Black pine germination

[Deleted member 32750]

I’m super excited I got some Japanese black pine seeds to germinate! This is my first attempt at trying seeds of any kind and I’m kind of surprised I had success on my first attempt. I just got into the hobby last year and have really been diving deep into all things bonsai.
I’m excited and anxious to see how these guys turn out into the future. I’m pretty young in my mid twenties so this will be a life long adventure for me to work on these future JBP.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

(1) Quite an active bonsai community here in NC! Hope you join some of the groups!
(2) Make sure you check out our 6-year "Japanese Black Pine from seed" contest to see how much development people can get from JBP in 6 years!

 

[Deleted member 32750]

(1) Quite an active bonsai community here in NC! Hope you join some of the groups!
(2) Make sure you check out our 6-year "Japanese Black Pine from seed" contest to see how much development people can get from JBP in 6 years!

So I have noticed! I visited the bonsai learning center twice last year and purchased a tree each visit. It’s great to have a place like that within driving distance. And I also joined the triangle bonsai society late last year so I’m excited to be a part of that going forward.

I have lurked on the threads for the JBP contests and they were incredibly helpful in me setting up the seeds. I found @kingsville grower insight to be incredibly helpful.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

So I have noticed! I visited the bonsai learning center twice last year and purchased a tree each visit. It’s great to have a place like that within driving distance. And I also joined the triangle bonsai society late last year so I’m excited to be a part of that going forward.

I have lurked on the threads for the JBP contests and they were incredibly helpful in me setting up the seeds. I found @kingsville grower insight to be incredibly helpful.

Just talking to Brad as you posted this. He has bought new property just north in Statesville where he can spread out a little bit and feed his bonsai passion. Looking forward to new news shortly!

 

[Deleted member 32750]

Just talking to Brad as you posted this. He has bought new property just north in Statesville where he can spread out a little bit and feed his bonsai passion. Looking forward to new news shortly!

That is awesome! I remember him telling me he was looking at some land to move to. He’s a really cool guy

 

[Deleted member 32750]

Seedling update:

my first batch of seeds had pretty good germination rates. I planted 72 and most have germinated by now. I think there are a few late sprouters, but in all I am pleased with my first go at starting seeds.

These seeds are Mikawa JBP seeds that I purchased from Clark M Long Biogold Original. They are said to be directly imported from Japan and cost $16/gram of seeds. This seems a little pricey compared to what I read some people here paid for seeds, but I am hopeful that they will be of high quality!

I ended up buying 4 grams of seeds all together. 2 grams of seeds I started by scarifying In hot water over night. The seeds that were still floating after about 24 hours I discarded and the rest I put into little ziplock bags with moss and put into the refrigerator for about a month. This was done in the beginning of January or so. I can’t remember the exact date.

I sowed the seeds on February 12th in a Jump Start germination station that I purchased on Amazon. The germination station game with a humidity dome and a heat mat which I found the be very helpful with germination. This tray has 72 cells so I still have quite a few seeds from my first batch still stratifying in the refrigerator and I still have 2 grams of seeds in the shipping baggies in my garage. I plan on sowing the remainder of seeds in my fridge in a few weeks and the other seeds I think I will experiment and just scarify and not stratify and compare germination rates and times.

As for my plan with the seedlings, for this first batch I will probably exclusively do the seedling cutting technique to try to make shohin and mame black pine, but in the future I want to try to make larger pine bonsai.

 

[Deleted member 32750]

Here is a look at how the seedling cuttings turned out one year later. I have quite a few that exploded with growth last year. Surprisingly all of the pines that I performed seedling cuttings on had significantly more growth than regular seedlings when all else was equal between the two groups

The seedling cuttings were potted in 4” pots in 3:1 perlite to peat moss. I fertilized with Osmocote plus and gave them plenty of sunlight. Many of them have a lot of low buds.

Now they will be root pruned and repotted. The best of the bunch will be potted in training pots in standard bonsai mix. I will apply wire once they have established to add movement to the trunks.

 

[JeffS73]

They look good for yearlings, well done. Perhaps wire now for low movement?

 

[Deleted member 32750]

They look good for yearlings, well done. Perhaps wire now for low movement?

I did decide to wire a few of them now and I left some as is for chokkan style.

 

[Wulfskaar]

Those are easily 3 x bigger than my 1.5 year old JBP's. Nice!

 

[Ming dynasty]

Here is a look at how the seedling cuttings turned out one year later. I have quite a few that exploded with growth last year. Surprisingly all of the pines that I performed seedling cuttings on had significantly more growth than regular seedlings when all else was equal between the two groups

The seedling cuttings were potted in 4” pots in 3:1 perlite to peat moss. I fertilized with Osmocote plus and gave them plenty of sunlight. Many of them have a lot of low buds.

Now they will be root pruned and repotted. The best of the bunch will be potted in training pots in standard bonsai mix. I will apply wire once they have established to add movement to the trunks.
View attachment 423396View attachment 423397View attachment 423398View attachment 423399

For black pine seedling. Do you think it’s necessary to take it out of pot and cut it on a board? Do you think cutting it from the pot make a difference?

 

[Deleted member 32750]

For black pine seedling. Do you think it’s necessary to take it out of pot and cut it on a board? Do you think cutting it from the pot make a difference?

In sorry, I don’t quite understand your question. Are you asking if seedling cutting technique makes a difference?