Rocky Mountain Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga mensiesii, var. glauca)

[PiñonJ]

Went collecting in the mountains today and found this lying down on a boulder under a mature Doug fir.

 

[Vance Wood]

I love the potential of the tree, I love Doug Firs one of the most ignored that shouldn't be ignored species of tree on the Continent. Love the tree absolutely hate the pot. Why did you put it in some thing like that?

I know you need to reduce the length of the root mass but in order to do that you need to provide the tree with room to spread out. With this pot you only encourage it to continue to grow deep.

 

[Giga]

I love the tree as well but I think I would have made a training flat or something-more shallow and wide- you may have issues with that one down the road with deeper roots.

 

[PiñonJ]

The tree was growing horizontally on the rock. To get the trunk vertical, I had to plant it in something deep enough for the roots. I had this pot lying around and it had the right dimensions. I'm hoping the pumice mix I planted it in will encourage fine root growth so I can reduce the height of the root mass. The roots are essentially in a plane right now, so there is plenty of room for growth.

 

[Bunjeh]

Keep this in the shade and well watered for now. Also, be sure to protect the roots this winter. I dug up several of these last year and only 20% survived.

 

[PiñonJ]

Keep this in the shade and well watered for now. Also, be sure to protect the roots this winter. I dug up several of these last year and only 20% survived.

Thanks for the tips. How were yours situated for the winter?

 

[Bunjeh]

Thanks for the tips. How were yours situated for the winter?

I live in the Pacific NW so,..being that they were native I simply left them on the benches. We had a couple of nights in Dec that fell below 20 degrees and anything that was on a bench with air circulating below never recovered. The ones that survived were those that were in contact with the ground.

 

[0soyoung]

Douglas fir can be conditioned to survive temperatures of -30F. It all depends on a few cycles of light to hard freezing to sugar-up the cellular fluids. A sudden hard freeze at the end of growing season is what you really need to worry about. Regardless, it is always a good idea to have your trees on the ground during the winter, just as Bunjeh and I have learned the hard way.

 

[PiñonJ]

Where this tree was growing, it regularly gets below zero in the winter, but I think for its first winter here I'll bury the pot.

 

[PiñonJ]

Buds are opening nicely. Is that a good sign, or would it happen regardless of condition?

 

[Vance Wood]

I think the tree is going to be OK, but that should not be taken as a sign you can instantly abuse the tree further. I would give it two seasons to gain strength.