I went to my favorite nursery again today, and found a couple of oaks I liked for possible future bonsai. One is a Quercus pubescens. A beautiful little tree with great bark. The other has Quercus Suser handwritten on the container. Many of the trees at this nursery have names handwritten on them if they have been there long.

I have not been able to locate any info on this species, and wondered if it might have been a mistake. Maybe it should have been Quercus Suber. It does not seem to have a soft layer of bark, but I do not want to peel much away. Do younger or at least smaller cork oaks have the same corky bark as mature trees?

Anyway here are some pics of the tree in question:

Also, does that look like powdery mildew on the leaves? We have very hard water here, and many plants have water spots on them, in some cases covering most of the plant. This does not look quite the same to me, but as I have never seen powdery mildew before (to my knowledge) I'm not sure.

Thanks for any help,
Billy

The "structure issues" don't matter for bonsai (and are probably even an advantage). But it looks like it is probably one of the shrubby species anyway (a lot of the evergreen oaks are).

Resin

Billy, I can't say with certainty what species of oak that is, but Quercus suber is a possibility. If so, it would make a terrific bonsai specimen!

The white spots don't appear to be powdery mildew. Evergreen oaks usually end up with sort of dimpled, bumpy leaves when infected with that fungus. At least that's how it presents itself on Live Oaks. You could spray with Neem oil, just in case.

I thought the white seemed a bit too uniform on most of the leaves, and with no other discoloration I was hopeful. However, I have quite a few plants in fairly close quarters, so I figured I would at least ask.

Rhizo, I also like to pick through the discards, but surprisingly enough this tree was not a nursery reject. At the back of the nursery I frequent is a section used by the owner for plants he has either ordered or found, that may one day go to his property for planting. After meeting him and talking for a while it seems he doesn't have much room left for many of these plants, but still plans on holding onto many. However, I am at the nursery enough that some of the staff think I should work there, so maybe that has something to do with my new acquisitions.

Anyway, the tree in question is approx. 3" in diameter, and a little over 5" from base to the bottom of the small leader with leaves in the first picture. Hopefully my novice skills will be able to maximize the potential of this beautiful tree.

Any more thoughts on the tree would be great.

Thanks,
Billy

no clue on the ID

ken

Now don't go and buy all of my future plants:). Dricha, do you live close by? I'm only 5-10 minutes from the RG on thousand oaks?

Billy

No. I'm in the Dallas area. Don't worry I've got hundreds of oaks from TX, the southwest, Mexico, the Mediterranean and Asia minor. A friend took me to that nursery once 3 or 4 years ago. They were the only nursery that had a few unusual Oaks. There is another guy in SA who has some unusual oaks. His name is Rex Moyer. As said the shrubby species have smaller leaves and are evergreen. The smallest leaf is on the native Quercus hinckleyi which is threatened and endangered. The acorns are bigger than the leaves. It would be a great candidate for what your doing.

David

I hope my comment about purchasing plants was taken in the joking manner it was meant. My wife thinks I have enough plants as it is anyway.

Do you collect oaks exclusively or are they just one of many? I have always loved oaks, and acorns. I grew up in East Texas, close to Tyler, and we had many on our property. My daughters, especially the youngest loves to play with acorns also, which is one reason I bought these recent oaks. An acorn bearing bonsai would be incredible.

Have you seen the hinckleyi available or is that unlikely?

Also, is Rex Moyer just a collector or retailer of oaks? I enjoy looking through nurseries, but viewing an established collection would be great.

Billy

I mostly collect and grow oaks although I'm a big fan of smaller drought resistant trees, shrubs and xeric exotics. I have a real Q. hinckleyi by default but I won't go into that. The plant produces acorns every year but gets pollinated by a big Burr or live oaks in the neighborhood. I give most of the acorns to other plantnuts that I know.

I think Rex Moyer might have a tree farm. Here is his website. www.mtfsa.com I have not looked at it in a long time.

David

Thanks for the info. I'll look into the tree farm,and see what I can find out.

The next time you have acorns try to keep this thread in mind. If you have extra I would appreciate an opportunity to get some.

Have a happy Thanksgiving,

Billy