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Re: Unknown - Currently Researching 12 years 2 months ago #3514

  • MWid
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Woah tnx leatherback, im definitely going to do that the next time i plan on digging up a sapling.

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Re: Unknown - Currently Researching 12 years 2 months ago #3516

  • leatherback
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Saplings are usually not so much of a problem. The young plants still have loads of fine roots close to the plant. See what I did to a bunch of them here: www.bonsaiempire.com/forum/progressions/...g-tilia-platyphyllos . I did not loose a single one of them. I did however move them about the garden 4 times last year I think. :)

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Re: Unknown - Currently Researching 12 years 2 months ago #3519

  • MWid
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woah that's really cool, you can make a nice forest planting with those eventually :).
I dug up something a while ago not really knowing what i was doing and found to really long tap roots that just kept on going for about 1m and then went under a wall, I cut the roots and potted the plant. It died quite quickly, but next time I'm in a situation like that i know what to do.. tnx :D

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Re: Unknown - Currently Researching 12 years 2 months ago #3520

  • leatherback
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You are in SA right?

There you also have the problem that for a large part of the year plants need to reach ground water several meters down: MOst saplings start their life by creating a taproot before doing much of anything. I have been groping mopane in a greenhouse for some experiments, and there we noticed that the roots just jumped out of the pots within weeks of sowing. The root was some 10cm long before the seed was pushed ou of the ground. Suchplants are quite tough to transplant.

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Re: Unknown - Currently Researching 12 years 2 months ago #3521

  • MWid
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Ya, live in cape town.. It can get really hot here. Ya, i can imagine that's hard to transplant. Is mopane a savannah type tree? The tree that i tried to dig out is the same plant that's in my profile pic, i have no idea what it is, maybe you could help. It looks a bit like a brazilian rain tree.

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Re: Unknown - Currently Researching 12 years 2 months ago #3522

  • leatherback
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Yeah Mopane grows north of Nelspruit, up into Zim and maybe even further noth A lowfeld plant.

Your plant looks too much like Acacia not to be one. Have you seen seedpods? might be able to recover my trees of the lowfeld guidebook somewhere

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Re: Unknown - Currently Researching 12 years 2 months ago #3523

  • MWid
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I know mopane grows in johannesburg too. Its cool that you growing one in germany.

ts definately not an Acacia, the leaves are very thin. No, i haven't seen seed pots yet, and the tree has been growing there for a few years now. I don't think its an indigenous plant to South Africa, but i might be wrong

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Re: Unknown - Currently Researching 12 years 2 months ago #3524

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Not growing anymore. That was 'bout 10 year ago as part of my PhD research on the lowfeld. Unfortunately I was working north of Schinwedzi camp in KNP. Not many species there. So I will have to guess at what you have there. Will at some point pull out my guidebook to trees of SA

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Re: Unknown - Currently Researching 12 years 2 months ago #3536

  • MWid
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Woah that's cool you worked on you PhD in SA. Let me know if you find anything :)

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Re: Unknown - Currently Researching 12 years 2 months ago #3540

  • Pinkham
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If you want to collect an established tree you will need to force it to grow hairroots close to the trunk first.

The tree sends out roots. And pretty much only the first cm's of active growing roots absorb moisture & nutrients. once the root turns brown, most of this functionality of gone. As the plant grows, the roots grow further from the tree (Which makes sens, as the tree has already used the relevant nutrients closer to the trunk). But this also means that the most effective part fo the plant when it comes tomoisture an nutrients, is far from the trunk. You come in with a showvel and start chopping all the ends off.. Plant has a hard time.

Instead: In late winter or early spring, take a shovel, and just cut a ring around the trunk, justoutside the perimeter of the canopy. As the plant has taproots going fairly vertical, you will not kill the tree. However, the cut roots will resprout and create new supporting roots, closer to the trunc. In late summer the plant will be ready to transplant.


If you do it this way, the tree (ideally) should stay in the ground for a year before transplanting. I'm pretty sure digging up a tree in summer will kill it.Once you have cut a ring around the tree( cutting the roots close to the surface) you should add sphagnum moss and water it. The following spring the new roots have grown in to the moss and you can safely dig up the tree....trying not to disturb the new roots.
That's the way I have always heard of doing it. I have never collected a garden tree. All of my collected trees are all less than a few feet tall, so I was able to safely take them in spring without going through all this. haha.
Call me lazy :woohoo:

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