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You make a good point. But the reality is that we operate with inadequate information 99% of the time. The difference between my view and yours is that you don't think you have enough information even to make a good guess as to what's going on. Totally reasonable. But my view is that even my...

I can say with absolute confidence that you can't say that pots didn't have a role. On the flip side, I can say that as a "factor" pots could have played a role (even a significant role) in the difference between the plants. Again, I was disagreeing with your statement, that starting material...

I just saw your point, that the difference in the two pictures is due solely to the starting plant, as outrageous. Most obviously, since he put the plants in different pots, the different pots could be a factor (one of many) that contributed to the difference (even significantly), not just the...

I disagree. It's quite possible that pots could be even a significant factor of how the trees actually grew. I think it's unreasonable to say that the difference is based only on "inherent growth rates" of the trees involved when most factors were reasonably controlled except for the difference...

That's a good thought. Although I bet that the pines were fertilized equally (why would someone underfertilize smart pots just for the heck of it?). Fertilizer just needs to be in solution for a tree to absorb it, that's why I figured it was more of a watering issue/smart pots staying drier issue.

What exactly do you mean by smart pots "beating" nursery pots? I actually think the nursery container pines look much healthier in that picture. The color difference is a little puzzling though. Do the smart pot pines have their second growth and the nursery container pines don't? Were the...

So is it safe to winter Japanese Black Pines at 38 degrees F with 8-10 hours of light, for prolonged periods? Does this meet the dormancy requirements for the tree? What if I was able to keep the trees a little warmer, say 45 degrees consistently? The reason I ask is because I'm from Wisconsin...

Continuing on with wintering advice in the garage idea, when is light advisable? Lets say I had a garage that I was able to keep at 38 degrees F and I was wintering Japanese Black Pines. If I were able to provide sunlight, or had some strong grow lights, would that be recommended? If so, how...

In the Stone Lantern Pine Masters book the black pine article says that there is an "optional" pruning of the roots you can do after the initial cutting, of course they don't really say when to prune, or give any more details (unfortunately). In Bonsai Today #12, however, different authors...

I feel your pain. On the bright side though, the article in Bonsai Today #12 says that about a month or so after you make cuttings you should/could gently uproot the plants to arrange the roots without causing too much stress. Maybe just keep it out of too much sun for a while?

I am looking for certain back issues of Bonsai Today, Bonsai Focus (Bonsai Europe), and International Bonsai Magazine. Most of these are unavailable on their respective magazine websites (or extremely expensive). If anyone has any of the following issues in good condition that they wish to part...

I am also starting several flats of Japanese Black Pine from seed. Does anyone know if, after you take the seedling cuttings, whether you continue to treat the cuttings with B1 and fungicide? I noticed, in the Stone Lantern Black Pine book and online posts at Bonsai Tonight, that both B1 and...

Thanks all, I appreciate the help.

Totally agree, as I said I'll continue to give that one TLC until I know it is definitively dead. But, I actually posted a picture of a different pine (as indicated above in an earlier post). If the symptoms of the two pines look similar from forum members experiences, it might help me derive...

I appreciate your paternalism.

I'm not sure how a photo taken in daylight gets into a debate over color rendering index and frame of reference with daylight vs. artificial light. I think what I wanted out of the post was more along the lines of: Hey here's something that looks weird. Have you seen something like this...

The picture you took, of course, is not in daylight. Without daylight there is no light to reflect color, it looks like most of the light is provided by your camera. If the photo were in pitch black I guess I'd say that the pine didn't exist at all. Daylight, on the other hand, has a color...

Someone had mentioned texture of the needles having "dried up," I tried to capture the texture of the needles in the photo. The photo was taken in daylight. I'm surprised you didn't scold me for not having a coke can in my first four pictures of the Nishiki before saying it was dead, otherwise...

As for what soil it's in, it looks like a mix of bentonite clay (hard grey kitty litter?), with haydite, and rock grit. Weirdly, the particle size on top is the largest, and particle size gets smaller towards the bottom, maybe because of breakdown of the clay. It drains very fast. As for why...

I'm concerned about dehydration of my regular Black Pines (and other trees?) now, in this particularly harsh weather. Should I be concerned about making sure they are only kept below freezing for short periods as well? As you can tell, this is fairly surprising information to learn, and very...

It's really hard to tell, because everything has been a frozen block for a while now. It starting snowing very early this year, in mid-November, and the second it started snowing is when I put the trees up for winter storage. I would like to answer your question no, since they have pretty...

I think you might be right. The best explanation I can think of is the vendor attempting to style, pulling needles and wiring the tree, prior to my purchase. I've heard that Nishikis are especially sensitive if you do too many things to them in a single season. I did see die-back on the leader...

In any case, would it be good policy to hang on to it in case it does do something in spring? Or just chuck it now to avoid the despair of having a tree die on you.

The buds are whiteish, but extremely small (1-3mm). I think you can see one of them in the pictures. I don't really have a point of reference as to what they're supposed to be like for a nishiki.

This past August, 2013, I acquired a Nishiki Pine (am unsure of specific variety) from the Midwest Bonsai Show. It was styled with wire and needle plucked prior to my acquisition. It looked healthy, and had light yellowy green needles. I live in Wisconsin, Zone 5b. The tree was wintered a...