New Oak

I popped into the Middlesex Bonsai Society show in Ruislip today. Sadly my camera didn't work all that well in the low light so that's all the photos i got. I hope tree number 18 won - a lovely prostrate hawthorn in flower.





I picked up a little oak starter tree there. It looked like Quercus Robur - except that the leaves were really tiny and the bark was smooth. So i bought it - £2.50 was a small price for my curiosity.

It was really loose in its pot and i couldn't find out how long it had been in the pot. I decided to have a little scratch around in the pot to see if there were any roots in the strangely loose soil - i found very few. I completely removed it from the soil it was in and cleaned it off to get a better look at wounds on the tap root. It didn't appear to be sealed so i popped a bit of wound seal on it and clear off the dangling bits being very careful not to loose any more precious roots.


Luckily i had some spare pots and good soil about. This is similar soil to the soil i used on my bare root hedging trees i potted during the winter - but with some more organic material added. Its heavily laced with Mycorrhiza to help it along.




These roots are no worse that the roots on the field maples that i gathered last year - so i should be able to keep this little one going as well. I will be misted several times a day. I will also get some very weak foliate feed. Its quite large but i will try to make an enclosure to keep it in a more humid environment.

I am very pleased to have added another oak to the collection.