Knowledge of Bonsai

I've recently acquired 20 Fraiser Fir seedlings that I intend to plant in a forest when they are ready. They are about 10-15 cm tall and I pinched off the leading candle at the top. Should all candles be shortened and when, before or after they open. They're opening now. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Upon recieving the bare root seedlings I took about 1/3 of the root off and cut the tap root, then potted them in 6" pots. They're all doing nicely now and I want to start some back budding for lower branches.

Personally, I wouldn't do too much more to them this year. Removing the lead candle will focus energy down, and having already done root pruning on these this year, I would personally call it enough and leave them to do their thing until next year.

A picture is worth a thousand words though. Do you have an image of your seedlings (or just one as a representative of what most of them look like) for us?

Thank you Heather. My main concern is the branches at the top of the trees where I don't think I want them.

Leaving those extra branches on will help the trunk on these thicken up a bit. In any places you have a whorl of branches (several coming out at the same place) you could remove some to help prevent inverse taper later on, but for the next year or two, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. At this stage of development, the more branches, the better.

Thanks again Heather. This is my first venture with these seedlings. I've made several maple groves from seedlings and wanted to try my hand at a conifer forest, though my experience with conifers is limited. I'll enjoy watching these grow and leaning how to work with them. I was able to get these for a buck apiece. I also bought 30 Ponerosa pines for fifty cents each which are about the same size. I pruned the roots the same, but didn't pinch the leader on them as they were not as vigorous as the Fraisers. What I'd really like to do is a mixed forest of firs, cedars and pines. I always think muy grande, then work my way back to some kind of reality. I've always got several projects going and one is this up and coming Douglas Fir grove. It's a sprouted fir cone, the only one I've ever seen, and I've been running around in the woods lo these many years. A friend found it eight years ago and has kept it in a six inch gal. pot since. He gave it to me this spring and all I've done is give it a larger pot for this year. I'd like to try to make this happen with another cone, any ideas?

Different pine species have different requirements for what they need to have their cones open and seeds germinate. Many involve excessive heat (serotinous, which means the cones are sealed shut with resin), which is why forest fires (occassional and controlled) are actually part of many conifer forest life cycles. Some just need prolonged periods of hot weather, rather than actual fire. You'll want to check what is needed depending on the species you want to collect every time you try something new. So far as I know, Douglas Fir do not need high heat, their cones open naturally on their own once the cones have matured, usually in late summer, early autumn. The seeds fall seperately, one or two at a time over the course of a month, and the cones usually drop after most of the seeds have already fallen, which is why what you guys found is pretty uncommon. Basically, you'll need to start watching for when the cones mature (they finish turning brown), but before they have dropped most of their seeds. This will be sometime between early September to October in most areas Douglas Fir grow. By the end of October, most of the seeds will have already dropped, so earlier is better.

Yep! That's pretty much what I thought about the fir cone. In fact, when my friend told me what the planting was, I said not possible. He found the cone in mid-spring, sprouted just laying on the surface. Which means, to me, that the cone was dislodged from the tree, seeds intact, survived the rest of that season without being found by squirrels or any other critter and sprouted the next spring. Pretty amazing, considering that almost all critters and bugs out there eat these, it's darn near impossible to find a viable cone on the ground. Pros climb the seed trees and attach cloth bags over the cones to catch the seeds as they drop. An interesting sight when you come across one of these seed trees. Large collars around the base keep the critters out of the tree and white bags hanging all over the tree. You'll do five in federal prison for distrubing one of these on USFS or BLM lands. Getting back to my Fraisers, it's been my habit to gather seedlings for a forest, plant them into various size pots and let them grow. After a few years I end up with trees the same age, but different sizes. I gather a new batch each year and by planting time I've got big and little, younger and older trees to plant together. I'm speaking of deciduous trees and I'm wondering if this process will pan out for conifers also. I'm considering planting five into the ground, bumping some up to larger pots and keeping the rest in the sixes. Next spring I'll buy another batch and repeat the process. It takes a few years to get the ball rolling, but eventually you end up with a nice selection of trees to plant together. I've assumed this will work with conifers and have headed down that road. I appreciate your time and expertise on the subject, thank you.