So I watched the episode with Randy Knight a while ago and was a bit confused about what he meant by saw dust as being a great substrate to put collected trees into to promote root growth. I thought he may be talking about pine fines but could be wrong. Does anyone have any input on if straight pine fines would be a good idea to put collected material in if it does not have a very good root ball?
Yes, he is talking literally about sawdust. He sources his from a local lumbermill where they take raw material and cut into usable lumbar. He uses the coarse chips that are left over and uses that as a substrate for his newly collected trees. He takes weed control barrier, places on ground, then some saw dust 1-2" layer, places tree on top of the layer of sawdust that overlies the barrier. He then uses something to stabilize tree to prevent from moving/falling and then uses saw dust as one would use soil in the garden or substrate in a pot. Thia is how he recovers the trees he collects.
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A very important topic @ndavila80 brings up is “coarse chips”.
I think people get confused with the term “sawdust” which would be the finer byproduct of milling lumber and would definitely inhibit the balance of water and oxygen to facilitate root growth. Imagine sawdust and water together, its quite a mess.
It’s been a while since I watched https://live.bonsaimirai.com/library/video/yamadori-aftercare-with-randy-knight Here is some pics of his healing beds.
Hope this helps
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He is not using sawdust as substrate. He uses pumice in the pot. And heals in the pot in coarse sawdust. It is almost like mulch.
You are correct with the pumice in pot, which is standard for collected trees.
Randy also heals his trees without pots on the ground with woven geo fabric, layer of “coarse” sawdust, tree on top stabilized with pole in ground, and sawdust piled 3-4” up over the root mass.
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