Bonsai Nut's personal pine entry thread

[Bonsai Nut]

There you have it dude. @Bonsai Nut is reporting his now and he is in warm California also (I think) so it would appear you’re good to do so.

I'm actually in North Carolina now. I would have repotted by now, but life got in the way. Normally I would want to repot at least a couple of months before the heat of the summer.

 

[ysrgrathe]

You can take more liberties with seedlings than with mature trees. Just look what horrors Mark inflicts on his.

 

[geekyalias]

Thanks guys, I guess I will be waiting for the end of summer/ next spring now then! I appreciate the advice. X

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Been a year(!) since my last update, so I thought I'd let people know the status of my trees. They have been growing well in the pond baskets in a bark mix... though I would much rather have them in pumice or some other kind of aggregate. I just haven't been able to locate a good, large volume source yet (cubic yard type quantity). All my pumice from California is long gone (I only brought one garbage can full from CA), as well as 6 cubic feet that I bought separately.

At any rate, I have decided that my lower buds are not strong enough, so I am planning to remove the first sacrifice branches later this year. This may take me out of the running for most caliper growth in six years, but I just don't see letting the sacrifice branches get much longer at this point. Here is what my 44 trees look like today:



All trees have lower buds, but some have a lot more than others. I am going to decandle the sacrifice branches to drive as much strength to the lower parts of the tree, and see where I am later this year.

 

[Stella]

Following as I have just received my 1st JBP seedling.

 

[mwar15]

Great growth

 

[Lazylightningny]

Looking good there BNut. You must have had fun moving all your plants from CA to NC.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Looking good there BNut. You must have had fun moving all your plants from CA to NC.

Let's just say that I would prefer no more pandemics... There was a moment when we thought we might not find a hotel to stay in and might be sleeping in the car

 

[hemmy]

They have been growing well in the pond baskets in a bark mix... though I would much rather have them in pumice or some other kind of aggregate.

Has the new growth darkened over the season? That last pic has needles that are almost white. Is that a symptom of being too wet in the all bark mix or just the rapid growth outstripping the available nitrogen?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Has the new growth darkened over the season? That last pic has needles that are almost white. Is that a symptom of being too wet in the all bark mix or just the rapid growth outstripping the available nitrogen?

I'm not sure what the cause is... because it occurs in a few of the pines, while others that are on the same bench, in the same soil, getting the same sun, water, and fertilizer, do not show the lighter needles. It comes and goes and I have never been able to completely vanquish it.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I'm not sure what the cause is... because it occurs in a few of the pines, while others that are on the same bench, in the same soil, getting the same sun, water, and fertilizer, do not show the lighter needles. It comes and goes and I have never been able to completely vanquish it.

When raising orchids from seed, I have seen a similar effect, a handful of seedlings will suddenly show bleached or even pure white patches on the newest leaves, almost like variegation. Then it stops as inexplicably as it started. There was some "talking out our collective asses" about young tissue growing so fast that required nutrients were not getting to those tissues, even though rest of the plant had sufficient nutrients. But this was all wild speculation devoid of science. I never pursued creating a controlled experiment, too much work, problem would always disappear before I got upset enough to actually try to "science it out".

 

[soulztek]

Let's just say that I would prefer no more pandemics... There was a moment when we thought we might not find a hotel to stay in and might be sleeping in the car

I recently new to Bonsai and are in NC myself. Is there a soil recommendation you have for young pines years 1-3 as well as watering? The NC heat killed some this year for me.

 

[David wv]

Been a year(!) since my last update, so I thought I'd let people know the status of my trees. They have been growing well in the pond baskets in a bark mix... though I would much rather have them in pumice or some other kind of aggregate. I just haven't been able to locate a good, large volume source yet (cubic yard type quantity). All my pumice from California is long gone (I only brought one garbage can full from CA), as well as 6 cubic feet that I bought separately.

At any rate, I have decided that my lower buds are not strong enough, so I am planning to remove the first sacrifice branches later this year. This may take me out of the running for most caliper growth in six years, but I just don't see letting the sacrifice branches get much longer at this point. Here is what my 44 trees look like today:

View attachment 380932

All trees have lower buds, but some have a lot more than others. I am going to decandle the sacrifice branches to drive as much strength to the lower parts of the tree, and see where I am later this year.

View attachment 380933

Have you been able to find a good source of inorganic soil aggregate, (that is cost effective), since moving to the eastern United States. I'm so jealous of how readily available and cheap pumice is on the west coast, from what I've heard anyways.

 

[eugenev2]

Been a year(!) since my last update, so I thought I'd let people know the status of my trees. They have been growing well in the pond baskets in a bark mix... though I would much rather have them in pumice or some other kind of aggregate. I just haven't been able to locate a good, large volume source yet (cubic yard type quantity). All my pumice from California is long gone (I only brought one garbage can full from CA), as well as 6 cubic feet that I bought separately.

At any rate, I have decided that my lower buds are not strong enough, so I am planning to remove the first sacrifice branches later this year. This may take me out of the running for most caliper growth in six years, but I just don't see letting the sacrifice branches get much longer at this point. Here is what my 44 trees look like today:

View attachment 380932

All trees have lower buds, but some have a lot more than others. I am going to decandle the sacrifice branches to drive as much strength to the lower parts of the tree, and see where I am later this year.

View attachment 380933

Any further updates (2022) on this challenge or has the challenge ended?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Challenge is still going, but I need to update my photos

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Decandling and cleaning up my pine seedlings. I honestly don't know what I'll have to show come December

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I’m a bit worried about that too…but isn’t that exactly why we picked 6 years to begin with, because some of us thought it couldn’t be done?

 

[Fonz]

I have the same worries. Not really ready to put my 6 year olds in a pot at the end of the year. I'm worried it's going to put them back instead of forward and ruin what I've created so far. Might just keep posting updates here and withdraw from the contest unfortunately. My climate isn't fit for creating JBP shohin in 6 years. I need another 2 more years I guess.

 

[Underdog]

Put mine in a plastic trainer pot last year where it will stay thru the end. It's as good as it can be Not a winner at all. LOL Nothing says we can't continue on updating out threads over the coming years.

 

[Gustavo Martins]

I have the same worries. Not really ready to put my 6 year olds in a pot at the end of the year. I'm worried it's going to put them back instead of forward and ruin what I've created so far. Might just keep posting updates here and withdraw from the contest unfortunately. My climate isn't fit for creating JBP shohin in 6 years. I need another 2 more years I guess.

My climate is good, yet I’m still far from the goal. I suppose it’s clear tou can’t do it unless you plant them in the ground.