in about a month and stuff the crevices with sphagnum moss.