Any guesses on how long until this tree will show whether it initially survived collection?
How will it do that (new buds pushing?)
How long until I’m reasonably sure until I’m out of the woods?
Thanks!
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Hi, I collected my first trees last March, so I am not exactly an expert but they were all deciduous. 2 Prunus Spinosa (Blackthorn), 2 silver birch and an oak. It took a very long, anxious time for new buds to appear. I think it was over a month but the weather wasn’t great and I didn’t have anyway great to keep them sheltered. Even then only one or two buds appeared on each tree and it was 2-3 months before they started pushing enough buds for me to be sure they had made it. The Prunus have done the best and have just had there first branch/shoot selection and styling.
I really enjoyed collecting them though and have already made my first visit to the woods this year to decide on my next lot to collect.
So my typical hunt i usually only need a few things… i have in my backpack, aside from provisions(food and water),
-Military folding trenching shovel: thing is a god sent
-long handled and short handled loppers. these make for easier root snippage
-any lkind of angled digging device like a pickaxe but must be com,pact and reasonable
to get underneath the roots and carve out a rootball
-something to carry the tree out safely:baby stroller, straps, whatever
-burlap, cheesecloth, etc, and rope to tie and package the rootball up for transport
rule of thumb for me is to eyeball the project out first. you willl discover a different shape almost always once you startdigging, but try and carve it out with your eyes so you dont over do it and end up with a tree too big to extract
Update on this tree May 2019:
It survived. And has exploded everywhere. I’m excited for spring 2021 when I can reduce significantly.
I’ve used that technique about 10 years ago… I had great success on oak, beech and hawthorn. It is better to progressively wean the tree. Do not move it straight from black bag to outside, but go through a transparent bag that you progressively open more over the course of weeks (even inside a greenhouse). The callusing on pruning wounds is really impressive.
