i remember these pics... you got your answer in the real forum .. right?? ken

It's about time GW has zones appearing after our names. I requested they add that as well as soil type a few years back but never heard back from them. Thanks coniflora. For my behalf I had either forgotten a grafted plant kept characteristics (probably slim margins in all cases though, I would have to think) ..easier. Anyway, that's maybe my favorite thing in the world to do. Grafting that is. Dax P.s. And Noki, you pick up the pace real quickly. Just like becoming a BMX racer! And other times, you do have to work with the wood until you're satisfied everything is a go. Some grafts take me 5 minutes each. Those darn ones with the tiny wood are difficult to hold onto as well and that's on top of just the finicky ones in general. Then there's the ones where your blade cuts right through the entire understock! that one tees me off. Then there's the a to the b to c to the d .... you're always adjusting to occomodate. It's a lot of common sense technique-wise it becomes apparent rather fast. And there are no rules if you would please allow me to say when you understand what it's going to take to get those two wounds to ajoin.

In very cold climates the hardwoods don't do as well as conifers. In the far north of Canada as you approach the tundra and artic circle, fir and spruce become the dominant species although eventually they reach their limit and appear stunted. Along the south-east coast (South Carolina, Georgia, and into Florida), Pines do better where the soils are very sandy, but hardwoods still eventually crowd them out. I am not familiar with the Pine barons in NJ but assume it's very sandy acidic soils which Pines like. Pines down south tend to be first generation reforestation trees aka pioneer species. Most of the areas you pointed out have been heavily logged several times over the last 200-400 years and the first trees to regenerate naturally (assuming there's a seed source) are pioneer species such as Loblolly pine, or long leaf pine. In the Appalachians its typically a mix of Tulip Poplar, Birch, and White Pine. Those trees eventually are crowded out (except the Tulip Poplar). At one point the American Chestnut was the dominant climax species in the Appalachians along with Oaks, but the Chestnut blight (came from China) wiped out 10's of millions of those trees and they are virtually extinct (although their has been ongoing research for the past 25 years to develop a hybrid resistant to the blight). Hardwoods eventually succeed any pines as the mature forest trees (Oaks, Hickories, Maples, etc.). I studied silviculture. Up north you will often see White pine intermixed with hardwoods but never the dominant species and where they are dominant, it's only temporary. These areas typically have had flash burns in the past. I am curious how Dawn Redwoods will compete with other hardwoods in a natural forest setting. Do they start seeding out or do they behave like ornamentals and simply live through their life cycle without producing offspring and eventually die out.

Yeah, here is a better pic. The "leader" (no. 1) is attached to the old leader, the one that got cut back last year in the original post. But from there, the new leader kind of branches out again (no 2.)...not really sure if that's what leaders do, or if I should trim one of those or what. Also, I drew in red lines on cuts that I'll probably make on it as suggested by you Ken?