Dwarf conifers

[Maggi Young]

There seems to be a lot of witch's broom on our trees here especially on the spruce and larch.  Sometimes the brooms are caused by a parasitic mistletoe and these usually revert once propagated

Witches brooms on Silver Birch are caused by a fungus.

 Hmmm... so are those brooms of conifers, which are NOT caused by mistletoe, caused by a fungus also?

[olegKon]

Thank you so much for this thread. I adore all the dwarf conifers shown here. Some of mine:
1.Chamaecyparis obtusa (bought it without a variety name, hope it's Minima)
2.Juniperus communis Compressa
3.Picea abies Little Gem
4.Picea mariana Pygmey (failed to find this variety of P.mariana in books)
5.Picea pungens Globe
6.Pinus parviflora glauca (not exactly a snall thing in future)
7.A conifer border
8.Pinus mugo Jacobsen

[johnw]

There seems to be a lot of witch's broom on our trees here especially on the spruce and larch.  Sometimes the brooms are caused by a parasitic mistletoe and these usually revert once propagated

Witches brooms on Silver Birch are caused by a fungus.

 Hmmm... so are those brooms of conifers, which are NOT caused by mistletoe, caused by a fungus also?

Can be just aberrant cells, disease, physical damage, reversions... all sorts of things and you never really know how stable they are until you live with them long enough. The question is how long is long enough?

johnw

[mark smyth]

Here's the best list of dwarf conifers I have ever seen and many I would love to own. No mail order to UK and minimum order elsewhere is 500 Euro. http://www.nurgapuukool.ee/enindex.php?id=31

From the web site
We started to sell plants to the Europe (especially to the Baltic States and Scandinavia).
Orders are accepted throughout the year. Order deliveries are made between May and October.
A minimum value of order is 500 € (euros) plus delivery expenses. We also deliver plants on request. Please email for further details.
After getting your order we will send you a confirmation of availability of plants by e-mail. Please note some plants are in short supply and might be sold out at the beginning of summer season.
Orders must be paid in before goods are delivered. Payment in euros to our bank account.
Discounts will be offered for bulk orders, details available on request.

Maybe I can I persuade my local garden to buy from then instead of the crap 'dwarf' conifers they usually buy in. Maybe there are enough people in our group interested to buy in a trolley.

[johnw]

Maggi - Consulted Welch and he seems to be saying these brooms are caused by bud mutations and can be viral. Mostly infertile females but a few are fertile.

Interesting is that the Alberta Spruce was found as fours seedling during a brief train delay in Lake Laggan by Jack and Rehder.  If I remember correctly Gnom is identical but much smaller and was found as a witches broom on the Alberta. Pixie was a broom on Gnom and is even smaller. So witches broom on a witches broom. By now there have probably been brooms on Pixie!

Arne - Hamamelis 'Jelena' just starting to flower here at a friend's, a tad late. There's always hope for spring here.

johnw - +4c and overcast 

[mark smyth]

The best dwarf Pinetum I have ever seen belongs to David Holubec in the Czech Republic. He's Vojtech's son.

[David Nicholson]

Mark, have you tried http://www.kenwithnursery.co.uk/  It's just down the road from Rosemoor, needs a car to get there though.

[mark smyth]

Must look now. Thanks David.

I would like to get a small birch witch's broom grafted a couple of cm up a ? stem. What's is a plant grafted on to?

[David Nicholson]

I'll ask my mother-in-law

[johnw]

Mark - Why not try Betula michauxii instead of a graft, might even work as understock?

johnw

[mark smyth]

I see it only grows to 2 feet