AusBonsai

Hey AusBonsai-san,

I purchased this young Oak, which I believe is about 2 years old. It has just come out in leaf and wondering if I should be looking into styling/pinching the leaves or let it go another year or so until it's more developed.

Photos taken from the last week and a bit below ...







Keen for any advice, pointers, etc ... this tree has a lot of meaning and trying to be very, very careful with it.

Thanks,
Daniel

if it was mine I would either trunk chop an inch above the first small bud and put into a grow pot or loose wire the main trunk and bend that upper straight bit into some movement.

I think it needs to grow and continue to thicken.
The more you prune the less it will thicken.
Perhaps just wire the straight area as advised.
I too would be considering a trunk chop at some stage.

I have 3 in the ground that have been there fo r 5 years ( albeit slow growth) and will be there for a few more yet.
Tip pruning and pinching is how we control growth of trees that have finished there trunk branch development and to improve ramification.

do you think this tree is at that stage yet?

If so then go for it, but that long straight trunk section is out of tune with the lower section. Either trunk chop or wire that into shape, but doing the latter does not give any taper and that section has long internodes which will never have shoots.

Ken

Thanks all ... so the consensus seems to be, leave it until happy with trunk thickness, when ready then address straight upper section. Thanks for the advice. Will update here in a year or two when ready to do more with it.

I'ld chop just above the 3rd shoot leaving a little stub to die back to what would be the new leader, do a lite repot into a bigger pot without disturbing the roots too much and let it grow for the season untrimmed. Trim the stub back to the trunk line mid summer while growth is still strong. Then post again again about next steps.

Bonsai is a game of patience and you have the start of a good tree, but it will take 10+ years before it is a Bonsai. Imbrace the journey. Get more advanced trees if you want to fiddle. This one needs time.

The first thing you need to do is to decide what height do you want your oak to be because this will impact your decisions. Growing it for a few more years to increase the trunk size is a good idea however do not chop anything yet as this will slow down growth which is what the tree needs for the moment. I would leave the main trunk as a sacrifice branch, plant it into the ground or a much larger pot and let it grow, grow, grow to thicken the trunk.
You could lower the first branch on the right which you would either keep or remove depending on the desired final height of your tree. Use the first branch on the left as a new leader - developing it as the current main branch thickens the trunk.

make sure you don't water the leaves as this may cause sooty mould on the foliage.

Thanks for the tip re: leaf watering

Hey Helpers,

Just noticed some black spots on as leaf of the oak this morning, see below, this anything to worry about?



- Daniel

Hey All,

The black spots seemed to go away, however don't think the tree is as healthy as it could be.

I've now noticed a few leaves not looking so good. Seem a little dry and droopy. This is the worst of them.



I did notice a spider hiding under there, think it had spun a web to join this leaf and the one below. If that is all it is, then *phew* but wondering if I can get some advice on what this is and what to do?

- Daniel

Interested to hear responses too as I often wonder if I should leave spiders be to help eat bugs unless their web becomes too restrictive to growth then I'll untangle it somewhat but tend to leave the spider there.

Its nothing to stress over. Just a bit of insect damage to the leaf, leaf miner/caterpillar. It looks unsightly but no harm is being done to tree. If the look of it bothers you, you can remove the leaf. Otherwise come winter all leaves will drop anyway. Check under the leaves to see if you have any others, as they grow you can see them and remove them. The webb that you found, could also be spun by the caterpiller. They do that, webbing two leaves together to create a little nest? Type thing while they eat and grow, before turning into little months/adults.
Cheers

Got the same tree. Got big leaves so it needs to be a biggish bonsai. Put it in the ground and seriously grow that thing out. Get more leaves and the problem gets smaller....

My tip with oaks: Plant them in the garden and leave them there forever.