Collected Coast Oak

mike_p

I went on an oak dig with Master Katsumi Kinoshita of Monterey, CA, about 14 years ago. This is one I dug on that trip.
It's been somewhat neglected for awhile (shamefully, he said) and today I thought I should get busy. Trimming, wiring and a stout dose of fertilizer. September and October can be warm in the Bay Area, and I expect a flush of new growth before the rainey season sets in.
There's a branch on the left side of the trunk, a little more than halfway up. The story on this is: Several years ago when I was carving on the trunk, I cut off all the live parts of this branch, leaving a stub for jin without removing the bark. While painting lime sulfer on the shari, I painted the stub branch. About 6 months later a bud started to break. Interesting, I thought.
I used to worry about getting limesulfer on the live parts of a tree as I thought damage might be done. NOT SO! One less thing to worry about.
Height of this oak is 28 inches above the pot rim.

Mike

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mike_p

Photographing your bonsai can be instructive, as faults sometimes seem to standout more starkly. In this case, I decided I needed to continue the shari further down the base of the trunk, as the image shows.

Mike

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Vonsgardens

Mike,
Very, very sweet. It is nice to see a "non-conifer" showing the ravages of nature.... Makes a strong image, John

rschlafer

wow...that is a beautiful tree...do you have any before pictures?

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cbobgo

Mike, I've tried to collect a few oaks out here, but they all had tap roots that went down about 8-12 inches below the base of the tree before any lateral roots came out, so I stopped digging, as they were useless for bonsai.

So, I guess I'm wondering, in your collecting experience, how many oaks are actually collectable?

- bob

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mike_p

Bob, I haven't collected for a long time. Hard on the back. My oak experience was mostly in the Monterey area. There were always enough roots near the surface to insure good survivorability.
Maybe you should take the ones with roots lower down, and put them in a deep box. Eventually, you should get root growth higher up, especially if you score the trunk and use a rooting hormone, such as Dyna-gro KLN.
Kinoshita-san says to not give up on an oak for at least a year. My experience tells me not to give up for at least 2 years, and maybe 3.

Mike

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villia

Mike


You have a very unique style that I enjoy looking at and appreciating very much. Especially with your bunjin trees. Good tip about the lime sulphur as well, thanks for sharing...

Will_Heath

Mike,

Beautiful oak! I agree that the coloration change at the base is distracting but you seem to have that under control now. My few oaks look nowhere near as nice, thanks, great bonsai.

Bob,

Here in Michigan Oaks are like you describe with long tap roots and very little feeder roots close to the trunk. This spring I collected a smaller Oak and as usual I had almost zero fine roots. This time I planted it into a pot with a 1 inch layer of bonsai soil on the bottom and a 1 inch layer of fresh sphagnum moss on top of that. I then wired the Oak in and added another 1 inch of sphagnum moss on top and then another 1 inch of bonsai soil.

The Oak just sat there all year doing nothing, it never budded but the scratch test and the greenish color on the branches kept me from tossing it. Last week I pulled it out again and seen leaves and buds breaking, it has been adding growth daily now. This winter I'll sink the whole pot into the ground to protect what I know are new roots.

Fresh sphagnum moss has saved a few trees that had little or no feeder roots (think air layer) and I now know it also works well with Oaks. The time it took amazed me but gave me the confidence to try larger trees now.


Will

pdbbonsai

Mike,

I have always liked opening your threads for the surprises you bring. This oak is another fine gem. I enjoy your carvings on deciduous alot. The hardwoods you have available to you are bringing out the green monster in me. I unfortunately do not have access to that many good hardwoods (deciduous) in my hood. Thank you for showing this tree.

On a side note, and I havent searched here yet for this, but I was thinking that awhile back you did a pictorial (i think it was you) on carving tools, and carving in general. Perhaps over at IBC. If you havent done that here, could you manage to whip that up sometime, if you have time of course. I for one, would be grateful for another refresher on carving tools and technique.

Thanks again, for everything you do to contribute here.

Paul

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