Collecting Scots Pine

Arnie

I have the opportunity to collect some old craggy Pines from a Scottish Estate in the near future. I planned to take as much root ball as possible, plant in a mix of grit 50% Akadama 30% and a mix of sived peat and chopped sphagnum moss with a layer of Sphagnum moss worked into the surface.

I plannned to water the trees in with a weak B1 solution and keep in a shady area until signs of growth, watering only when neccessary to promote adventurous root growth.

Just would like some feedback on whether I'm giving myself a good chance of success or am i missing something?

Thanks - Arnie

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TreeBay

Hi Arnie,

It sounds like you have a good plan. Whatever you can do to balance the foliage with the collected root mass is a great idea. Don't plan to remove the field soil at the first planting. Remember that it is the fine feeder roots, not the long anchoring roots that do most of the work of hydrating the plant. You might end up trimming a good portion of the foliage to bring it into balance with what you can collect. Be sure to trim the tips of the roots cleanly with a sharp pair of shears. Cut all the exposed roots just a little to help promote rootlet development Bring twine, bags and newspaper to bundle the rootball as much as you can to prevent it from breaking up. Plenty of water and a sprayer are good to have too.

Warmth will help trigger root development. You don't say when the collecting is going to be done, but if you can keep the humidity up (through rainfall, dew or artificial means) in the kind of climate you have there in the UK winter I wouldn't expect problems having the plants in full exposure from fall through spring.

The mix you're using seems a little heavy on the organic side to me. I would prefer something that drains faster. That means I would have to water more but I think it gives better control, and every time you water it pulls oxygen into the root system.

A lot is going to depend on factors that are outside your control. About the only thing I think you've left out is the experienced collector guy to go with you!

Have fun!

Matt

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Arnie

Thanks. Is it safe to collect these trees now? I know the start of Spring would probably be better, but i'd like to get them while the agreement with the landowner is fresh.......and I doubt my wife will appreciate a collecting trip a few weeks before our first baby is due

An experienced helper would be good, also to share the 550 mile drive there!
But the landowner has requested I keep the location to myself - its going to be a hard 3 days. 10 hour drive, days searching/collecting then 10 hours back.

Alasdair

my advice would be to not stay in a tent, this time of year you would wake up in an ice cube! If you use more of a 70% grit30% organic it will probably suit it better. that said, i have collected in scotland not too long ago and used the local sphagnum moss to cover the root ball before using freezer bags to hold it all together. Gota love the freezer bags, they seem made for the job!

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Arnie

Back from the trip to Scotland......all these trees are old and have been deer and sheep nibbled, when you pull back the branches and carpet of moss some of the trunks are amazing! it was worth a 1200 mile round trip. Problem is the ground is quiet rocky and taking a good root ball was near on impossible as the tap roots ran for ever. I plan to go back and prepare some of the best pines to lift next Spring.

Attached Images

	ancientpines.jpg (55.5 KB, 185 views)
	pine2.jpg (50.6 KB, 204 views)
	spruceandpines.jpeg (50.1 KB, 126 views)

Arnie

another one I collected.

Attached Images

pine1.jpg (60.4 KB, 183 views)

Walter_Pall

Arnie,

I wrote this today, not realizing that you have already done it.

'The timing of this is crucial. I would do it when the buds have clearly started to open. This is end of Apridl, beginning of May in my area. It may be similar in your area. Believe me, In have collected more than one hundred scots pines and several hundred mugo pines.
And then I would not at all try to balance the roots and the crown. The tree is much better in doing this. I would trim the crown just a little in order to keep as much foliage as possible. The tree needs this for producing new roots. After a year or even later, when the tree clearly has produced a lot of new roots you can slowly start to cut back the crown, not earlier. The crown will have a tendency to dry out in the first few weeks. Be sure to mist it and keep it moist as much as possible. Go to Brent's site (evergreen garden) and forget what you read in normal bonsai books about this. It is a bonsai myth, not backed by those who really have experience.'

The timing was the worst of the whole year and you cut back far too much. Sorry, I wish you luck.
I am writng so harsh because I am very angry. Why in the world do such a lot of people have to make the same mistakes and kill thousands of trees every year? I did not know better ten to twenty years ago and had to kill an awful lot of trees to learn all this. But now there should be enough information about this around to avoid major mistakes.

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Walter Pall

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TreeBay

It would have been interesting to have a photo the tree as it appeared after it was was extracted. I am interested in the quality of the root system.

Regards,

Matt

P.S. I can't really tell how much foliage your removed because the photos are cropped pretty tightly and the branches run off the frame.

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Will_Heath

With pines, conifers, and to a certain extent, larches and junipers, you can greatly harm the collected tree by cutting back the foliage too much. You can greatly shock these trees and send them into a downward spiral that they may never recover from, even if they have an excellent root system. I find it works much better just to leave all foliage on, only removing what it nessasary for transport.

I personally do not "balance" the foliage to the roots on anything but decidious trees and even then I try to error on the side of leaving too much. On these I remove most of what I don't want right in the field, once I lift the tree out as this gives me a better idea of rootage and a better view of the total tree.

This is based only on my limited personal experience collecting in Michigan zone 5/6.

Will Heath