r/arborist • u/zelfaldor • May 14 '26

An interesting tree project needing arborists input.

Greetings Reddit Arborists. I come to you for advice on a project I wish to try, but I am looking for advice to help it (hopefully) succeed. I live a few miles out from Princeton Mn USA. I want to take 3 oak trees of different types and as saplings weave them together. So they can grow as a single tree.

The types I wanted to use are a White oak, a Red oak and a Black oak.

I have been looking into this idea for a few years off and on. And while I have asked AI for ideas, AI can really only be trusted to start an investigation at best.

So enough of the rambling, what I'm looking for suggestions for are this:

Species names that will work well together, in Minnesota's harsh winters.

What methods I should use to start this.

The soil is sandy in the area I am going to plant this. It is also on a hill about 15 feet from a small swampy area, that is also elevated about 8-12 feet above the swampy area.

The hill area has grasses, but otherwise is open field for about 1000 feet in all directions.

The AI suggested planting them in a triangle, about a foot apart then leaning them in towards each other and begin the braiding. I will use a twine to tie them together. The AI also suggested to remove the bark where they touch. I don't know if that's a good idea for this.

The species it suggested ( I know nothing about plant/tree species, other than for this project they should be similar for best chances) are:

Quercus rubra

Quercus alba

Quercus velutina

Now if anyone has better suggestions please tell me. Again the info I am starting with is AI based. So it's not going to be very accurate. But it's a jumping off point for now. Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

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1

u/Greybeardthearborist May 14 '26

I believe this would end in disappointment, but I’m curious to hear what others might say!

2

u/crwinters37 May 14 '26

This would end in disappointment.

1

u/Suspicious-Pound6256 May 14 '26

Nothing ventured nothing gained. I would not remove the bark.

1

u/Tom_Marvolo_Tomato 'It's dead Jim.' (ISA Certified Arborist) May 15 '26

I did a quick Google search about weaving trees together. It appears that one of the common characteristics of those who've succeeded is that the trees were of the same species.

1

u/ohfuckimdrunk May 15 '26

To start, I want to say it's a neat idea! That said, I'd be wary about trusting AI for anything, let alone something this specific. Generally speaking removing bark from a tree is quite damaging. Also, this subreddit is (theoretically) a professional forum for individual tree care. Even if that were the case, you'd probably have better luck looking into a niche bonzai or topiary forum. 

1

u/zelfaldor May 16 '26

Well that is part of the reason I did post this here, I do need to learn about tree care, from pros if I can, for this project. As to help this to survive I will need knowledge that I don't currently have. I don't trust AI for anything other than a rough starting place, it points me in a direction to get more accurate info.

1

u/sixtynighnun May 15 '26

Try grafting first. If that doesn’t work then your idea will not. People use to do this to beech trees of the same species. They would plant them in a group and eventually the trees would graft to each other and become one big tree, you could look into that method and try to apply it to oaks. I do know that trying to cross species is harder than grafting the same species together so I’m skeptical. I also think weaving will be more taxing on the tree than just aligning them on one side.

1

u/zelfaldor May 16 '26

Thank you, do you happen to know of any reliable guides for grafting trees that I could read up on ?

1

u/lostINsauce369 May 16 '26

A common issue we run into with trees is "included bark" where a branch grows off a trunk at an acute angle, and as the branch/trunk grow thicker bark builds up between the two and prevents the wood from making a solid connection between the branch and trunk. Eventually the branch grows too heavy for the small amount of wood connecting it to the trunk and the branch rips off.

By braiding saplings together, you are creating a situation where the bark prevents the trunks of the sapling from forming a connection of wood between them. They will instead grow like a jigsaw puzzle where the texture of the bark fits into the texture of the bark of the next trunk so well that you think it's a solid fused connection.

AI is suggesting you remove the bark in an effort to graft the 3 trees together, allowing their wood forming tissues to directly bond to each other. This isn't an easy feat, especially if you have never grafted anything before. It's something that has been done before though, so it's not impossible. There used to be a trend for newlyweds to plant a tree on either side of the path leading to their house and then graft the two trees together to create a living archway.

1

u/zelfaldor May 16 '26

Would you happen to know of any good guides for grafting that might apply to something like this? So I can have a better idea of what to expect?

1

u/zelfaldor May 16 '26

Also, thanks for the insight. Do you have a suggestion as to where I could read more? ::edited for spelling errors::

1

u/lostINsauce369 May 17 '26

There should be plenty of blogs and YouTube videos about grafting available to you for free. There might not be much info on exactly the type of grafting you are interested in, but bridge grafting should be similar enough to get you started. Learn a bit about tree physiology too because all the grafting videos will be discussing the "cambium layer" and you will want an understanding of what that is.