Tamarack forest plan

[bray]

Wanted to share a plan for these collected trees. I dug up these 5 tamaracks (with a couple of others) in the spring of 2023. These 5 had rather unremarkable trunks but did have some taper and plenty of low branching. When I dug them, my plan was to try a forest. They grew pretty well in 2023 growing season without me touching them except a little off the top. In 2024 they continued to grow well, and I did prune some for the first half of the year to keep them in control. I don't think I did any pruning in the fall leaving that for when the trees were put together this spring. I knew branches were going to have to be removed to get the trees close together during the planting, so I left further pruning for then.
I had zero experience collecting larch of any kind but of the 9 I collected 8 survived. They were collected from a field that was once a rock filled heavy equipment parking lot for a construction site. This made the rootballs pretty flat and not too difficult to collect if you like digging in rocks. I collected them early compared to what I see recommended and so when I collected them a lot of ground soil was kept including plenty of rocks, which makes the boxes pretty heavy right now. Because of this I am thinking the best plan to put these trees together is as follows. I am thinking a forest of 2 groups of trees, one with 2 trees and another with 3. I don't know how heavy the 5 tree forest will be and can I manage it in the future, so I think I'll box up 2 trees together and the other 3 in another box. Then once I determine if I can handle the large forest I can put the 2 groups together in a couple of years. Since I don't really know, in detail what my rootballs look like this plan will let me know how close I can get all the trees together. Maybe I can't get all the trees close together and they stay as 2 plantings.
Alot of words to ask a couple of questions:
-would you do the temporary plantings or just throw them all together now
-or would you work the roots of each tree replant them individually and have a better plan for putting them together in a couple of years

This may be a very ambitious plan for me with trees this large, but it is what I collected them for. Nothing ventured nothing gained.



I not been very good or faithful at taking pictures of my trees but it something I need to get better at. I should have added something for scale but the pvc cups are 1 1/4" id.
Thanks in advance for any advice and wish me luck.

 

[rusticana]

Wanted to share a plan for these collected trees. I dug up these 5 tamaracks (with a couple of others) in the spring of 2023. These 5 had rather unremarkable trunks but did have some taper and plenty of low branching. When I dug them, my plan was to try a forest. They grew pretty well in 2023 growing season without me touching them except a little off the top. In 2024 they continued to grow well, and I did prune some for the first half of the year to keep them in control. I don't think I did any pruning in the fall leaving that for when the trees were put together this spring. I knew branches were going to have to be removed to get the trees close together during the planting, so I left further pruning for then.
I had zero experience collecting larch of any kind but of the 9 I collected 8 survived. They were collected from a field that was once a rock filled heavy equipment parking lot for a construction site. This made the rootballs pretty flat and not too difficult to collect if you like digging in rocks. I collected them early compared to what I see recommended and so when I collected them a lot of ground soil was kept including plenty of rocks, which makes the boxes pretty heavy right now. Because of this I am thinking the best plan to put these trees together is as follows. I am thinking a forest of 2 groups of trees, one with 2 trees and another with 3. I don't know how heavy the 5 tree forest will be and can I manage it in the future, so I think I'll box up 2 trees together and the other 3 in another box. Then once I determine if I can handle the large forest I can put the 2 groups together in a couple of years. Since I don't really know, in detail what my rootballs look like this plan will let me know how close I can get all the trees together. Maybe I can't get all the trees close together and they stay as 2 plantings.
Alot of words to ask a couple of questions:
-would you do the temporary plantings or just throw them all together now
-or would you work the roots of each tree replant them individually and have a better plan for putting them together in a couple of years

This may be a very ambitious plan for me with trees this large, but it is what I collected them for. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

View attachment 588444

I not been very good or faithful at taking pictures of my trees but it something I need to get better at. I should have added something for scale but the pvc cups are 1 1/4" id.
Thanks in advance for any advice and wish me luck.

I'd put them all together now. But aren't you running late? My trees are now showing some green. But its warmer here. Dug up 25 yrs ago. I always do sort of a decandling operation back to the first wirl. Your going to need a bigger pot. Ha! Good luck.

 

[bray]

No not too late here, most of the snow on the ground finally melted last week, but we got close to 5 inches of new snow last night. The tamaracks haven't shown any bud swelling yet.
As far as the plan for the trees, I going to do with what the rootballs will let me. If the roots let me get them as close together as I want without too much cutting, I will put them all together. I am thinking I will start them in a grow box, since I can customize the size and then I'll know what size of pot I will need in the future. Pot sticker price shock is in my future. ;-)
I am really excited to get the trees put together. I have only had the trees 2 growing seasons but I haven't done much pruning/shaping on them because I wanted to see how the trees fit together before I cut off much of anything.
Note to self: patience grasshopper. (oops ,showing my age)
Thanks for your feedback

 

[stewarjm192]

I think when they start moving you can plant them in the full forest as you wish. Id plant all the trees, rather than slim your number down to 5. If one Dies at 5, you have 4 and that is not fun for many reasons, if one dies at 8 your left with 7 and thats a much more pleasing number. I would plant them together now in a large grow-box. I would tease out and prune the sections of root ball-needed to place the trunks close together, and where you want them. If you cut back hard in a say 20-30% area to force a rootball close to another, and leave the other section untouched, the tree should survive, and you can start getting things close together, which is always the hard part with established trees going into a forrest. The finished product may be heavy wioth all the rocky soil, but it will be worth it in terms of tree health.... then once established as a forrest, you can begin at the next repot teasing out other sections of original soil and replacing with bonsai soil.

Where in NY are you. The trees in the capital district havent begun moving outside yet, but thats what the cold frame is for!

 

[bray]

Where in NY are you.

I live in Massena NY which is right on the St Lawerence River. I am about 5 miles from the river as a bird flies. Will be in DC in a couple of weeks for a week visit. Do plan to stop by the national collection, hope they are beginning to move.
I have built several forest plantings before but not with trees this large, so I am kind of in new territory for me. Good comment on a more aggressive tease of the roots on the sides near other trees and not so much on the other areas. I will keep that in mind as I build the forest.
Thanks for your help.