This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
How to help my young red oaks.
I've ten young red oaks, trunks about pencil-thickness or slightly less, planted together in a single large compost-filled container.
While most are growing vigorously, three are struggling... ten-or-so buds up the length of the trunk, but the leaves on the growing tip are small and wither relatively quickly.
Of course I expect some casualties, but wonder what I can do to help them survive and thrive... and whether pinching-out the growing tip will encourage back-budding and the lower buds to shoot.
While most are growing vigorously, three are struggling... ten-or-so buds up the length of the trunk, but the leaves on the growing tip are small and wither relatively quickly.
Of course I expect some casualties, but wonder what I can do to help them survive and thrive... and whether pinching-out the growing tip will encourage back-budding and the lower buds to shoot.
0
Posts
10 giant saplings in one single container seems just cruel.
You are half way to growing Bonsai trees.
Maybe you need to rethink ..either plant them in a park, farmland edge or start to learn all that is needed to grow bonsai.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b&biw=1920&bih=943&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=9cR-W5CCN8nLwQK2_JmAAg&q=quercus+rubra+tree&oq=quercus+rubra+tree&gs_l=img.12..0j0i8i30k1.7553.8669.0.11530.5.5.0.0.0.0.92.383.5.5.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.5.378...0i30k1.0.xxaIk5pKUVU
https://www.google.com/search?q=bonsai+quercus+rubra&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJ9YyxsoPdAhWOL1AKHWMJD3kQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=943
I understand your concern, and share respect for the wellbeing of the trees.
I'm well aware of their characteristics... and that at current age, and likely for the next 2-3 years, they can grow happily together (in what's always been planned as a short-term thing) and thereafter be transplanted.
Keeping on-topic, the current planting isn't a cause of the poor health of some - in being weaker than t'others.
Are the weaker ones in any specific positions in the planter or randomly placed amongst the others.
A photo or two would probably be helpful.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
They're equidistantly spaced in an 18-inch pot, the weaker ones aren't in any particular position, and I've rotated the pot so some aren't always catching the full sun.
From about 30-inches last year, some have grown more than a foot while others are less and some not at all. I consider this variance normal, but want to help the weaker ones.
i didn't bother with a photo, because all of the saplings have similar trunk buds.
An 18 inch pot isn't terribly big to support that quantity of cuttings for any length of time, hence a few not thriving. As with so many things in nature, survival of the fittest and all that.
In the absence of a photo, that would be my best guess
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
And they’re sharing an 18” pot?
That at is very ovetcrowded
The roots are all going to be entwined and when you eventually separate them you will be unable to avoid considerable damage to the fine fibrous roots.
I would separate them and pot them all up individually as soon as the leaves fall and they become dormant. You can then give them the individually tailored care that they need.
I would use John Innes No 3 loambased compost with the addition of some leaf mould or multipurpose compost
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As previously noted, the proximity of planting isn't a factor in 'survival of the fittest'.
>Dovefromabove...
Thanks for the suggestion, and again it's the vigour of individual saplings that's the issue rather than the closeness of planting.
>Lyn...
Directly answering your question, 'the sort of answer I want to hear' is something which directly and helpfully deals with the question - rather than simply adding opinion which isn't objectively fact-related. Having been polite in responding to inappropriate posts, I'll likely not with future ones.
That’s one of the first things to learn in gardening.
The way you’re growing them runs the risk of losing all of them. Survival of the fittest wont work ... all you’ll find out is which plant takes the longest to turn into a runty little pale imitation of what it might once have been. Whereas if you give your saplings the optimum conditions they need for healthy growth most of them could turn into fine specimens.
Is this an experiment? If so what is your objective?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.