quercus robur

[dragon]

everyone i got a question for you i got several quercus robur (old english oak ) the question is
has anyone seen a verigated oak or a oak with 4 trunks out of 1 acorn the pictures arnt that good but all i got at moment
any input accepted dean

[kcpoole]

Oaks quite readily shoot back from the base so not really 4 trunks from 1 acorn, tho it grow on and make a very low clump style

the variegated on look cool tho, just a good example of the sports you can get from seed
Put that on in the ground to grow up and take lots of cuttings to ensure the variegated form if it looks nice

Ken

[missybonsai]

I've gotten a double shoot from one acorn before, but I think the smaller one will die off eventually, as most of the energy and nutrients are going into the larger shoot. With that variegated, are you sure its variegated? Im no expert, but it looks like it either has a nutrient deffiency or its being invaded by some sort of miner/pest :-/ How old are these by the way? Hope you have success growing these little guys

[dragon]

missy
the verigated one has been defoliated twice and both times the leaves have come back this way
they are all in the same soil mix and are around 7 months old and if it was a nutrient problem
all my oaks would have been the same because they all get the same treatment
same fert and same soil even when i defoliate this one i do all 10 oaks that i have
also if it was bug related i am sure it would have spread to the other ones and
would have killed them all and when i took a leaf into a bonsai club and showed a member
he said wow it is verigated and rare so all i can do is wait and see
thankyou for your input i will surely take it into concideration
dean

[Handy Mick]

Hi Dragon,
May I ask why you defoliation seedlings?

[Handy Mick]

Defoliation may be the reason you now have shoots coming up in the first picture.
Mick

[dragon]

Hi Dragon,
May I ask why you defoliation seedlings?

mick the reason i defoliated was the fact that the leaves were massive and i actually reduced the size to half
thats why

[rowan]

Hi Dragon,

I grow a lot of oaks and my water is not great so they struggle when germinating so they throw out a few trunks each, I then trim them back to just one.
I have a yellow leafed one from my last lot but it isn't vigorous and I am having a hard time keeping it alive - low chlorophyl. I hope you have good luck with yours and it grows into a nice tree.

I never defoliate the seedlings as they need the leaves to make food to grow. Large leaves aren't a problem when they are young.

[Handy Mick]

Dragon,
You should never defoliate unless you are happy with the thickness of your trunk and branch structure.
Defoliation is only used to get remification in your twigging and also to decrease the size of your leaves, but not until the first two are achieved, because when you defoliate, your tree goes into forced dormantry and stops growing, this is the opposite to what you are trying to achieve at the moment with your seedlings. Big leaves are good at the moment because big leaves make the tree grow faster.

Mick

[dragon]

guys thankyou for letting me know this as some people have said defoliate and some have said dont it is hard when being a beginner at this
and you get told one thing then anoughter totally oppisite like i said earlier when i put first post up i am here to learn but getting wrong answers
dont help people learn it confuses them so far on this forum it is good advice and i will do as i have learnt here .
dean

[Handy Mick]

No worrys Dragon, if your not in a local club, you should be!
There is so much more to learn in bonsai, I dont think we stop.

Mick

[Petra]

Mick is right, you never stop learning.
Plant your tree out in the ground and let it grow for a few years doing nothing except feeding and watering.
In the meantime read some of the articles on trunk thickening and branch structures. Growing trees take time. so does Bonsai. Have fun!

[Bretts]

I have seen advice to defoliate trident seedlings in an old Bonsai Today magazines. This is meant to make nice short internodes but what you need that on seedlings for, I have never worked out?

[dragon]

guys
bretts and petra like i said earlier people say one thing and then other people say anoughter
so i will read up more on this subject and at the moment it is hard for me to join any club as i recently just had a back operation
and i am very limited at things i can do so digging a hole is out and lifting is out but i can
do small plants in pots weighing no more than 1 kilo so that makes me very unhappy i cant move lawn or dig garden
so that is reason the trees are still in pots i do have large crates so i might place the tree's in them for a while
dean

[Bretts]

Hi Dean
Don't get discouraged by all the conflicting advice. That is something we all go through and in some regards always will. Even the Masters go about things in different ways and often there are many ways to similar results and it is about finding the best way for you.
As in all aspects of life working out who to take advice from is half the battle. Looking at their portfolio helps alot.

My oaks have not been very rewarding so I can't be much help!