Hair, some trees don't "invest" in enough roots to keep from wilting on a hot, dry day -- catalpa is an example. Even when the soil is quite moist. Typically, it does no damage, as the leaves are fully turgid the next day.

I realize that, beng, but some of mine never recovered - the wilted areas dessicated and dried out. They should sprout new growth at the first live node, however.

Today, the two Trident maples that hadn't yet lost their tips lost them. Wilted over and dead. Just the top half inch of the stem.

Much cooler (upper 70s), less dry, less windy, and less sunny (some high clouds most of the afternoon.)

Weird. I hope they send a new leader up from a leaf node.

May be a dumb question, but what sort of media do you think would have prevented all this?

Dunno if it would have really mattered. I think with the tridents, I should have potted them up a couple weeks earlier.

Glad to see someone else trying Fraser magnolia, Dax! They have grown remarkably well here in Indiana, with about 2 feet of height growth per year once they get established. Those rootmaker trays are the way to go.

Some of the seedlings in this thread look in bad need of being potted up into larger containers.

Yes, they do (here.) But, I won't until next year (put them into the ground.) Those rootmakers give me an advantage in that respect. I know because I've had pecans in them three years at a crack before being up-potted. Brandon, you are correct. There's no denying that.

Dax

Could the issue with the trident maples actually be an insect or fungal issue? They seem to be the most universally affected. Could it be maple tip borer, perhaps?

Regardless, I've noticed a couple already have new growth shooting out of the axils of the top two healthy leaves on each stem. I wonder if I should break one off to train a single leader now, or just let it go until next year.

Sort that out later, hair. You can snip one anytime in the next month, even. You can snip one back to a couple buds too for insurance.

You got burned, that's all. No insect or fungus.

Dax

I guess I'm just thinking if I clip off one of the shoots now, the other will grow more "straight" and give me a more attractive trunk w/o a 'dogleg' appearance. I'm not training these tridents as bonsai, I'm growing them to be specimen trees. Although in a year or two it would be a moot point, regardless.

Clipping a competing shoot, or "pinching" it has worked for me, though. I do that on oaks that have lost their leader, and by the time the shoot "resprouts" in a week or two - the one I've designated as a leader has shot far enough ahead so as not to be threatened.

Sorry, meant Fraser Magnolia, not Fraser Fir. Kind of like a mini-form of Magnolia macrophylla.

Acer triflorum appears to be windburnt a bit, too.

It also seems like, growth has stopped since the windy day. Just about everything. Does that seem weird to any of you? Even the stuff where the growth tip didn't get burned, seems to have kind of stalled.

Nothing wrong with pinching. It's as common a practice as growing good roots.

Doesn't seem weird to me that things are resting.

Dax

They may be resting because it's too hot. Last day or two have been a lot cooler, though.

I vaguely remember last year, most of my seedlings would stop a week, then grow for a week, etc.

A lot of the oaks grow in that manner - 2 or 3 flushes of growth is the norm around here. Some northern red oak seedlings I planted last year budded out in May this year, hardened off, and are now sending out fresh growth. We've had a fair bit of rain this year though, which makes the trees grow a lot.

Talking about that today with my buddy Jim as we perused all the grafts the two of us set at his property. A lot of them are just sitting there but that's because we haven't had the necessary rain. We're having hot weather however and a big rain would push large growth on those scions.

And, I know what you're saying, hair. My potted oaks/etc- 'continue' to produce new leaves all the time.

Dax

"taylorTX- Summer oil will work excellent. Just be sure the temperature is below 70 when you spray, and will stay below 70 until the foliage dries. I don't spray any chemical/organic if temps are above 70. That's my marker."

Temps are always above 70 in the South Texas Summer. Any other suggestions for mites?

Read this PDF and always read the label of any product you're going to purchase online or in a store before you use it. However this is a very good article that's short and sweet to the point:

University of Nevada Article Regarding Horticultural Oils

This is just one part of this article but many examples of when not to use oils are also stated!

"Horticultural oils should not be used during temperatures in the 90s, or on drought - stressed plants or new transplants."

Dax

My oaks do that, but some, like (Asian) maples and Metasequoia, don't ever set a terminal bud until late, but they still seem to have ebbs and flows in growth rate through the season.

It's becoming ingrained. Keep on growin' and keep a notepad handy.

Dax

So today it appeared that most everything is starting to noticeably "grow out" of the windburn with nice new growth. The oaks have some "Crinkly" leaves, almost like freeze damage, but they appear "functional" (as in, no reason they won't still photosynthesize) and intact.

Acer triflorum today.

Redbud recovering.

Quercus myrsinifolia

Q. bicolors

Q. coccinea

Q. alba

Q. michauxii

Taxodium

Nyssa sylvatica

Repotted Cornus kousa, Acer nigrum, and Acer buergerianum.

Magnolia grandiflora.

hairmetal4ever, your taxodium looks amazing. I wish mine looked half as good. I'm honestly at a loss at this point.

Thanks! To me they seem spindly and floppy, but that's probably because I'm comparing them to their cousins, Metasequoia, which are much "stockier" at this stage.

They're quite healthy and sturdier than they look.

I'm annoyed at the foliar "crinkling" of my oaks, I think that's latent windburn damage. The leaves are presumably functional, though.

What is your potting mix? Maybe the Scotman's choice landscape mix for the pine fines are my weak link. I can't seem to figure out what's wrong, but I'm looking for answers.

Taylor12132 - I use a slightly modified version of Al's 5-1-1 mix as discussed on the Container gardening forum.

Modifications:

I use somewhat less lime (since 80% of what I grow has origins in acid-soil areas) and have started substituting 50% of the peat for coir (makes it a tad less hydrophobic when it dries out too much) which also raises the pH a bit.

I also use Dynamite instead of Osmocote Plus for my CRF. I also use finer pine fines (a 1/4" screen) since the rootpruning pots cause the mix to drain/evaporate a bit better than it normally would (the chunkier mix dries out TOO fast).

A few random observations:

Oaks in particular can get beaten down by hard rain (as first-year seedlings) and don't always want to stand back up on their own.

Oaks make some of the TALLEST seedlings the first year despite their reputation (although varies considerably by species).

Nyssa sylvatica and Magnolia grandiflora both appear very slow so far - as of today Nyssa seedlings are less than 5" tall and the mags only about 2", but both species appear healthy and have active terminal growth still going.

Taxodium distichum grows differently than Metasequoia, it's close cousin. About the same height at this point in the season, perhaps a bit taller, but less full and no real branching, at least so far.

Quercus myrsinifolia grows much smaller and more compact than other oaks from what I see so far.

Asian maples grow most of the summer (including triflorum), but Acer saccharum and nigrum refuse to do much more than a few inches, no matter what, the first season.

Acer burgerianum is very sensitive to windburn and dehydration. All of mine lost their terminal growth. Some are showing some signs of sprouting a new leader (or double leader) but they are taking their time with it.

"I also use finer pine fines (a 1/4" screen) since the rootpruning pots cause the mix to drain/evaporate a bit better than it normally would (the chunkier mix dries out TOO fast)."

Do you just buy pine fines directly from a local nursery, or is there a brand that you use?

It's much harder to find than it should be. I use "Kambark" brand (parent company Kamlar I think), which is available from a single nursery about 15 miles away from me.

bet you didn't think I'd be jumping in on this thread. I admit sometimes - a lot of the time - I'm a lazy gardener. For various reasons this year I placed the most mail order purchases ever, and at the same time saying "never again". A perfect storm converged of a lot of things being available I wanted to try either for the first time, or the last time LOL. It was over 100 plants if you count the orders I got in late fall.

I had ordered just a few seeds last fall but as the spring progressed, with a lot else on my mind like the trip to Cali. I just kept putting it off. And off. And off. Keeping the incoming plants alive was the focus. Finally I sowed some - gasp - in the last week of May!
Germination rate wasn't great, but if these survive it will work out ok, because I only really want one Abies georgei and Dalbergia hupehana. Neat trees though they may be, I don't have room for a grove of them. BTW the rosewood is just sleeping for the night. It's actually growing really fast. Some old seeds of a Callistemon 'Woodlanders Hardy' that died in the first cold winter didn't germinate, I guess they had gotten too old.

btw time to start a continuation thread...can't believe this one got up to 230!

That Dalbergia hupeana is oddly interesting in appearance. I googled it and the species came up spelled differently from what you wrote.

Looks like it's going to grow like a madman. I can just tell from looking at it. It's wanting to stretch it's arms and neck.

Dax

Seems like one I used is an older spelling but was still used by NCSU as recently as 1995; presumably the difference could be due to the way Chinese "romanizations" changed in the past 100 years. (whereas the genus name is completely western, being named after a European botanist named "D'alberge" or thereabouts IIRC)

"Looks like it's going to grow like a madman. I can just tell from looking at it. It's wanting to stretch it's arms and neck." Yeah I wonder if this is what growing Robinia pseudoacacia from seed is like haha.

PLEASE DO NOT POST HERE!

PLEASE CONTINUE TO USE THIS THREAD: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3984569/2016-tree-seedling-report-part-2-continuation-thread?n=1

One of the Q. michauxii that was just sprouting in 2016 at the beginning of this thread. Now about 9’ tall.

It’s very floppy and stubborn so I did have to stake it straight.

A redbud from the same timeframe

Look nice.

OK I guess a 2 year bump to update the same plants is alright after all! A smarter site would build-in wiki like functionality, and make automatic hyperlinking back to an old thread (automatically closed) possible. But not your problem! (I'm working with web designers recently and sorry to paint with a broad brush, but it's surprising how unimaginative they are)

My Dalbergias? Only 1 survived, and it's now a whopping 4" high LOL. but that's an improvement over last year's 3" and the prior year's 2"! Same with the Abies but more like 2" haha, up from 3/4" of an inch. Also growing somewhat less slowly, and only from last year, are 3 Celtis africana. Which might be the only deciduous tree from sub-Suharan Africa to be zone 7 hardy.