Darcy Paul wrote:

I can't help but be amazed at how little roots it takes to collect a tree
from the wild... except when I try! Bonsai Today Jan/Feb 04 issue. Does
anyone have any really good information on proper technique for collecting?
I find articles like that very interesting but also vague.

Darcy
Zone 3b
Red Deer, AB, CDN

Darcy:
Kevin's observations are well-taken. As he said, the way in which you collect a
tree is very dependent upon which species it is. In my area, I collect naturalized
honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowi) with trunks in excess of 8 inches with almost no
fine roots. This is the exception rather than the rule. I have found that with
many deciduous species a decent sized specimen (3-4" diameter) can be collected by
digging a foot or so from the trunk. Smaller specimens require less. The species
I've collected in this way include crabapple, apple, red oak, red maple, sugar
maple, black cherry, and a few more I can't recall.

I hav found that evergreens are less forgiving than deciduous trees with having
most of their root mass left in the ground, which is why I often limit my
collecting in the wild to deciduous species unless they're fairly small conifers.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to go with an experienced collector in
your area or an area similar to yours, and learn from them. Don't do what I
did--learn by trial and error. Many of the trees I collected in my first year died
because of my ignorance.

Craig Cowing
NY
zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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