is there any potential here?

Tycoss

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Collect them with as many fine feeder roots as you can with a fair amount of the soil they were in. Don't collect too late and don't bareroot. Let the tree recover in an oversized pot for at least a year. Make sure you give it good drainage. When happy, lodgepole pines grow very vigorously. Don't mess with it till it has recovered it's vigour. Look at lots of threads from other Canadian collectors who have had success. Searching the forums for old threads works well.
 
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I have collected young scots pine and purchased young seedling black pine all were leggy lacking low growth and close to trunk needles , leave them a year to settle wire, bend and leave to grow dont worry about wire scaring the trunk and branches it seems to encourage back budding and certainly helps age the bark, . Look at the normal mass produced Japanese pines in bonsai nurseries all have spiral marks in the bark. Also much better to collect trees that need loads of work you learn much more and much faster that killing the best trees you can find and being afraid to hurt them. Move on the the better trees as you gain experience.
 

Paradox

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Look at the normal mass produced Japanese pines in bonsai nurseries all have spiral marks in the bark

Because the leave the wire on and let the tree deal with it and they all look like shit.
 

morb

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Thanks for the info everyone. We have similar weather as Alberta mostly so I'll leave them till early spring. i would definitely rather learn and make my mistakes on something like these than ruin a bought tree, I can ruin a bought tree later lol
 

Tycoss

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Due to import restrictions and our brutal climate, I think learning to collect and style wild material is the best route to ending up with quality trees in the Canadian prairies.
 

morb

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i wish i would have decided to do this in the spring of this year, gonna be a long wait now lol
 

sorce

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i wish i would have decided to do this in the spring of this year, gonna be a long wait now lol

Just keep learning...

You may find yourself not going back to those in spring!

Not that you shouldn't dig em, by all means it's the only way to learn!

Just cram pack that noggo full of information while you "wait", and you'll find yourself enjoying this "waiting" period more, which is necessary cuz....

In Latin "Bonsai" means....
"You goin' be there a long furking time"

Enjoy it!

Exploit it!

Sorce
 

augustine

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You've been given good advice. But I would also look for better larger material. (Maybe you couldn't collect right away on larger lodgepoles but you could start cutting the rootball next spring and collect in a couple of years.)
 

Tycoss

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I'm just starting to get into lodgepoles myself. It would be good to exchange notes over the next few years, as we have similar climates.
 

Tycoss

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Just so you know, when you next go out to look, look for areas where the pines are often grazed by animals, exposed to strong winds, or damaged by vehicles. Check the trunks, because small skinny lodgepole pines can still have nice bark in the right conditions.
 

morb

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I'm just starting to get into lodgepoles myself. It would be good to exchange notes over the next few years, as we have similar climates.
That would be a good idea to exchange notes. I'm going to go out back again and take a better look around, my kids are always riding the quad back there and running over trees so I might find something more interesting yet.
 

morb

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Just keep learning...

You may find yourself not going back to those in spring!

Not that you shouldn't dig em, by all means it's the only way to learn!

Just cram pack that noggo full of information while you "wait", and you'll find yourself enjoying this "waiting" period more, which is necessary cuz....

In Latin "Bonsai" means....
"You goin' be there a long furking time"

Enjoy it!

Exploit it!

Sorce
Since I found this site I have been reading as much as I can, I'm really starting to get a better understanding of how and why things are done. Can't wait to try it out.
 

GGB

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HEY, just because this old thread popped up... 1.) I love working with young pines, it take forever but you get things set up right, early. 2. ) I'm pretty sure those are Jack pine Pinus banksiana.
 

Tycoss

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Still full of snow and sub zero temperatures here as well. This has got to be the latest spring in recent memory here. Last year I was repotting and collecting by now. It's frustrating waiting for the wearer to warm so I can get to work
 

Potawatomi13

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Date of last killing frost supposed to be April 15 here. (Supposedly). This morning was frost. Humbug:mad:!
 
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