Is pinus nigra a good replacement for JBP?

[Carapace]

Hi, I have a austrian black pine and I was looking at some JBP and thought to myself, these two tree's look very similar and I thought that maybe people prefer JBP for some other reasons, like growth rate or resistance to some kind of disease or maybe just a cultural thing, cuz you know, bonsai, JBP, they come from the same place and I was used a lot.
Can someone clear this up for me and also maybe tell me some differences between these two species?

 

[Deleted member 32750]

JBP is categorized as a double flush pine meaning that is strong enough to decandle to induce a second flush of growth reliably year after year, so you can double the ramification every year.
Austrian black pine is a single flush pine meaning that is not strong enough the reliably decandle like a JBP.
That is the main difference in the two for bonsai.

 

[Dav4]

From my experience, the best replacement for a Japanese black pine would be a Japanese red pine. Both are two flush and respond similarly to typical pruning techniques… but the jrp is more cold hardy. As pointed out above, the Austrian black pine is single flush, so really not similar to jbp at all.

 

[Carapace]

I actually broke off a couple of candles this late spring to see how the tree would respond, to my surprise it did actually send off new small candles, maybe I just got lucky but I will need to document it in the next few years, right now it's in early development so I won't really touch it too much, but a candle here and there once a year won't hurt it too much.

 

[Japonicus]

I actually broke off a couple of candles this late spring

That's probably considered and timed with candle pinching.
Not timed with and different from decandleing.
Still, p.nigra make fine bonsai.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Austrian black pine can, just like sylvestris, double flush if pruned early enough in the year.
But not reliably and not over the course of multiple years.

I'm a big fan of JRP because they're less of a pussy compared to JBP. They can take way more abuse than JBP.

 

[minkes]

They are only similar with names - Black pine and Japanese black pine. You should not handle them the same way as for candle pruning and so on. But definitely try to grow them both and also other pines like Silvestris etc.. . I am 6b zone, so its pretty cold here. I sown japanese black and red pine seeds this spring. They look good, but it will be hard time for them here

 

[minkes]

My japanese black and red pine seedlings

 

[AJL]

Im not sure Pinus nigra is such a great substitute- Its needles are quite long .Will they reduce and be in scale as bonsai as well as Pinus thunbergii?
Also unfortunately Pinus nigra is very prone to Dothistroma needle blight AKA Red Band Needle Blight which is very prevalent in parts of Europe.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Japanese Red Pine FTW! They are very strong! You just have to be able to give them a little more cold in the winter than JBP. They didn't do quite so well in Southern California, but in North Carolina they are in my opinion stronger than JBP.