r/marijuanaenthusiasts • u/Better_Solution_6715 • 1d ago
Help NEEDED
These are my white oak species that I grew from acorns two or three years ago and promptly forgot about. Of the roughly 30 that I planted most of them have arrow straight roots.
These ones do not. I put them in small pots and left them for far too long :(
Are these individuals salvageable or are they doomed to girdle themselves? Can I at least make them into bonsai trees? How can I stop my boys from perishing?
Species included are Q. Alba, Q. Macrocarpa, Q. muehlenbergii, and Q. Bicolor
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u/_pepperoni-playboy_ 1d ago
If you’re into bonsai they’d be reasonable candidates for living in a pot, since oaks are sensitive to their usually straight taproots being cut.
I’m maybe a lil worried about their survival barerooted at this time of year, but I’m sure whether you put them in pots or the ground, if you’re real nice to em with watering and good soil I don’t see them struggling too much to still thrive in the long run if they’re cool with being transplanted.
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u/DanoPinyon ISA Arborist 1d ago
Generally, still, circling and 90° kinked roots are considered defects and rejected. I don't know about bonsai but these would not go in my yard.
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u/Siccar_Point 1d ago
This is definitely not a great time of year to have those out of pots and bare-rooted. But what’s done is done. You might just about be in the “late repotting window”, but it will be touch and go. Mentally prepare yourself for losing at least some of these, from nothing else except having them out of pots in September.
Given you have them out already, I would take AT MOST a quarter off the end of those longer roots, and put them in a relatively spacious pot (or the ground). Normally you’d trim them a bit harder and thx shorter ones a bit, but not now. Then cross your fingers. In winter 27/28 you will repeat the process, shortening the long ones say 50% and continue each year until they are balanced. This winter will kill them after this.
Girdling doesn’t matter here, and in my experience never really does, especially on a sapling. It just looks ugly. The growing tree will ultimately just grow over it. Underground girlinv certainly isn’t a thing. It will just force new roots closer to the trunk, which is good.
Throwing long roots like this is just a thing oaks do, and you have to work to control them. Unlike most deciduous trees, they are pretty sensitive to removing individual roots, and in my experience one root gone = one major branch dead, more like a badly maintained conifer. If you are going bonsai, a pond basket as a pot early on really helps oaks, as it mostly stops those super long roots freely extending.
The annoying twistiness at the trunk base is also a thing oaks do- I’ve always assumed it was to do with growing from an acorn. It is what it is with these. The real corkscrews will stay like that, but the doglegs will look ok as bonsai eventually as long as you cut back that root and the roots from it harder than everything else over a few years. Consider leaning the tree a bit so the dominant root looks more deliberate.
In future, better to sort these in their first winter. At that age, they are very likely to survive full taproot removal and it will set you up better going forward.
Source: oak bonsai owner
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u/hairyb0mb ISA Arborist + TRAQ 1d ago
Roots girdling roots isn't a concern. It's roots girdling the trunk that's an issue. Stability is your concern her, but given how small they are, they should be fine long term. I'd go ahead and plant them.