Am I crazy?

Dav4

I have the oportunity to collect some urban yamadori. Most of the trees are mature yew, 20-40 years old, planted as hedges in most cases ( a few are nice 8" diamater trunks). There are several juniper mixed in. I'd prefer to wait until March/April to collect, but some of the trees will be ripped out in January/February. What do you think the chances are of these fairly large, mature trees have of surviving. We've had an extremely mild early winter, like the rest of the East coast, and its likely to continue. Any collected tree will go into an unheated/unattached garage, pots mulched to hopefully prevent freezing, until spring. I figure this is a better time to collect then the heat of summer, but I don't want to kill myself digging these trees only to have them all go belly up on me. Any thoughts or similar experiences appreciated.

Dave

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Bonsai Barry

Living in mild climates, I'm not a good resource, but hopefully my reply might generate some interest.

I say go for it. If the trees are dormant then I would think they would stand a chance of survival. If they die you can sell them on e-bay.

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Bonsai Barry

"Our talent lies in our choices."

thatfredguy

I think you have some good possibilities, and the time of year seems OK. I rescued 2 yew trunks from a yard in late September, and they seem to be surviving. You're right about the heat of Summer being worst conditions. I think your unheated garage sounds like it would work.

You get such great trunk work with a plant of this type. Take extra care to dig out as much root as you can. The old rule for roses works in reverse. The saying was to dig a $50 hole for a $5 rose bush, so you want to expend extra effort on digging out your trees.

tachigi

Dav, Winter is my favorite time to collect. There in dormancy, the stress of coming out of the ground is minimized. Keep the root ball protected from freezing temps. I have kept my collected trees in a double bagged hefty trash liners with moist mulch and sealed. They survive the winter great and in the spring there ready to go. I know half a dozen guys up your way that are out collecting. So what are you waiting for....

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Tom

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Dav4

Thanks for the responses. Tachigi, I was surprised to here you say people are actively collecting in the Northeast right now. Usually, the ground is frozen solid and stays that way until March. Not this year, so why not, I suppose. The rub will be keeping the pots from freezing, which could still happen in my garage if we ever get seasonally cold temps in Jan/Feb. Any way, I will hopefully have some successes to report later this year. Thanks,

Dave

rockm

"We've had an extremely mild early winter, like the rest of the East coast, and its likely to continue."

How do you know it's likely to continue? That's the problem with being enthusiastic and having temptation come your way. In Mass., I'd bet not very many people are collecting much of anything. Forecasts here in the Middle Atlantic states are calling for the bottom to drop out of the high temps in the middle of the month.

I don't collect anything here in Va. until mid-March. Winter collection can be particularly stressful on evergreens, since they respire through their foliage in the winter-which can dry them out when they have no roots to draw miosture with. You can minimize that with Wilt-proof spray, but it's still a problem.

Frozen cut roots on newly collected older junipers isn't a good thing. Misting junipers--which is probably going to be part of aftercare in collecting such older specimens--could be out of the question since you'd be turning them into blocks of ice if you don't have a frost free place to keep them until winter passes.

Don't make the assumption that the winter is going to be mild all the way through. There is probably still some pretty cold weather ahead.

If you're left with no choice but to collect them now, the point about when to dig them is kind of beside the point

Dav4

Thanks for the input, Mark. A few things concerning your responses to my post. My remarks concerning the weather are based on the fact that it is an El Nino year out in the Pacific, which generally means a milder, wetter winter in the Northeast. That's exactly what we've experienced so far...no guarrantee it will continue but recent weather history indicates it will likely persist thru the winter. Will it get colder? Absolutely...but we're more likely to have more above average temps then below average temps.

As I stated in the original post, late March/early April is ideal collecting time for me. I just wanted to know if anyone, hopefully in a similar part of the country, had any experience collecting in mid winter. I was actually surprised when Tachigi mentioned that he is aware of people collecting in my general area right now, but I'm certainly not going to doubt him...he seems to know his stuff, as do you.

Finally, I know there is more risk collecting now and maintaining the transplants until spring, but as you say, it is a moot point if I want the tree and its going to be torn out shortly. I needed to gather as much info...good or bad, before taking the plunge. I will most likely collect several trees over the next few weeks...we'll see what the spring brings. Thanks,

Dave

ps I think some of the nicer trees won't be ripped out this year an will not need to be collected until spring

tachigi

Dav, Just talked to a few of the crew up your way (The crew is the Hoyoku bunch). They collected last week end and said that the ground was very digable ( is that a word ) Even Colin said he might venture out. You might venture out to Bonsai West if your looking for digging partners. Theres always someone there that wants to play in the dirt.

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Tom

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