Very nice!

Resin

Always nice, thanks Nate.

tj

Nate, you did it again, finding another Picea engelmannii broom, beautiful!
Thanks for showing us your very nice pics of your "cooling off" adventure.

Wooow Nate, congrats for very nice broom on engelmannii. You have very good eyes for finding. L+M S

Thanks Resin, TJ, Edwin, and L+M! Will be interesting to see how this all looks next winter!

Went brooming today.

Grant, CO
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Climbing Geneva Creek, up toward Guanella Pass
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Bruno Gulch
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Parked the car (9770 ft, 2980m). No cellphone service here!
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Headed up the road, pole pruner and snowshoes in tow.
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I've seen this before when hiking along the mountain roads in winter.
A car stuck in the snow.
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This was the end of the driveable road.
You could see where people in high clearance 4 wheel drive vehicles went as far as they could possibly go.
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It was a perfect day, slight breeze and sunny skies.
A few aches and pains from the 10k fun run yesterday, and a bit winded by the high altitude air, but I enjoyed the peaceful solitude.

Still climbing (now at 10,500 ft, 3200m) . There was a solid layer of crusted snow on top of the snowpack, so I didn't need the snowshoes for the hike.

The broom must be along here somewhere!
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Can you see it?
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Yes!
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So I said a prayer of thanks to the conifer gods, and then reaped the harvest.

The broom fell and rolled downhill into the trees. I had to put the snowshoes on and go retrieve it. Good thing I brought them, the snow was very deep near the tree wells.

Picea engelmannii 'Bandit'
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(with reference to the 1977 movie 'Smokey and the Bandit')
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Nate,
beautiful day, wonderful WB, wonderful adventure, thanks for sharing pics
L+M S
We wish Bandit smooth living!

Awesome, Nate! Thanks for taking us along on this brooming adventure. May the conifer gods continue to smile on you and bring you good fortune.

-Alex

Severnside, that is excellent!

Thanks L+M and Alex!

Here are a few pics of the broom trimming.
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Cutting from Engelmannii broom
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Broom
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Broom
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The film was cool. And then I was young and beautiful. ;)
A broom now young and beautiful...

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'.
You done did what they say can't be done.
Took a long pole to go, and a short hike to get there
You're east bound, just watch ole bandit run.

Looks like a winner, Nate.

tj

Thanks Mirek and TJ!

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Grafting update at two months.

Picea engelmanni 'Bandit'
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This is another one of my low-maintenance trials. I potted up the bare root understock, grafted the scions, and put them outside on the northeast facing side of the house - all on the same day. No time indoors or in a humidity chamber. Lowest overnight temp was April 14 at 15F (-9.5C).

Looking great. So you're 'Lo Fi' grafting as well. Mine I'll confess were done with rubber bands (!) cork backed place mats and a craft knife. Minimal humidity consideration and just kept outside in low mild temps. The advantage of the general UK climate is dessication isn't a big worry.

What I will do next time given that I will be able to plan a scion collection rather than a geurilla snatch will be;

1) Use the cork backed place mats again - they work fine.
2) Use proper Parafilm tape, I'm going to upgrade the rubber bands soon for the rest of the year.
3) Take much more care on the cuts. Though these have taken and they had no flap at the bottom, just a straight side-on graft they will look very ugly. Also the better the crafting of the cut and flap surely the better the union taking and being secure. I was lucky this time.
4) Use pretty much the same date to graft again - 1st of February, though these scions were collected a week earlier and kept in the fridge.

I'd like to hear you lessons learned too. What will you and won't you do again? Both spring and fall. As you do have positive scores on both counts.

That sounds good Severnside.

Here, the climate dessication is an issue. It seems the grafting seal can work to keep the union tissues hydrated.

I've found spring grafting to have a much higher take rate, so will only resort to fall grafting if I can't collect scion in the spring. There are some remote locations that are only accessible during late summer - early fall. If that's the only chance to collect scion, then I'll plan for a 10% take rate at the most.

In past springs, I've kept grafts in the humidity chamber up to four to five weeks, and indoors thereafter for up to three months. I can't see going back to that, even though the take rate might be a little higher.

I've decided that a slightly lower take rate is an acceptable trade off for not having to carefully monitor the plants for such a long time.

This is so fascinating, I have found a few brooms in my travels but I have left them be, because I would not have a clue what to do with them. Could you all direct me to some information on how to graft them.

The basics of grafting are;

1) Collecting time - Sluice has tried fall collection and had success but the main time is early spring before the bud push. You collect and graft on the same day if possible or after a short while in a fridge. Drying out of the scion (the piece(s) you have collected) is fatal. The 'moist link' is what you mustn't break.

2) Rootstock sourcing and compatability. It depends on the species of your broom. This is done before you collect. Sluice can help you with sources perhaps.

3) Grafting techniques and aftercare. Dax Herbst is the very best man for this (Gardener365 on here) but Sluice and Clement are also very experienced practitioners too.

Post 'How do I graft?' in the discussion side and I'm sure they will all advise and link.

sluice,, Simply magical.
all involved,,,great story.

I laughed,,I cried,,,I wet myself
relatively new here,,,does GW have academy awards ?
thanks for great post
ron

who says it's deserted here

This post was edited by plantkiller.il.5 on Wed, Jul 23, 14 at 20:41

Beigestonehill, for rootstock I have used seedlings from U. Idaho nursery and Brooks tree farm, and have had good results with species that do well in my growing conditions. Dax has posted some youtube videos on conifer grafting that are very helpful.

Thanks Plantkiller!

Sluices's posts are the main reason I regularly look in the Gallery side. Always hoping for more. Besides, the tree line is my favorite part of the mountains. The sub-alpine areas are the most scenic to me.
Mike.....living in a sort of temperate rainforest.

Ditto Mike.

Thanks for all the great information guys. My dream retirement would be spent wondering the alpine woods with my dogs and husband ( if he would go) looking at trees. You conifer people are the best, love your posts and pictures. Thanks again

Galleries Rock \m/

was going back thru some this weekend
came across naybobs 4 ,5 ,6 times
what's up with that ?
ron

This post was edited by plantkiller.il.5 on Wed, Jul 23, 14 at 20:45