Hunting for trees

[mattspinniken]

I recently secured some permission at an interesting property in Michigan. I had a fun time with the father in law searching all the nooks for good Larch. I’ve never needed a pry bar so badly.

I will update this thread with the trees as I box them up. They are currently submerged and waiting for boxing tomorrow (I always do this with collected trees).

Exploring these places is maybe my favorite part of this crazy and odd mini tree pursuit.

Hope to see some of you at the National show!

 

[Forsoothe!]

Pretty spectacular!

 

[Hartinez]

Saw those on FB Matt. Nice scores. Supposed to be headed up north this weekend where I’m hoping to break away from my fam and hunt some englemann and fly fish a bit.

 

[Tycoss]

Those larch have a ton of character. I hope they do well for you.

 

[andrewiles]

Very cool! What's your aftercare procedure for collected larch this time of year? From what I've read they are hard to collect in late Summer and Fall, and are better dug when the leaves are turning yellow.

Thinking about tackling some Western/Subalpine larch collection here in the PNW this Fall...

 

[Potawatomi13]

What is on dads head?

 

[BobbyLane]

looks like fun, cool trees. one looks like a ready made windswept.

 

[mattspinniken]

Very cool! What's your aftercare procedure for collected larch this time of year? From what I've read they are hard to collect in late Summer and Fall, and are better dug when the leaves are turning yellow.

Thinking about tackling some Western/Subalpine larch collection here in the PNW this Fall...

Be careful what you read on the internet. Including what I am about to say.... haha. This just works for me but I have heard it does not work well for others.

I prefer to collect the first week in September (I collected these on August 31st). It has been rainy lately which is important. Anyway, I have had back luck with later in the fall as, in my opinion, there is not enough time for the trees to grow new roots before winter. I see this is collecting at the beginning of the fall season.

The only thing I do different is I put de-icing cable under them until November and then I mulch them in deep over the winter. I have had almost 100% success this time of year, I did lose one from last fall but it was because I screwed up and did not get almost any roots.

 

[mattspinniken]

What is on dads head?

He is such a crazy guy, he likes to come with me just for the "adventure and workout". I like having a helper. Whenever he finds something semi interesting he tends to put it on his head. Its an old metal bucket I think. haha

 

[mattspinniken]

Those larch have a ton of character. I hope they do well for you.

I was starting to think we had to get to Canada to find the interesting Larch. Turns out we have some, although Canada still has the best.

 

[Jiminsauga]

@mattspiniken you say you submerge them as aftercare, is it just the root ball in water or are you dunking the whole tree?

Envisioning it in my head, dunking the whole tree for an hour would be a good way of ensuring you're not bring any of the endemic pests back home with you now that I think about it.

 

[JudyB]

Very nice dig, looks like you have a fun helper!

 

[August44]

Wow! Very nice trees you collected there! I have collected in the fall here when needles are turning, but never this early. You are a lucky man to find those and be able to dig them successfully. I am envious!

 

[mattspinniken]

Potted this one, my favorite of the dig.

 

[JudyB]

Potted this one, my favorite of the dig.

I can see why this is your favorite, such good compact movement!

 

[Shogun610]

That’s awesome, I’ll be collecting in Fall and Spring…. Nice haul…. You’re making me day dream here at the office….

 

[andrewiles]

I tried collecting a few larches this Fall too, after seeing this thread.

I'm keeping them outside on seedling mats this winter. This will keep the roots above freezing through spring. Everything I dug up is in pure pumice.

Here's a subalpine larch:


And the root ball of a different one. I'm bare rooting several and keeping the dirt intact on several, like below. We'll see if it matters in a year or two:


And here's a tiny Western larch I dug up because of its color. The needles look healthy. Anyone seen this before? The yellow/green behind is a different tree.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I think keeping the roots from freezing is not a good idea. These trees need the cold as part of their whole year cycle. Interfere with that cycle at your great peril. Seeds of Western Larch are adapted to given elevations, "...western larch showed less genetic differentiation across the same environmental change than other conifers. Elevation was responsible for the largest genetic difference; Rehfeldt recommended limiting movement of (seeds of) this species to 1500 feet in elevation within a locality. A number of traits tended to vary latitudinally, especially tolerance of foliar disease and survival..."

Given that the seeds should be kept within a range, the trees themselves would, I speculate, be even more adapted to a given set of parameters. I also speculate that Redmond at ~46 elevation is going to really, really different from the surround mountains. IMHO

 

[andrewiles]

I think keeping the roots from freezing is not a good idea. These trees need the cold as part of their whole year cycle. Interfere with that cycle at your great peril. Seeds of Western Larch are adapted to given elevations, "...western larch showed less genetic differentiation across the same environmental change than other conifers. Elevation was responsible for the largest genetic difference; Rehfeldt recommended limiting movement of (seeds of) this species to 1500 feet in elevation within a locality. A number of traits tended to vary latitudinally, especially tolerance of foliar disease and survival..."

Given that the seeds should be kept within a range, the trees themselves would, I speculate, be even more adapted to a given set of parameters. I also speculate that Redmond at ~46 elevation is going to really, really different from the surround mountains. IMHO

You may be right. This is my first year trying to grow these. I've read that with many species, protecting them from freezing their first winter after transplant, esp. a fall transplant, is an important success factor.

Western larches can grow in the landscape here, though they are not that common. And I've seen them locally as bonsai too. I haven't seen subalpine larches, which tend to grow higher.

So yeah, goal here is to learn. Maybe I'll split the fall transplants into two lots, and keep one on heat and one unheated.

 

[andrewiles]

Somewhat off topic but another data point from this spring. I had two collecting trips, one in early May and one in early June. These were at different elevations and the larches were at the same stage in both cases. I had a higher success rate on the latter outing. 100% vs 50%.

It's a small sample size so hard to say much about it. One difference that seems important is that the mean daily temps at my house in the month after collection for the May trees was 55F, while for the June trees it was 67F. Perhaps the higher temps in the second group helped kick start root development.