Collecting After-care
Gio, collector
Can use burlap or plastic bag, keeps moisture in. Can use packing wrap (on a roll, ~6” wide) to bind the root base, and can wrap up the base of the trunk where handling can damage delicate bark.
When the tree is home, can place the rootball (or within the bag with slits to keep the soil intact. May use a tub or use a tarp with the sides pulled up. Fill with water with rooting hormone and Super Thrive (for transplant shock) and soak for a night, then let drain.
Leave the original soil, put in a big grow box and fill around with sifted pumice. For at least a year and incrementally remove the original soil—but not all at once.
Chop to your new apex lead and it will take years to heal.
[Bonsai Nut] depending on the final size of the tree, plan to chop a foot below and the new apex will fill in. Amount of taper, one suggests to look roughly 3ft from the base and see if the trunk will fit inside one’s index & thumb encircled (~1.5”-2.0” wide).
Seal cuts to prevent infection or disease as is susceptible of.
Caleb Stewart, collector
Would bag collected trees
Make sure they get little to no sun when bagged.
Make sure the condensation is heavy inside the bag. If it's light condensation, i'll open the bag and spray it.
I end up spraying inside the bag about once a week.
I have small drainage holes in the bottom of the bag in case water pools in the bag.
I haven’t opened it for fresh air only before, unless i want to smell a tree (like with pines or firs, delightful!)
Reverse bag, open on the bottom and tie the bag to the trunk—exposing the soil to air.
Use a bungee cord to lift up the top of the bag off the tree.
Suggestion on one tree: defoliate the redbud, cut it back aways, and still bag it.
Some people on Reddit have disagreed with me on the defoliation technique, but I have made it work a few times successfully, and once unsuccessfully. You can do whatever you like, and as you see some trees survive and some die, you'll get a feel of what to do.
If you bag it, remember to make sure that the bag always stays wet on the inside / has condensation on it.
Regardless of whether or not you choose to defoliate the redbud, if you see any wilting of the leaves for either tree, I would bag it.
Especially so with the live oak. Oaks have given me trouble. I'm guessing that redbud is going to have a hard time, given its size and the amount of leaves it has on it. Hope this helps.
A 50% survival rate is a good rate!
JT SBBK
If leaves are green, good
If leaves fall off, that is a sign that the tree wants to shed under stress, but if brown but prolonged attachment, the branch may be dead and unable to shed leaves.
Aug Update—Redbud (head mat for 1 mo)
Aug update—Oak (brown leaves, now defoliated, moved over heat mat)