BIG gray oak yamadori

[rockm]

During that winter when it got down to -19° it was in February and it was about 10 days of sub freezing temperatures where we got into the negatives several times. They handled it well at that nursery. I'm convinced they can handle zone 5 winters if established in the ground.

Aaron

I'm not convinced as to winter hardiness for this species in a container below zone 7. I'll have to see how it goes.

Typically, you subtract a species' hardiness zone for a containerized bonsai, so what's hardy to say Zone 6 or 7, is hardy to zone 7 or 8 in a bonsai pot. That's a rough estimate. Can depend greatly on the species. FWIW, I've had smaller containerized Texas live oaks survive in our winters here for years, but they all lost ALL their limbs every winter, even with protection. They're native to north Texas and hardy to Zone 7. Northern Va. is zone 7. Dallas. Tex. is zone 7a to 8b. Not a huge difference. I'm on the edge of their cold tolerance.

I've seen Grey Oak hardy listed as both hardy to Zone 7 and Zone 6. Given its distribution from Durango, Mex. up to (but apparently not including) Flagstaff, Ariz, I'm assuming northern collected trees are de facto more hardy than southern collected. That's been my experience with species like bald cypress where Florida collected trees aren't winter hardy here, but Louisiana collected are tough as nails in the cold here.

 

[aml1014]

Found out these two hollows connect this morning.

Aaron

 

[AlainK]

Lot of carving work to be done there.

We have a species of non-deciduous oak here, "Quercus ilex", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_ilex

It's a Mediterranean species an it is grown as bonsai in the south of France, Spain, Italy, etc. Very often, it is worked a bit like olive trees, with dead wood often being part of the design.

Walter Pall's (who will tell me if my post infringes copyright):

Another one, from Tomeu Martorell (http://tomeumartorell.blogspot.fr/2011/03/quercus-ilex-encina.html), "ILLES BALEARS", where they have a local subspecies of wild olive that make extraordinary bonsai.

 

[aml1014]

Lot of carving work to be done there.

We have a species of non-deciduous oak here, "Quercus ilex", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_ilex

It's a Mediterranean species an it is grown as bonsai in the south of France, Spain, Italy, etc. Very often, it is worked a bit like olive trees, with dead wood often being part of the design.

Walter Pall's (who will tell me if my post infringes copyright):

Another one, from Tomeu Martorell (http://tomeumartorell.blogspot.fr/2011/03/quercus-ilex-encina.html), "ILLES BALEARS", where they have a local subspecies of wild olive that make extraordinary bonsai.

Both are very nice trees, but I plan on leaving the deadwood as natural as possible on this one. It already has tons of character and tells a story, no need to mess up what nature's been doing for a long time.

Aaron

 

[AlainK]

no need to mess up what nature's been doing for a long time.

I totally agree with you. The more natural, the better it is.

I was just suggesting references but, actually, I don't like so much olive trees that look like Japanese junipers to speak the truth...

 

[justBonsai]

Sick tree, you probably could make a very cool grove or clump out of it.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Hey everybody, I wanted to share with you my latest tree.
It is a collected gray oak that I ordered from our one and only @arcina . The tree is currently about 16"tall and the canopy is about 24"wide. The trunk is around 8 inches, but it's kinda hard to measure lol it had 5 living trunks and I plan on styling it into a grove.

Already too many words, this tree speaks for itself!View attachment 117155
View attachment 117156 View attachment 117157
There are several hollows on this tree.View attachment 117158 View attachment 117159 View attachment 117160
This tree is very old and I consider it my BEST material I've ever purchased, and at a great price to.
This will be such a fun tree to develop in the future, and it is native/collected here in New Mexico so that's another plus.
I apologize for the poor photos, this tree alone makes me want to go buy a nice camera!
Check out his website http://www.chobonsaiyamadori.com/#/ I promise you'll find something you want lol

Good day
Aaron

Wonderful tree! Have looked at Alvaros trees many times and missed out on 2 or 3 being too late to ask. He is adding some new trees/varieties of trees to Bonsai community and it is only good.

 

[aml1014]

Wonderful tree! Have looked at Alvaros trees many times and missed out on 2 or 3 being too late to ask. He is adding some new trees/varieties of trees to Bonsai community and it is only good.

That, and he's also a gentleman, and just down right great to go through.
I've already got the next tree coming

Aaron

 

[aml1014]

Swelling up buds all over the place, one last flush of growth for the year.
Aaron

 

[aml1014]

I love that gray oak fall color
A shot of it on the bench
And an overhead shot, with my size 13 shoe for reference hahaha
Thank god I didn't get this thing for the fall color, evergreens don't give the best show

Aaron

 

[augustine]

That is one serious piece of stock.

 

[aml1014]

That is one serious piece of stock.

Probably the most serious I have, definitely was the most I've ever spent on a tree so far.

Aaron

 

[fredman]

Man that is something to have. Congratulations. Very good buy You contemplating carving on it at some stage?

 

[aml1014]

Man that is something to have. Congratulations. Very good buy You contemplating carving on it at some stage?

Nope, not at the moment. I love the natural weathered look of the deadwood, plus it tells the trees story a bit.

Aaron

 

[aml1014]

Ive been working on this one for the past few days. I'm pretty happy with how the first styling came out. Still some areas I'm unsure of, but time will tell.
Let me know what what you think.

Aaron
P.s. I've got another one of these bad boys coming in less then a month

 

[Dav4]

Love the deadwood trunk on this one. If it were mine, and without knowing it's growth habits or how well it responds to bonsai culture and techniques, I'd be super tempted to cut back some of those straightish secondary trunks to induce back budding closer to the main trunk, which is where all the character is. If those in the know say they back bud well, pump this one up this year and cut back hard next year.

 

[aml1014]

Love the deadwood trunk on this one. If it were mine, and without knowing it's growth habits or how well it responds to bonsai culture and techniques, I'd be super tempted to cut back some of those straightish secondary trunks to induce back budding closer to the main trunk, which is where all the character is. If those in the know say they back bud well, pump this one up this year and cut back hard next year.

The straight areas are bugging me a bit. I plan to let it grow all year and revaluate next fall. These are pretty slow growing (I guess most oaks are) so it'd take a long time to rebuild a trunk line if I chopped. My buddy told me to try raffia and put some direction to the trunks, which I'll give a shot in summer when this thing isn't so brittle. Thanks for the comment!

Aaron

 

[rockm]

The straight areas are bugging me a bit. I plan to let it grow all year and revaluate next fall. These are pretty slow growing (I guess most oaks are) so it'd take a long time to rebuild a trunk line if I chopped. My buddy told me to try raffia and put some direction to the trunks, which I'll give a shot in summer when this thing isn't so brittle. Thanks for the comment!

Aaron

Oaks are not slow growing, at least that's not been my experience. In a container, I have to chop the big live oak back twice every summer. I get three to four foot extension growth each time.

Oaks, like most trees, are constrained in the wild by local availability of resources and microclimate conditions. Once collected, a tree that has taken decades or centuries to get where it is can explode and grow by leaps and bounds in a container where its needs are met.

That can also screw up the finer twigging and bark that the tree was collected for.

I wait at least a year before jumping into imposing a design on a new collected tree. I like to see what it can do and what it likes. I will have the chance with this species come April. Looking forward to the big box on the front porch...

 

[aml1014]

Oaks are not slow growing, at least that's not been my experience. In a container, I have to chop the big live oak back twice every summer. I get three to four foot extension growth each time.

Oaks, like most trees, are constrained in the wild by local availability of resources and microclimate conditions. Once collected, a tree that has taken decades or centuries to get where it is can explode and grow by leaps and bounds in a container where its needs are met.

That can also screw up the finer twigging and bark that the tree was collected for.

I wait at least a year before jumping into imposing a design on a new collected tree. I like to see what it can do and what it likes. I will have the chance with this species come April. Looking forward to the big box on the front porch...

I'm quite excited to see yours, I was eye ballistic get it all last year lol.
I definitely agree with the live oaks, mine grow like weeds. The gray oaks do grow pretty slowly even in a container. My teachers grow about 18" total in a year, and thats what this one appears to have done in the 2016 growing season. Which I guess is pretty quick compared to some places these grow naturally.

Aaron

 

[justBonsai]

I really like this tree. Do you think I could grow these in Southern California? lol As others mentioned, I would chop some of the straight segments but only if the tree is strong and you know it'll back bud. I'm looking forward to future updates!