New Red Oak Growing in my Garden, Looking to Make it a new Addition to my Bonsai.

[austindecker]

The other day as I was gardening I noticed these new plants that were growing in my garden that most definitely did not look like weeds. After some digging in the dirt to find a root source I realized they were growing from some acorns that Im sure some squirrel decided to bury in my garden. I have a few oak trees around my house that these acorns could have fallen from and so after some research I have come to the opinion that they are probably Northern Red Oak. Does anyone have any experience with growing a Red Oak from a seedling and then successfully potting it and turning it into a Bonsai? I would love to take these two (maybe 3) specimens and seeing what I can do with them but the only experience I have with Bonsai is tropical trees, and certainly not from a seedling. Anyone advice of pointers on how any of you have been successful or unsuccessful in doing this would be very appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Potawatomi13]

Personally have three 2013 seedlings from fellow club member in 2014. Will see if can get some pics soon. This is 7th growing season for them and each has different level of vigor.

 

[Gsquared]

Give them a little trunk movement while they are super bendy. I have a volunteer hawthorn that will have some nice curves down low some day. For now it is a toothpick. A bendy toothpick.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Oaks can make good bonsai, but they are slow to develop. You baby in your avatar photo will be finishing their PhD, before a seedling oak will look like much. Northern red oak has relatively smooth bark compared to some of the other oaks. Its autumn color is dull, red, but more dull brown-red than a bright color. There are other oaks that have better shape if you are going to put in the time investment.

Fully winter hardy to zone 3, and the roughest, most coarse bark oak that is hardy in the northern states is the bur oak. The big leaves reduce to sizes similar to most oak bonsai after you get some ramification. So if you need a cold hardy oak, try bur oak.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

For oak bonsai, the only route that is less than 30 to 50 years from seed is to harvest a tree from the wild that already has the first 50 to 100 years of growing out of the way. Not trying to be a downer, but oaks really are slow to develop as bonsai.

 

[Phobia62]

i just found a spot that has a couple of eastern red oak seedlings close to a creekside. I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to pull these up for bonsai training???

 

[Javaman4373]

We have a lot of red oak, chestnut oak, and some white oak in our forest. I have transplanted white oak successfully and now have some trees that are 30 ft high that I transplanted. My efforts to transplant red oaks that were 3 or 4 ft tall were usually thwarted by a tap root that was as long below ground as the tree was above ground. I guess if you find young trees growing on rocky ground without a big tap root, you could lift specimens that are say 10 years old to start as bonsai. Chestnut oak acorns will sprout in the fall the season they drop from the tree. Red oak acorns won't sprout until spring. We have one oak that our forester thought was most likely a hybrid between a red and white oak. The other possibility was a Chinquapin oak. Judging from our trees, I would think the chestnut oak would make the better oak bonsai. It develops an impressive rough bark.

 

[canoeguide]

Oaks can make good bonsai, but they are slow to develop. You baby in your avatar photo will be finishing their PhD, before a seedling oak will look like much. Northern red oak has relatively smooth bark compared to some of the other oaks. Its autumn color is dull, red, but more dull brown-red than a bright color. There are other oaks that have better shape if you are going to put in the time investment.

Fully winter hardy to zone 3, and the roughest, most coarse bark oak that is hardy in the northern states is the bur oak. The big leaves reduce to sizes similar to most oak bonsai after you get some ramification. So if you need a cold hardy oak, try bur oak.

Not to hijack a thread, but I'm curious @Leo in N E Illinois if you have any opinions on Q. ilicifolia, even though I'm sure they are not native where you live. Otherwise, I agree with the bur oak suggestion, even though I have no experience with them in bonsai cultivation. They are undervalued and fantastic native oaks though!

 

[Potawatomi13]

Apologies for horning in. Love Bear Oak(ilicifolia)leaves. A must have one day when room permits. Natural shrubby growth habit so ought to make great bonsai.

 

[sorce]

Thanks for bumping this thread.

That's a cute ass baby!

Sorce

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Not to hijack a thread, but I'm curious @Leo in N E Illinois if you have any opinions on Q. ilicifolia, even though I'm sure they are not native where you live. Otherwise, I agree with the bur oak suggestion, even though I have no experience with them in bonsai cultivation. They are undervalued and fantastic native oaks though!

To the best of my knowledge, I have never seen a Quercus Ilicifolia, so I could not tell you anything except conjecture. I'd assume they could make excellent bonsai.

One issue with shrubby species, like Amelanchier (I have first hand experience with Amelanchier), or the shrubby oaks that stay small, less than 2 meters, and often sucker, is they do not form large diameter trunks. This is okay for shohin, but oaks in general the leaves do not reduce to the tiny sizes needed for shohin trees. So for medium size bonsai, shrubby oaks may have trouble developing an adequate size trunk to pull off the image of an old tree. - But again, I am working from conjecture. For an Oak bonsai, in the 24 to 36 inch tall range ( 0.66 to 1 meter ). you really need a 4 to 8 inch diameter trunk (10 cm to 20 cm diameter). With the larger diameters being better for representing older trees.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

For oak bonsai, the only route that is less than 30 to 50 years from seed is to harvest a tree from the wild that already has the first 50 to 100 years of growing out of the way. Not trying to be a downer, but oaks really are slow to develop as bonsai.

This was a 3 inch nursery starter in 2017.
Now, it's hard to keep the new growth managed.

 

[canoeguide]

Apologies for horning in. Love Bear Oak(ilicifolia)leaves. A must have one day when room permits. Natural shrubby growth habit so ought to make great bonsai.

I need to do some more research on collecting oak and oak as bonsai, because I've got a neverending source of ilicifolia around where I live and on some property that I own. Going to flag a couple of decent bases for possible collection next spring!