The 2024 Yamadori/Collecting Thread

[Cajunrider]

I found a washout line created by storm water. It is not a creek or canal, just a line of intermittent low spots. Along that line are some interesting BCs. 2 hours treking that line and I found one I want. Pictures will come later. .

In a large 36x24 tub. It is drool worthy for me. I cannot wait to develop this tree.

 

[The Barber]

In a large 36x24 tub. It is drool worthy for me. I cannot wait to develop this tree.
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Oooo, nice find, got more ruffles than a Victorian era dress.

 

[bonsaiwood]

The high country is finally starting to thaw out, and this small white spruce caught my eye yesterday while poking around near the snow line. Came right out of the freshly saturated soil with quick tug, and with virtually all its roots. Nice natural movement. Haven’t touched it other than sticking it in a training box. Should be a lot of fun to style in a few years.

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The bends on the trunk do look very natural. You got yourself a good one.

 

[Esolin]

The yard juniper I dug in February has started to push a little growth in a number of places. (Yay!) Gave it a little fertilizer for the first time today.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

So I’m only 1/2 way to calling this a success . This was collected early spring . It’s common needle juniper . From a granite rock crack. My experience and others . With this species is . It’s arguable the toughest tree in the north east to collect successfully. So far it’s had a initial flush of growth . And sections are starting a second flush . It even has a few berries . That I decided to allow to mature . My experience leads me to . Considering success when you successfully. Get past the first repot . May not be clear in the pics . It has a main slanted trunk . With roots underneath . And then a foot long section . Down the box to another section with roots . Been thinking I may try to graft something to this second set of roots. As eventually the main tree will just be the section . With the slanted main trunk . Plan is to go multiple years. Before the risky first repot . Max health . Of course open to any thoughts . Very happy so far this is the only one I have . Since my second go at bonsai . They have a rugged demeanour. That is all there own .

 

[Cajunrider]

Defeat.
I am admitting defeat on 4 trees this year. I tried my best after collection yet they simply won’t wake up. I see some borer’s holes on one so that one may have due causes but the other threes were healthy when I took them.

I wonder what extra things I can do to improve their survival chances.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

Defeat.
I am admitting defeat on 4 trees this year. I tried my best after collection yet they simply won’t wake up. I see some borer’s holes on one so that one may have due causes but the other threes were healthy when I took them.

I wonder what extra things I can do to improve their survival chances.

Your success rate as far as I can tell is better than most . Especially against someone like me from the north . Up here the short summer and cold winter requires less radical action ( more roots ) and as far as I’m concerned . Spring collection . To supply max time for recovery before the test of the cold . I’m sure you have already experimented . But I would be very interested in fall collecting . If I lived in your enviro . The slow down of growth and natural . Growth cycle of tissue . Compared to foliage . Should offer a advantage . Of preparedness for spring .

 

[Cajunrider]

Your success rate as far as I can tell is better than most . Especially against someone like me from the north . Up here the short summer and cold winter requires less radical action ( more roots ) and as far as I’m concerned . Spring collection . To supply max time for recovery before the test of the cold . I’m sure you have already experimented . But I would be very interested in fall collecting . If I lived in your enviro . The slow down of growth and natural . Growth cycle of tissue . Compared to foliage . Should offer a advantage . Of preparedness for spring .

My success rate for BC is 90+% for Jan-July. Aug and December is 80. Sept and October is 65.
By the way, my collection is not based on my schedule alone. Quite a few times trees were collected based on work on the ground. Out of season or not, they are either collected or removed by other means.

I am told that after this past year, there won’t be ground work of this scale so this was an exceptional year. With that I wound up with quite a few trees for my last full year in Louisiana.

 

[Cajunrider]

Your success rate as far as I can tell is better than most . Especially against someone like me from the north . Up here the short summer and cold winter requires less radical action ( more roots ) and as far as I’m concerned . Spring collection . To supply max time for recovery before the test of the cold . I’m sure you have already experimented . But I would be very interested in fall collecting . If I lived in your enviro . The slow down of growth and natural . Growth cycle of tissue . Compared to foliage . Should offer a advantage . Of preparedness for spring .

I checked my timeline and looked for reasons why they died.
1 tree died because it was very weak with borer holes all over the trunk. I consider that natural causes. Tree had no energy to recover from collection.
2 trees died because I collected them at lunch time and unexpectedly had to work late that day. Even though they were covered, the roots of those trees were likely cooked in the heat.
1 tree died because I went ahead with a bottom trunk split at collection time. Apparently, that was too much for the tree to recover. I was too fawking confident of my skills

 

[Cajunrider]

Wow.
I am near the close of likely my last collection season in the South. I take a look at this thread and see 34 pages! Thanks everyone for participating. I have been reading this thread every few days. Lots of information are imbedded in all the posts.

 

[Cajunrider]

In a large 36x24 tub. It is drool worthy for me. I cannot wait to develop this tree.
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I see one bud pops out this morning. It wasn't there yesterday.
You probably can tell that I've been peeping around that Victorian dress.

 

[ponderingsage]

So I’m only 1/2 way to calling this a success . This was collected early spring . It’s common needle juniper . From a granite rock crack. My experience and others . With this species is . It’s arguable the toughest tree in the north east to collect successfully. So far it’s had a initial flush of growth . And sections are starting a second flush . It even has a few berries . That I decided to allow to mature . My experience leads me to . Considering success when you successfully. Get past the first repot . May not be clear in the pics . It has a main slanted trunk . With roots underneath . And then a foot long section . Down the box to another section with roots . Been thinking I may try to graft something to this second set of roots. As eventually the main tree will just be the section . With the slanted main trunk . Plan is to go multiple years. Before the risky first repot . Max health . Of course open to any thoughts . Very happy so far this is the only one I have . Since my second go at bonsai . They have a rugged demeanour. That is all there own .

Bravo!
I’m not even trying them.. have enough trouble keeping western juniper alive.

 

[ponderingsage]

Here is a small progression of a Siberian elm collected in April.
Love these “weed”trees.

 

[Cajunrider]

I went to the river, found a BC that looked stunted with a very sparse top, I cut around the bottom but found few roots except for a BIG tap root. So I tied a rope around the trunk and pulled it with my truck, hoping to lean the tree over and cut the big tap root. I barely pulled the tree and it snapped right away. I wound up with a stump with barely any root and the main root severed. I haven't examined the root yet, but I suspect some insects bored into it. With that the tree is not likely to survive.

I went back to join my friends for lunch. They were doing fish fry and catfish court bouillon. All is alright in my simple world.

 

[Cajunrider]

I went to the river, found a BC that looked stunted with a very sparse top, I cut around the bottom but found few roots except for a BIG tap root. So I tied a rope around the trunk and pulled it with my truck, hoping to lean the tree over and cut the big tap root. I barely pulled the tree and it snapped right away. I wound up with a stump with barely any root and the main root severed. I haven't examined the root yet, but I suspect some insects bored into it. With that the tree is not likely to survive.

I went back to join my friends for lunch. They were doing fish fry and catfish court bouillon. All is alright in my simple world.

I doused the tree with insecticide, injecting the liquid into every hole. Now potted, it is up to the tree to survive. Where it was, the tree was dying.
By the way, just in case anyone wonders, the tree was on my friend’s land, away from navigable water so it was legal to take it.

 

[The Barber]

This Americam beech got munched on hard right after it's initial push by a rabbit, didn't expect it to have enough energy left to recover. Appears to be doing great now.

 

[ShadyStump]

I went to the river, found a BC that looked stunted with a very sparse top, I cut around the bottom but found few roots except for a BIG tap root. So I tied a rope around the trunk and pulled it with my truck, hoping to lean the tree over and cut the big tap root. I barely pulled the tree and it snapped right away. I wound up with a stump with barely any root and the main root severed. I haven't examined the root yet, but I suspect some insects bored into it. With that the tree is not likely to survive.

I went back to join my friends for lunch. They were doing fish fry and catfish court bouillon. All is alright in my simple world.

See, I knew you needed that bed mount for the chain hoist. Coulda pulled it straight up.

 

[Cajunrider]

4 hours and the rewards were a couple keeper trees.
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Budded 3 weeks later.

 

[Cajunrider]

4 hours and the rewards were a couple keeper trees.
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Guan dao is budding hard. I will update in a few weeks.

 

[Cajunrider]

Never before had I named a tree right at collection time but today

Twisted Sista!