Rootstock not cut off. Cut or wait?

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

I got a Picea Orientalis 'Silver Seedling" (band pot size) from a well known and respected mail order nursery, and apparently the rootstock leader was not cut off. I have it in a pot to grow for a while, before being planted outdoors.

My question is should I cut it off now? wait until fall?

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Comments (13)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
i have one that i havent cut off for 5 years ... on some other mini ...

there is no real hurry ...

how big is the graft??? .. often they are left.. for the mass of leaves on the canopy ... to feed the roots... for a year or two ... especially on a one or two inch graft ... something has to feed the roots.. to get this thing going ...

so if you have a tiny graft.. leave it ...

btw.. i would be planting a band pot with the heat of summer.. so close... i would pot it into a one gal.. and put it in bright shade .... and plan for fall planting.. when you have cool nights to offset day heat ... [where are you?]

do you know how to deal with trees in pots???

ken
mblan13
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks Ken. I didn't want it to get stunted or shed by and overly aggressive rootstock. It is a fairly small graft.

I assume you meant "I would'nt be planting a band pot in the heat of summer"? I have no plans of planting it out this year or next.

I already have it in a 1 gal pot of a nice pine bark-y mix of mostly "soil conditioner" (5-1-1, if your familiar with Al's mixes over at the Container Gardening forum) and yes, I have experience with containerized trees...Japanese Maples mostly, and a Pinus Virginiana 'Waites Gold' and a few real ugly Juniperus squamata 'Parsonii'. When I say ugly, I mean the trees are quite healthy, my artistic pruning skills...not so much!
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
i believe my reply is covered at this link ... ken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfL4-C8OCys
clement_2006
8 years ago
Show us a photo, please.
mblan13
Original Author
8 years ago
Here clement, WDYT?

and then...
mblan13
Original Author
8 years ago
NO AND THEN!!!

and then...

Thanks
clement_2006
8 years ago
In my opinion, I cut just after the union graft, (all the rootstock) your plant have 1 to 2 years graft,And the growth are finished.

Some of my grafts 2014. After 6 month , +/- mid july.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
in my z5 MI.. with its short growing season ...

second pic above ... i would cut away the part.. just above the first whorl of the understock ... next spring ... and then forget about the rest for 5 years or so .. lol ...

i dont have spare grafts of my own sitting around if i screw it up ...

i dont know what clem means the growth is done for the season ... of course they are extended for the season .. but the rest of the season is storing energy in the roots for winter.. and next years growth

if you cut off half or 66 % of the root masses food making machines .. needles ... what is going to store the food???

BUT TO BE SURE .... there probably is no wrong answer ...

BTW .. that is a huge piece of scion ... the pice behind the UStk trunk.. how much of that was extended this season??? .. if you know???

ken
gardener365
8 years ago
That scion is plenty large to accommodate the root-stystem needs. Like Clement, I wait until mid to late July to remove rootstocks on newly grafted conifers or conifers that are finally of size after any number of given years after they were grafted.

Dax
mblan13
Original Author
8 years ago
I think clem is refering to needle growth being done (?). I cross posted this to the Bonsai forum after watching a YouTube video of Ryan Neil explaining the re-distributation of energy by pruning. Not that I plan to make a bonsai out of this tree, and he was talking Japanese Black pine, not Spruce, but the principles would be the same.

My thinking is if I prune late winter early spring, more of the stored energy will go to the growth of the graftand I gan sever the understock later that year. I might be talking out my rear end though. I don't know alot about Bonsai.
gardener365
8 years ago
I can only tell you what I know from 13-years of grafting.

Dax
clement_2006
8 years ago
You have a bigger rootstock, more you wait more bigger you cut
mblan13
Original Author
8 years ago
Alright then...I'll chop the understock off in mid July.

Thanks for the input!