A Couple afghan pines

[aml1014]

So I figured I'd ask if anyone here has tried the Afghan pine (pinus eldarica)? I acquired a couple this spring for really cheap and figured I'd try working them.
Afghan pines do very well in my dry climate. They are actually more vigorous the JBP here.

The first one was about 25 bucks and I went and chopped it back to the first whorl this spring. It back budded like crazy and has pushed healthy candles everywhere. So today I decided to get a little crazy and chopped off the whorl of branches and left the lower growth that I'll be using to get more sun and airflow.
The next one I got for about 5 bucks and is quite a bit younger. With it I've reduced the whorl branches to one in each spot, and am leaving a sacrifice to run for a while to thicken the trunk a bit.
I'd like to see if anyone has tried them. And if you guys can give me any advice on my two little guys.

Aaron

 

[sorce]

This reminds me of @Salcomine s contortas thread....

Something about Afghans, pines, and grandma's!

Sorce

 

[aml1014]

This reminds me of @Salcomine s contortas thread....

Something about Afghans, pines, and grandma's!

Sorce

I did read the 1 thread that came up on the search engine. But nobody had done shit!

So I am.

Aaron

 

[M. Frary]

I did read the 1 thread that came up on the search engine. But nobody had done shit!

So I am.

Aaron

And doing it twice!

 

[AlainK]

Afghan pine (pinus eldarica)

Never heard of it before! But if it "backbuds like crazy", it should be a very good candidate for bonsai.

Keep us updated, this should be interseting for those who can acclimate them where they live.

 

[aml1014]

And doing it twice!

Lmfao gotta love shitty phones, fixed!

Aaron

 

[aml1014]

Decided to do a test with the younger of the two. He got repotted today, I removed half the root ball and barerooted the outer third of the remaining rootball and popped into some good free draining soil.
Let's see how this goes!
He'll be in my maple area for a few weeks to stay out of the sun and recover.
Aaron

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Nice, I don't know nothin', about no afghan pines. but if it back buds, no reason not to try.

For what it is worth. I quit using bag pots, mainly because I move my trees around a lot, and the bags will flex when you move them, and that flexing breaks fine new feeder roots. None of my pines in flex pots survived over 3 years. Now it could be I made a fatal mistake with each and I am mis-identifying causality, but it was more than 3 trees, so the pot flexing could be to blame. My pumice-lava blend never compacts, so the soil mas stays loose and able to flex. A heavier mix that consolidates better might be okay in bag pots. Just a thought you might want to consider.

 

[aml1014]

They do seem to back Bud profusely so that's why I decided to try them

I appreciate your advice on the bag pot, I'll leave it be for now and be careful about moving it much, if it lives and does well I'll slip pot it in the spring carefully to a growbox.I don't care for the algae that grows on the side of the bags.

Aaron

 

[petegreg]

Wikipedia says it's Pinus brutia subsp. eldarica. And taxonomy http://www.conifers.org/pi/Pinus.php says Pinus brutia is in the same subsection with those "cracking Mediterranean pines". Then I tend to think the treatment and training could be similar.

 

[aml1014]

Wikipedia says it's Pinus brutia subsp. eldarica. And taxonomy http://www.conifers.org/pi/Pinus.php says Pinus brutia is in the same subsection with those "cracking Mediterranean pines". Then I tend to think the treatment and training could be similar.

Exactly the same thing I've researched and observed from these trees.
They tend to have 3 growth spurts here each year, one in april, another in June, and the final one in September or october.

Aaron

 

[petegreg]

Exactly the same thing I've researched and observed from these trees.
They tend to have 3 growth spurts here each year, one in april, another in June, and the final one in September or october.

Aaron

Right, nothing can replace research + own observation. The It. stone pines give me only 2 spurts in my climate, pruned or left alone.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Will the Afghan pines have a tendency to revert to juvenile foliage? Or have they so far only had adult foliage?

I initially thought bag pots were a great idea, and the algae never bothered me. My deciduous seem to do better in them than pines. I ended up setting them on boards, or trays, and pick them up by the tray rather than grabbing the pots. That seemed to mostly solve the problem.

 

[aml1014]

Will the Afghan pines have a tendency to revert to juvenile foliage? Or have they so far only had adult foliage?

When pruned back hard they do revert to juvenile growth but do set adult needles pretty quickly afterward.

Aaron

 

[petegreg]

When pruned back hard they do revert to juvenile growth but do set adult needles pretty quickly afterward.

Aaron

Aaron, how you will deal with it? Pruning...? I've got a strong tendency to let my ISP grow and conform the hight to mature needle size. Am I lazy?

 

[aml1014]

Aaron, how you will deal with it? Pruning...? I've got a strong tendency to let my ISP grow and conform the hight to mature needle size. Am I lazy?

I don't think your lazy.

It'll take me a few years to figure it out but it shouldn't be to hard.
I Plan on letting these revert fully back to mature foliage. From there I'll allow the spring and summer candles to extend before decandling and allowing the final weakest flush to grow.
I have a feeling that weak flush will be very strong because of the pruning after the summer candles.
This should be fun to figure out lol

Aaron

 

[0soyoung]

What is the difference between 'adult' and 'juvenile' needles?

 

[RickMartin]

Adult needles are long and a little thicker..juvi foliage is short..almost spruce like.

Rick

 

[aml1014]

What is the difference between 'adult' and 'juvenile' needles?

These are 2 needle pines and this is the adult foliage, you can see the bluish juvenile foliage mixed in there.
This is a totally juvenile shoot (notice they bud from needles along these juvenile shoots)
You'll notice I say shoots and not candles.
We all know candles elongate then the needles extend.
These "shoots" grow their needles as they elongate.

Aaron

 

[aml1014]

Over a week later and this thing is actually looking in better condition, it has better color and hasn't even thought about stopping it's juvenile growth shoots.
I really need to buy a nice camera and a backdrop lol

Aaron