Saturday, September 12, 2009

Some of the trees I collected this year

Here is an overwiev of some of the trees I collected this year.



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Posted by at 12.9.09

4 comments:

Igorilla said...

Hi Rune,
so you were pretty busy this year. Great stuff, hats off! Can you tell me, how is your experience with collecting spruces? I´m so unlucky with them ...
Any tips?

Greetings,
Igor

September 12, 2009 9:34 PM
Rune Kyrdalen said...

Spruce is very difficult, I had about 50 % survival last year, and even less before that. But my survival rate increases each year!
The spruces I collect grow at the timberline about 800- 900 meters above sea level, I guess that equals about 2000 meters in your area ; -)They all grow in bogs and the soil is wet and sometimes almost like mud if the peat moss is broken down enough. I guess that is very different from the type of soil you collect in?
I prepare the spruces several years in advance of collection by cutting off unwanted growth and fertilizing them heavily several times a year if possible. Since they grow in very poor soil with little nutrients the rootsystems run far away from the trunk to surch for nutrients so you will never find a spruce with a nice compact root ball in the areas I collect. The main reason why they die after collection is because I don't get enough hair roots when I collect them. When I fertilize I encorage new roots to grow closer to the trunk and at the same time the tree gets stronger and grows better because of the nutrients. The old trees reacts slowly and it can take a few years before they are strong enough to be collected. When the new growth is 10 cm it is strong enough for a good survival rate I would say. From this year on I have started a new pracis, I use a liquid fertilizer and fertilize the foliage once a week from right after collection and so far it has made the foliage deeper green and more healty looking on all the trees so I think it will help!
I don't know if this is helpful at all for you Igor since the environment you collect spruce in is so different from where I collect. My advice would be to experiment with different tequnices at different times of the year and keep records of what works and not and in the end you might break the code!

September 12, 2009 10:02 PM
avicenna said...

Thank you for this detailed and open information;-) It is to be really difficult indeed to let spruces survive and some Yamadoricollektors boast of the fact that they have a survivelrate up to 90%... Now... whether this corresponds always the truth? ;-), However, it calms me that experienced collectors also have their problems;-)... Thank you for your infos in addition
Greetings
avicenna

September 13, 2009 12:16 PM
Igorilla said...

Hi Rune,
thank you so much for this great information!!!
You gave me some good tips and be sure that I´ll act on your advice :)
It gives me courage to continue trying!

Nice Regards,
Igor

September 13, 2009 9:54 PM

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