Fonz's Black Pine contest entry

[Fonz]

Well this is new, one of them is growing flowers. Next thing you know is that I'll be sowing seeds from my "from seed" project

 

[Fonz]

Compared to the first 3 years of this contest we had a really cold and rainy first half of the year this year. But for some reason my pines loved it and threw out candles like crazy. Most of them doubled in size, 1 even tripled... I blame heave nitrogen fertilizing in fall

 

[Stella]

Just read the entire thread. well done.
I learned a few things here than i want to apply to my 1st ever pine seedling

 

[Fonz]

Since a bunch of you are updating their threads, here's mine.
Due to the lousy summer we had they only had 1 flush this year.

Here's my table of what I have left. 18 JBP's in collanders, 1 growing on a rock and 5 more somewhere in the ground.



Here's the one that I planted on a rock earlier this year. Putting it on the rock made it struggle for a while but now it's going good again. Has his buds ready for next year.



I also broke off the sacrifice branch on one of the collander ones while trying to bend the trunk a little more, so yes, they do break and aren't infinitelaby flexible. But now there's a little tree left. Let's see if we can grow a new sacrifice brach and maintain the little tree at the same time.



One of my bigger ones that has the curve at the base.





My neagari project is also doing good. Let's hope the action beneath the soil is ok to.





And the biggest one I have 72cm or 28.5". This one didn't receive any extreme trunk bending. Probably going to be a little bigger, slender tree.

 

[DirkvanDreven]

Looking good!

 

[RobertB]

These look great!!

 

[rhuarc]

Thanks for documenting all of this, they look wonderful!

 

[LuZiKui]

When do we get a peak at the roots on that neagari tree?! I’m anxious to see what’s under there.

 

[Fonz]

When do we get a peak at the roots on that neagari tree?! I’m anxious to see what’s under there.

So am I. I might remove an inch from the top of the soil/tube this year and then move down a bit more next year.

 

[Fonz]

When do we get a peak at the roots on that neagari tree?! I’m anxious to see what’s under there.

Removed the first 3 inches of the top soil today. Will remove the rest next year. Looks like I'll have some work ti do to arrange the roots

 

[Fonz]

I also put my first trees in a larger pond basket where they can grow even stronger in their last 2 years of this contest.



The one with the broken sacrifice branch. I'll let a new one grow on this one.



This one is in the running for "best tree of the batch".



And the rest of the batch is still going strong in it's garden corner. Some of them will end up in larger pond baskets too.

 

[Underdog]

Good job my friend

 

[LuZiKui]

Removed the first 3 inches of the top soil today. Will remove the rest next year. Looks like I'll have some work ti do to arrange the roots


awesome! Trees are looking good!

 

[Fonz]

Last day of 2022, time for this year's "end of year" update.
I have 13 trees left from my original 150+. 8 in pond baskets, 5 growing in the ground.
Here are my 8 that I have in pond baskets/nursery container.

#1 my neagari one



#2 Contest tree 1



#3 Contest tree 2



#4 Contest tree 3



#5 Contest tree 4



#6 Contest tree 5



#7 Contest tree 6



#8 Root over rock

 

[Fonz]

After talking to Jonas Dupuich and watching Eric Schrader's awesome video about decandeling a Japanese Black Pine I finally found the courage to get to work on a few of my youngsters.

Tree 1:



Tree 2:



Tree 3:



I have a few others that can keep their sacrifice branch for at least another year. I will be decandeling them.

 

[mwar15]

After talking to Jonas Dupuich and watching Eric Schrader's awesome video about decandeling a Japanese Black Pine I finally found the courage to get to work on a few of my youngsters.

Tree 1:

View attachment 492979 View attachment 492980 View attachment 492981 View attachment 492982

Tree 2:

View attachment 492983 View attachment 492984

Tree 3:

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I have a few others that can keep their sacrifice branch for at least another year. I will be decandeling them.

View attachment 492989

Tree 2 is my favorite! Nice job on those roots

 

[Fonz]

Tree 2 is my favorite! Nice job on those roots

Yeah, that one is going to be a good one, didn't have the courage to repot it mid-winter and submit it for the contest, idem ditto as tree #1.

 

[Fonz]

Ok, so the contest ended. Thanx for the great run everyone. This is my final entry. If you see what happened between june 2023 and december of the same year with my entry for the contest, things can only get better for the ones I didn't have the courage to repot mid-winter and enter for the contest. Here's the one I did enter:

June 2023:



December 2023:

 

[JeffS73]

Great job Fonz, I really enjoyed watching your thread over the comp!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I think part of the fun of this contest was the "hard stop" at six years. It's kinda like you're sitting on the couch in your underwear and someone reminds you that the black tie dinner is in 1 hour. I had to do a repot from a pond basket into a show pot, and do some emergency wiring and needle cutting just to pretty up my tree for the contest. And you know what? That's a good thing! Because it forced me to do a lot of work, faster and more aggressively, than I otherwise would have done. I also appreciate you sharing your progress photos because it helps me understand where peoples' trees were right before they got them ready for the photo.

Also... as long as you don't experience deep freezes, December is a good time of the year to repot JBP.