Yamadori on the DAILY!

[SimonDuval]

Hi,
Finally the snow has melted in Quebec, and the yamadori season just started. Here are a few trees I collected in the last couple of days; hawthorns, buckthorns, loniceras, red maples, etc. Will post individual pictures here when (if) they leaf out. The majority of those will be for sale in two years.

 

[Poink88]

Nice haul.

Good luck with them!

 

[Zach Smith]

Hi,
Finally the snow has melted in Quebec, and the yamadori season just started. Here are a few trees I collected in the last couple of days; hawthorns, buckthorns, loniceras, red maples, etc. Will post individual pictures here when (if) they leaf out. The majority of those will be for sale in two years.

Did you seal the ends of those chops? Survival rates will be much better.

Zach

 

[fourteener]

I plan on going collecting tomorrow. The one thing that hinders my enthusiasm...like fishing...if you catch 'em, you have to clean'em. Luckily I'm planning on making a forest, so it'll only be one pot!!

 

[Poink88]

The one thing that hinders my enthusiasm...like fishing...if you catch 'em, you have to clean'em.

LOL. Very true. It usually takes me twice as long to clean and pot a tree than the time I spend collecting it.

Luckily, I enjoy both (and yeah, I enjoy maintenance work too).

 

[SimonDuval]

Did you seal the ends of those chops? Survival rates will be much better.

Zach

Most of these cuts were done last fall, I left several dozens trees in the ground too that I will start to train (grow new leaders) while in the ground and collect in a few years.

 

[Zach Smith]

Most of these cuts were done last fall, I left several dozens trees in the ground too that I will start to train (grow new leaders) while in the ground and collect in a few years.

The advice remains. Always seal those chops. They're sapwood open to the air, and the moisture is drawn out of the tree from it. Trust one who's made all the mistakes a collector can make.

Zach

 

[SimonDuval]

Zach, since these are cut in the fall, the sapwood dries out in the winter, causing about 1-2 inches of die-back at the top of the tree. That's why you see that all these are cut much higher than they will be eventually. Next year, I will reduce their height. I've done this for many years up here in the frozen north and never had any loss, collecting about 60-90 trees each year.

Have a good day,

 

[jkd2572]

The cleaning and the potting I find fun. It's like a victory dance the digging out of the ground is what I hate. We should probably team up.

 

[Zach Smith]

Zach, since these are cut in the fall, the sapwood dries out in the winter, causing about 1-2 inches of die-back at the top of the tree. That's why you see that all these are cut much higher than they will be eventually. Next year, I will reduce their height. I've done this for many years up here in the frozen north and never had any loss, collecting about 60-90 trees each year.

Have a good day,

If it works for you then keep doing it! I'm far far south of you and can't do what you do.

Zach

 

[SimonDuval]

So many trees left to collect, so little time, buds are swelling hard around here. Gotta keep digging!! Some of the trees I have collected are already starting to push new buds, pictures below. Look at the last one, it has decided to push about about 50 buds right from the base, luckily, it also has a few on the main trunk which I should be able to work with, decent nebari too I think

 

[cmeg1]

Wow,someone has mass amount of watering with them colanders.Hope your efforts turn out for you.Very interesting.

 

[SimonDuval]

cmeg1, not so much, it's surprisingly cool in the summer up here, and summer doesn't last long. Trees are placed in partial shade when temperatures go up over 77-80F, and watered twice a day. Those "high" temps usually doesn't last long and I can usually get away with 1 watering per day.
The idea is to get as much air as possible in the root system to get the fastest and strongest growth since our season is so short.

 

[cmeg1]

cmeg1, not so much, it's surprisingly cool in the summer up here, and summer doesn't last long. Trees are placed in partial shade when temperatures go up over 77-80F, and watered twice a day. Those "high" temps usually doesn't last long and I can usually get away with 1 watering per day.
The idea is to get as much air as possible in the root system to get the fastest and strongest growth since our season is so short.

Oh, I see.temp does make the difference.You certainly Are way up north.Sounds like a great plan.I am growing all my trees in colanders also.

 

[jquast]

I like the upper most left one in the white container.

 

[SimonDuval]

Urban Yard-adori this time. I don't work with Junipers usually but this one caught my eye, it was also going to be removed anyway. This is officially the last tree I will be collecting this spring, now is time to build some new benches, acclimate the seedlings outside and prepare for the cutting/air layering season while planning the fall yamadori season, one that lasts longer at least!

Enjoy life people,

 

[SimonDuval]

Hi Zach,
Here is a little example, this one was chopped this spring just before collecting, no cut paste applied. Here it is now, about 1 month later, pushing a bud 8mm from the chop.
Some of the trees are doing really good; buckthorns, red maples, honeysuckle. This year, the hawthorns were much slower to respond, but the warm temperatures are just starting here so I'm not too worried.

 

[SimonDuval]

Little update

Here are a few updates on some of the trees
1. Red maple, nice little twist at the base when colander is tilted. Will see how small we can reduce the leaves on this one with our short growing season and very little fertilizer.
2. This is why I grow all yamadoris in colanders, self root pruning at its best! By the way guys, this is planted in 2/3 turface, but don't do this, turface is BAD!
3. Rhamnus frangula, the top of this will be air-layered next year and the base developed with the first right branch. A nice nebari is hidden under the soil line.

 

[SimonDuval]

These two are Rhamnus Cathartica, really invasive species around here, removing them from the habitat is good, we'll see if we can turn them into good bonsai. Collected several dozens this spring, here are two odd ones.
1. This one is well, different! Tilting it would mean I would lose some of the nebari, might just get rid of the portion of the trunk going to the right. Really don't know.
2. This one I call the snake, has a massive nebari that curls around itself, hard to capture in picture. Don't know where I'm going with this, some major carving is planned for next spring.