Root Prune Oak Trees

[Hutch11]

Hi guys,

I have about 7 oak trees grown that I have grown from acorns in deep black plastic nursery pots. They have been growing for several years now and I want to begin the process of transferring them to a bonsai pot for a forest planting. Is it ok to start pruning the roots now. They have lots of roots and are somewhat root bound. I live in eastern Vic.

Thanks guys

[Snipz]

Watching closely; two of my three acorns that i brought back from Vic are now 5" saplings and i want to move them into 4" pots

[shibui]

Winter seems to be a good time to root prune oaks. Most species do not seem to like drastic root pruning and can stop growing for a year or more after radical root surgery so advice seems to be - little and often.
Young seedlings can cope with far more root disturbance than older trees so I normally root prune seedlings hard when they are quite young to establish good lateral roots.

[Pierre]

Hello everyone,


Has anyone read this article about root pruning oaks (Quercus robur) in summer (German summer) while the trees are actively growing and in full leaves....?
I am tempted to try this on mine in October or nove. Ber here in Brisbane...
Any thoughts?
Pierre

[Pierre]

I meant.... This article...
http://www.bonsai4me.co.uk/AdvTech/ATqu ... otting.htm

[melbrackstone]

That's a fab link, thanks Pierre!

[KIRKY]

To work on trees here in Oct/Nov is our late Spring. The article written for UK collection trenched in June early UK summer, was dug UK Aug is late Summer = Aus late winter. Final collection and root work was done Sept/Oct which in UK is early Autumn = Aus early Spring. So for you to work on your tree’s this Oct/Nov may be detrimental to their health. If you wanted to follow the Uk article time line you would need to look at climate for Autumn in Bris and work your tree’s accordingly.
Deciduous trees can be worked here in Aus during early Autumn with no ill effect. Unless the winter is especially wet and work is left too late in the Autumn season. I do all my deciduous here in Melbourne during Autumn and to date have seen no ill effect in doing so.
I have found the trick with English Oaks like Pines is to keep some of the old soil at time of repotting never completely bare root them, because like Pines they have a mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza, it is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant's rhizosphere, its root system. Mycorrhizae play important roles in plant nutrition, soil biology and soil chemistry.
Cheers
Kirky