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j-hooks...............................................................

5 years ago

Just bought a Quercus alba in a pot from a reputable nursery in town. The tree is roughly 4-5 ft tall. So about 2-3 seasons old. If the tree is J-hooked, how do I proceed? It was 80% off and it looked great.

Thanks

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Comments (7)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years ago
how about a pic ... i never heard this term before.. and search engine fails ...

i would expect a 4 to 5 foot oak.. be 5 to 10 years old .... but maybe they grow faster down south ...

ken
Smivies (Ontario - 5b)
5 years ago
J-hook is one of many root system structure issues encountered in container growing. In this case, a taproot species whose root growth is stopped by the bottom of the pot.

j-rooting
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years ago
well duhh... lol .. apparently a j hook is used by an electrician to hold wires ... lol

imho ... a tap root has one use in the life of a tree .. and in the case of the oak.. its to hold the acorn there ... while it puts down roots ... and once it is past sucking energy out of the acorn .. the seed ... and the tap root bifurcates .. its use as a TAP ... is over ...

as new roots grow ... that tap root.. is just another root ... and if need be.. can be pruned for good reason ...

all that said.. if it has no circling tendencies .... then so what if it is in the shape of a j? ... once its out of the pot ... and properly planted.. it will adjust accordingly ....

think of it this way ... if it was field grown.. and then balled and burlaped .. the tap root WAS CUT ... so what ...

anyway.. good luck with the tree ... ken
brandon7 TN_zone7
5 years ago
Ken......as someone frequently in the news for various scandals might say.....WRONG!

Usually this phenomenon is just called j-root, or at least that's what I always hear/read. I've never heard the hook part added in this context. There are different causes for j-rooting, but improper planting at a very young age is a common one. J-roots are formed at or near the root collar/flare, and they typically stunt the growth of the plant for life. Frequently, plants that are severely j-rooted are culled. I think it would be good to see Treenut's tree, so that we might understand the situation (and the relative severity of any problem) better.

I have a cherry that's j-rooted. It's about 15 years old and about 1/2 to 2/3 as large as it's siblings. It's obviously less vigorous than the others, but it's still growing. I predict my cherry tree will probably succumb to one of the various cherry tree maladies before the others, but it's too big and has been there too long for me to want to remove it at this point.
treenutt
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for all the replies. I too am anxious to see the root system, but the tree is 3 hours north of me and I won't get to it until monday. I was just curious about what to do with a J-root. In the last 11 years all I have planted have been bare root. This Quercus alba was an quick decision purchase because all the ones that I

have seen prior have looked terrible in the pots. This one looked great. Plus they are hard to find at nursery's down here. Ken, it might be 5-10 years old. Heck just a hunch when purchasing it.

One other reason why I have never purchased white oak, is because I've heard of them being difficult to grow.

Will take pics of it Sunday or Monday.

Have 8 trees total to plant this next week.

No more rain please for at least a week.

Thanks
Embothrium
5 years ago
If it's feasible to dig the tree up during the dormant season and the rest of the root system looks acceptable, or can be spread out, the j-root a tap root then just lop or saw it off above the bend.
brandon7 TN_zone7
5 years ago
Frequently, removal of a j-root means removal of the entire root system (ie dead tree). If the j was just one of many roots, then the issue would probably not be an issue at all and I doubt treenut would even know about the problem.

Since the tree looks "really great", I am wondering if this case is less pronounced than in cases where the tree is stunted. We won't know until we see the tree. At this point, it's a pig...I mean an oak-in-a-poke.

If this does turn out to be a case where the taproot has been allowed to grow down to the bottom of the pot and then wrapped around (potbound root rather than j-root), then root pruning may be a good option. But, again, it would be good to see what we are dealing with before any solution can be recommended with any certainty.

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