Show us your Oak (Quercus) Pre-Bonsai

[JoeH]

Water Oak collected as a seedling over a year ago. Pot about the size of a Baseball. I know the wiring is crappy. it used to have two leaders about an inch up, where the scar is healing over pretty well. I may cut down the current apex soon. Maybe.

 

[CasAH]

I had this one marked in my yard up develop in the ground, tree branch took out the top last year so I went ahead and collected it. Not sure of the species? White oak maybe, any help on identification would be appreciatedView attachment 208285View attachment 208286View attachment 208287

Your oak is in the red oak family. The leaf edges come to a point and have a hair at the tip of each point.

White oak family has rounded points and no hairs on the tips.

 

[BillyBonesBonsai]

Here is my white English oak that i an training from a sappling. I still have a lot of work to do in terms of wiring and root training but im In love with it

 

[BillyBonesBonsai]

Here is my white English oak that i an training from a sappling. I still have a lot of work to do in terms of wiring and root training but im In love with itView attachment 210393

Does anyone else find the tap root to be very woody

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Definitely not pre-bonsai, but maybe some day...

Quercus ilex 1 1/2 years from seed. This is mostly this years’s growth. Last year it grew only 3 pairs of leaves.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Does anyone else find the tap root to be very woody

Yes. Is characteristic of most or all oaks. Needs to be shortened in stages from personal observation.

 

[BobbyLane]

Here's the Oak, a year on. its had a few quite hard cutbacks this season. trying to compact the image, still needs time
2018-09-20_07-16-01 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[Sthlmbonsai]

Here’s my oak pre-bonsai. Fairly small root system so I put it in a pot. Will go in the green house and we’ll see how it does in the spring.

 

[parhamr]

I have one Quercus garryana (Oregon White Oak) that I’ve had in training from 1-gallon nursery stock since 2014. It’s going to be an informal, naturalistic broom. Here it is today:


I think that’s the front, but here’s another option:


2015:


2016: (yes, there are mushrooms in this pic! I have it inoculated with symbiotic fungi)


It’s barking up nicely

 

[CWTurner]

Iberean Oak that I am growing out in the ground. You can see that I left it in its pot.

Next spring, I'll prune the (hopefully, stunted) taproot.
I may or may not remove that daughter trunk.
CW

 

[Tieball]

Iberean Oak that I am growing out in the ground. You can see that I left it in its pot.
View attachment 210876
Next spring, I'll prune the (hopefully, stunted) taproot.
I may or may not remove that daughter trunk.
CW

Nice. What are your trunk chopping thoughts right now? ....Or, is this a wait and see what grows before I think about chopping.

 

[_#1_]

Nice find Craig! How long had you have it in the ground? Pretty sure it'll backbud reliably.

My english oak I have in the ground (out of pot) grew like 4-5 feet last year and this year. And backbud all the way down to the base. The lower growths are really weak to almost dying from getting sanded out...

 

[Adair M]

Here’s a coastal oak:



I’m hoping it will look like something during my lifetime!

 

[CWTurner]

Nice. What are your trunk chopping thoughts right now? ....Or, is this a wait and see what grows before I think about chopping.

Definitely a trunk chop in its future. I'm watching that bark rise up the trunk. This will be a large (18"-24") tree if things progress well.

Nice find Craig! How long had you have it in the ground?

Funny you should ask that today. I got this two years ago at the Philadelphia Horticulture Society (PHS) plant dividend. PHS members get to choose from donated plants every September. (coincidently, today was another PHS dividend day. I got a free 2ft. Taxus Bacatta with extremely short needles)

I guess the root pruning this spring will determine what's next. It's been growing great and I hate to stunt it, but I assume that I'll need to get the roots under control.
CW
P.S. @Microscopic Love English Oak!

 

[Tieball]

Here’s a coastal oak:

I’m hoping it will look like something during my lifetime!

Nice....and I’m sure it will look like something during your lifetime....it already does. My Oak tree...well my stump anyway...is in need of some guidance and hope in my lifetime. I have no idea what to do with it yet. I’m “stumped” I guess.

I attached a couple photos of my Oak stump that keeps on growing. It was a leftover from a miscellaneous Oak chopped at ground level a few years ago while clearing a site. The stump was pulled out, root pruned and put in the box to see if it would continue to grow again. It did. Healthy. The trunk base at the soil is 3”. There is a very good root spread all around that is buried while growth continues. The roots are flat. No tap root. Buds well and grows every year even though ignored for the most part. Direction ideas are welcome....perhaps just put it back in the ground and let it grow to be a full tree is an option.

 

[CWTurner]

Look at some of @jeremy_norbury 's chubby little trees for inspiration.
CW

 

[CasAH]

English oak I got this Spring. It grew about two feet and started to bud lower this year.

 

[Marlon]

View attachment 159552View attachment 159553 Grey oak

wow!

 

[parhamr]

I’m also working on growing out some Quercus agrifolia seedlings. I obtained these as tiny plugs in early 2017 and slip-potted them in 1-gallon grow bags with coarse particles.



The right one is growing so much stronger than the left; I may pass along the left tree at BSOP.

I had wanted to make a classic oak style tree from the right seedling. It might also do well as an informal upright. I have a lot of time to go on these

 

[Potawatomi13]

Nice....and I’m sure it will look like something during your lifetime....it already does. My Oak tree...well my stump anyway...is in need of some guidance and hope in my lifetime. I have no idea what to do with it yet. I’m “stumped” I guess.

I attached a couple photos of my Oak stump that keeps on growing. It was a leftover from a miscellaneous Oak chopped at ground level a few years ago while clearing a site. The stump was pulled out, root pruned and put in the box to see if it would continue to grow again. It did. Healthy. The trunk base at the soil is 3”. There is a very good root spread all around that is buried while growth continues. The roots are flat. No tap root. Buds well and grows every year even though ignored for the most part. View attachment 210912View attachment 210913Direction ideas are welcome....perhaps just put it back in the ground and let it grow to be a full tree is an option.

Definite twin or triple trunk possibilities here with Great foundation. If wanting to bend present trunks do soon before too stiff to bend. Suggestion based on too straight growth presently. Good beginner start.