Japanese black pine in colorado zone 5a

[Brian Van Fleet]

Bought my black pine bonsai from Florida and I live in Wisconsin. What is best recommendations for this winter storage since it has missed fall completely here in Wisconsin

What are your options? You have a garage, 4-season porch, sun room, deck, none of these? Need to help us help you a bit here...

 

[David Spencer]

Yes I do have most of those things my concern was the drastic change in climate and if my plant would survive a winter in the garage after spending the whole call in Florida. Or is that not an issuse. Just trying to do best for the tree. I also notice a few small candles and buds on the tree. I am totally new to this.

 

[David Spencer]

Should say fall in Florida

 

[Dav4]

Ideally, you’d keep the tree in a cold but frost free area with sun. The next best option is to keep the tree outside if above freezing when possible for the next few weeks then move into a garage that consistently stays above freezing but below 40 F.

 

[David Spencer]

Thank you

 

[sorce]

@David Spencer
How serious of a tree?

@Leo in N E Illinois may have some Milwaukee cats that may be able to help of it's a $$$ tree.

I would store it somewhere professional.

Sorce

 

[David Spencer]

My black pine came wired, should I remove the wires now for the dormat period. I believe I read or was that somewhere. Thank you, for your help in training me.

Dave

 

[David Spencer]

I really hate this spell check thing.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Bought my black pine bonsai from Florida and I live in Wisconsin. What is best recommendations for this winter storage since it has missed fall completely here in Wisconsin

My black pine came wired, should I remove the wires now for the dormat period. I believe I read or was that somewhere. Thank you, for your help in training me.
Dave

Hello Dave,
I live at the Illinois-Wisconsin line, only 3 miles south of the "Cheddar Curtain" that separates Green Bay Packer fans from "da Bears" fans. I went to UW-Madison, back in the 70's, and I spent a lifetime one week in January in Rhinelander. Got to experience real night time temps of -44 F (-42 C ) these were the "real temps" without wind chill. Thankfully the air was nearly calm, not much of a wind. But we were bar hopping, and at 2 am, and -44 F, it was a life threatening experience. So many ways it could have gone wrong. But I survived my youth.

A little about trees. Cold hardiness takes about 2 months for the tree to make the metabolic shift from active summertime growth to full blown winter hardiness. The amount of water in the sap is reduced (sugars and resin increase, natural anti-freeze) The amount of water in cells is reduced, so when frozen, ice crystals don't rupture cells. Meristematic tissue goes dormant, rapid cell division stops. Roots "harden off", develop more rigid, less tender exterior. Nutrients are withdrawn from the leaves, and are stored in the vascular system. These changes are triggered by progressively colder night time temperatures in autumn. Without 2 months of slow change, a tree from Florida can be shocked and killed by below freezing temps in Wisconsin. Also, something to keep in mind. As little as 24 to 48 hours of warmth above 40 F, can reduce the amount of cold hardiness the tree built up over the 2 months of autumn. A tree brought indoors for winter display must be protected from cold after as little as 2 days on display. Trees can wake up fast. Japanese maples and larches are famous for waking up before it is safe to put them outdoors in spring. This forces one into the "in and out dance" where you carry the tree outside to get the sun and warmth, because it started growing, and then have to bring it back in to avoid a below freezing night.

For the winter of 2019-2020 ONLY, I would keep this tree indoors, in the coolest room possible in the house. As much as possible, keep it below 40 F, or below 40 F at night but above about 28 F. If daytime temps rise above 40 F, just try to keep it under 60 F. Japanese black pines, in my experience do not grow much when temps are below 60 F. They are not dormant, but they don't grow very fast at all. Below 40 F they will be dormant. So for this winter, keep your JBP in fairly mild temps indoors. Don't worry too much about light, it will need light when above 40 F, but this is a one time period to limp the tree through. We can fix the tree after it is safely outdoors in spring. (after last frost threat has passed).

I am fortunate enough to live in an old farmhouse, which came complete with an underground room, accessed via a door in the basement, that is under the "Patio" in the back yard. This was the well house. The hole in the dirt floor of this room, now plugged with concrete was the old well. The whole room is below ground, about 4 feet tall and , 4 x 6 feet area. It is perfect for storing trees that are no quite winter hardy in the area. This is where my JBP spend the winter. They never get below about 28 F, even in the absolute coldest of winters.

But before I bought this house, I wintered JBP a dozen different ways. First I tried just burying the pots to the rim in the garden, on the north side of the house. Then after the ground froze a little, adding leaves as mulch. This worked fine 3 years out of 5. For a couple years all seemed to be fine, then the deep freeze would hit, or the erratic winter with long warm spell in the middle would hit (a bit like this year, cold start, mild right now). And I would loose my Japanese black pines. To sum it up, Japanese Black Pine in a bonsai pot, or training pot, IS NOT RELIABLY WINTER HARDY in zones 5b or colder. So zone 4 or 5, you are pretty much guaranteed failure. You might make it a couple years, but over a 5 year period you will loose the JBP in one of the winters.

Then I tried the unheated garage. Detached unheated garage - so it got quite cold in there during the "deep freeze". Again, some winters all would be fine, then it didn't work.

The attached garage - with some heat from the house - similar problems where the cold can get severe, but complicated with the problem that during the mid-January thaw, where the unheated garage might get into the 40's F, or even low 50's. The attached garage can get up to 60 F or even warmer just from heat from the house adding to the warm January heat. This can wake up, or cause trees to loose cold hardiness, so when the weather plunges back to normal temps, the trees are killed by the cold, even if the resulting cold was "inside published cold hardiness".

So - what to do?

In general the heated or unheated garage is probably your best bet. Put the trees in cheap but large beer coolers. To each cooler add at least 2 plastic 2 liter soda bottles, half full of water. Then seal up the cooler. Leave a couple small holes for air vents, but not too large. Holes should be few in number and small enough to keep mice and voles out. The 2 bottles of water will provide thermal mass, keeping the tree in the box cool during warm spells and slowing down the cooling of the trees during bitter cold winter nights. In general, the floor of the garage is the coldest, trees should be there except during the absolute coldest nights, then set them up on a shelf on the warm (house side) of the garage, until weather comes back above zero. That is what I would do. Your best bet for the time being, until you have time to construct better winter storage is to use the garage and coolers with partially filled water bottles for thermal mass.

If you want to replicate the "well house experience", build a deep cold frame on the north side of the house. Depth should be close to the depth required by building code for buried water lines. In my area, 4 feet to 6 feet, but other areas might be more shallow. The roof should not let light in, and should be heavy and insulated. If possible, add electric service for a fan, to keep air circulating 24/7 the whole winter. Also, a heat mat might be added if you seek out a thermostat or controller sensitive enough to set the temperature at 34 F to 36 F. Key is once the cold frame cools down in autumn, that it stay under 40 F as long as possible through into early spring. The magic number that wakes most trees up is anytime temps are above 40 F (+4 C). As little as 24 hours above 40 F, can cause a tree to loose a significant part of its winter cold tolerance.

 

[LanceMac10]

Had me at "Cheddar Curtain"........

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@David Spencer
We all tend to start slow with bonsai, one or two trees. Then the "bug" hits, and we suddenly go to dozens, possibly even hundreds, in some cases (I was probably at over 100 sticks in pots at one time) Then we get back to a reasonable number, which for most is less than 25 well developed trees, and a similar number of "sticks in pots" that don't take much time. A well developed tree will take much more time to handle than a young "stick in pot". Actually, I have a hard time keeping up with 5 near exhibit ready trees, I'm always being distracted by the less developed "sticks in pots" trees.

Before you invest in too many not quite winter hardy trees, be sure to explore Wisconsin native trees. Especially trees native to areas north, or colder than where you live in Wisconsin.

For pines, I heartily suggest picking up seedling Jack pines, Pinus banksiana. They are the northernmost hardy pine east of the Rocky Mountains. Most of their range is in Canada. Their southern limit is central Wisconsin. Care wise, techniques for mugo and Pinus sylvestris will work fine. I use the "Mugo Calendar" for schedule of what to do when on my Jack pines. Most of my work happens after summer solstice and before the autumnal equinox. Rest of the year let it alone.

Anyway, instead of more JBP, pick up a few P. banskiana. Note: named cultivars like 'Uncle Fogey', 'Skoodic', Chippewa' and others are all GRAFTED and will only be as winter hardy as the understock used. I would avoid grafted trees unless you know the understock used was Jack pine or Scott's pine, P. sylvestris. Otherwise you might not have hardy roots.

 

[David Spencer]

This is my first bonsai tree in many years and yes I cannot get enough articles and you tube videos about bonsai trees. I live in the very southern part of Wisconsin and the tree I recently received came from Florida. I currently have it in an unheated attached garage. It is in a 4" training pot that I put into a gallon pot surrounded by tree leaves on a shelf. Hopefully this will do well or is there a better way like the beer cooler idea. Please advice.

 

[David Spencer]

Leo, thanks for the wealth of information.

Dave

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

This is my first bonsai tree in many years and yes I cannot get enough articles and you tube videos about bonsai trees. I live in the very southern part of Wisconsin and the tree I recently received came from Florida. I currently have it in an unheated attached garage. It is in a 4" training pot that I put into a gallon pot surrounded by tree leaves on a shelf. Hopefully this will do well or is there a better way like the beer cooler idea. Please advice.

I would do the beer cooler, with a couple partial bottles of water for "thermal mass". The problem with garages, the temperatures tend to swing too widely. Too warm on sunny days, sudden cold snaps when the door is open for a while, and they can get quite cold when there is a week long deep freeze. The cooler will slow the swings in temperature.