"Maybe 200 years old Abies nordmanniana"

Nice tree, but it's nothing like that old - not least because the species was only discovered in 1838 and brought into cultivation in 1848 :-)
From the diameter, I'd reckon about 60-70 years old.

Resin

Hi Resin, maybe you are right, but foresters told me that this nursery at the back is about 200 years old. It was established sometimes in times of Austro Hungarian Monarchy. I mean that this tree is more than 100 years old. Distance between me and trunk is about 6 metres, maybe more...
Jan wbgarden

Here is a link that might be useful: wbgarden

how did you get it down?????

how about some pix of monkey boy scrambling up the tree next time...

great pix..

did larry stanley come to visit you?

ken

Wow, that's a lot of brooms dude.

I meant to ask you about a broom you graft that dies about every ten years and you have to re-graft it. Are you leaving the rootstock on and removing it on others? I'm curious what has and hasn't been successful.

I sent you an email too last week. I've wondered if your spyware intercepted it.

Thanks,

Dax

Hi, I answered, nobody from US was here, I mean on my Witch´s broom garden - wbgarden.com. Only people from Sweden, Russia, Poland, Germany, Brasil, Japan etc.
Dax, pleeeaseeee wait a minute..., it is dwarf conifers scout mission time, because winter without snow and for such type of missions I immediately ready, but you know, as to office work..., I have some reserve...
I climbing only trees with branches... Future Abies nordmaniana Slama is down....
{{gwi:647634}}
For trees without branches I have some monkey friends...
Some pictures of my younger friend Tom - best monkey all over the world....
Picea abies Sisak /Sisak - means, too many cones../ Tom is going...
{{gwi:647636}}
Can you recognize Tom ? It is about 50 meters spruce. On the top is Sisak situated - witch´s broom with too myny cones....
{{gwi:647639}}
Tom is flying down....
{{gwi:647642}}
Picea abies Sisak in my hands....
{{gwi:647644}}
Jan wbgarden

Here is a link that might be useful: Dwarf conifers garden on TV...

super.... so he uses all the professional tools of a tree climber.. good monkey ... lol ....

do you graft every piece of the brooms ... more than one i would hope ...

why do you take the whole thing ... rather than just what you need???? do you have a way to store the remainder???? ignore if too personal ...

good luck

ken

Let me take a guess....
I suspect that you take the whole broom down because in most cases, the climber (Jan or his "monkey friends") don't really get a good look at it while up in the tree (branches in the way, etc.).
I see in the photos that very often the broom has both "nice" parts and dead-looking parts.
I'm sure its a lot easier to pick out the useful parts, once the whole thing is down.
The host tree will likely be better off without it anyway.

PS. I used to love climbing tall trees when I was a kid, so I really envy Jan's WB hunting trips.
One of these days I will have to make an expedition to the Rockies, to find a Larix lyalli WB, as no-one else seems interested in doing so.....

Hi, whole brooms down or take part of brooms ? It exist simply answer. When is possible I take only part, but where is dangerous.., broom is situated not only to high, but sometimes 2 or 3 metres from trunk - I usually take telescopic scissors - sometimes is necessary cut whole branch. As to future Abies nordmaniana Slama, it is another problem, how often you can find something interesting on Abies nordmaniana ? And I have a lot of friendly collectors not only in Czech republic...
Some jokes with scissors....
{{gwi:647648}}
{{gwi:647651}}
Jan wbgarden

Here is a link that might be useful: wbgarden

Eeeek! Tree spikes are a no no for healthy trees. A good arborist will ONLY use them when beginning a tree removal process, never to climb and prune healthy trees.

Probably not much of an issue in a forest full of trees, but if your intent is to gather a broom from a lone tree in someone's yard, then other measures need to be used.

Hi Rhizo,
you are right, of course, but do you know better way, how to take down witch´s brooms...?
Jan wbgarden
PS. Have you ever seen autumn deer games..., do you know beavers..., tornados...?? One small man with spikes in whole wood....

Here is a link that might be useful: Dwarf conifers gardening

Dude, great pics, great garden, now get a haircut.:)

Jawohl mein fuhrer... /wadet ?/
Jan wbgarden

Here is a link that might be useful: Excelent dwarf conifers.

Are you my father? lol

Dax

I wasn't criticizing, Jan. As I said, "not much of a problem in a forest full of trees". But I'd hate to see lone specimens or prized backyard or campus trees being climbed with tree spikes for the collection of brooms. THAT would be a travesty, as I am sure you agree. Someone seeing those images might be eyeing those spikes with some interest.

Your pictures are incredible! Amazing.

Yah. Someone always has to complain about something.

Dax

I understand Rhizo and agree, in such cases - campuses, parks, old gardens, we mostly use only rope climbing techniques.
Jan wbgarden

Here is a link that might be useful: Climbing for witch´s broom

"Jawohl mein fuhrer... /wadet ?/"

Until that hair gets cut, yes.:)

BTW Jan, do you have any Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca?
Thanks.

Nice pics of a variety of brooms.
Even with tiny brooms, it seems like the communal thing to do to:
1. share scion wood with other broomers
2. leave the existing broom in the tree where it is available for others on future scion-quests also, so it has the chance to set more cones in future years.
Is collecting the whole broom analogous to killing the chicken to get the egg, or perhaps the goose to get the golden egg? ....not to mention leaving evidence for future researchers.
Brooming is great sport, isn't it?
If you do decide to get a haircut, please don't cut off your whole head.
Cheers,
Charley

That picture of the broom with the cones is especially nice. Nice big cones on that plant.

Great pictures, Jan.
Thanks for sharing.
Mike

There are many other broom hunters, especially in the Czech Republic,if you don't want your brooms to stand a chance of being duplicated by others under different names it's a good idea to take the whole broom,also many of the smaller tighter brooms can die if left in the tree through lack of light, and also fungal problems mainly caused by a build up debris within the broom. Jan Slama know's exactly what he is doing.
Bluespruce.

Maybe we shall call him, "Raptor Man" -

Dax