My first Bonsai. Aleppo Pine, from seed. Guidance going forward

[Bejzu]

Hi... First post, first Bonsai. Looking for guidance. These are pictures of my Aleppo pine that is about 6 months old (from seed)

I am new to Bonsai so my limited knowledge has all come from books and online resources rather then experience.

My instinct is to just let it grow in an oversized pot for a year or two before touching it. Any suggestions.

Pictures attached. About 15 cm tall

 

[bonsaichile]

Best advice I can give you: get other trees too, so you dont love this one to death

 

[Bejzu]

Best advice I can give you: get other trees too, so you dont love this one to death

Yes, in my plans. But my area doesn't have any dedicated bonsai nurseries. I think I will try to get a young olive tree as a second.

 

[Esolin]

Hi... First post, first Bonsai. Looking for guidance. These are pictures of my Aleppo pine that is about 6 months old (from seed)

I am new to Bonsai so my limited knowledge has all come from books and online resources rather then experience.

My instinct is to just let it grow in an oversized pot for a year or two before touching it. Any suggestions.

Pictures attached. About 15 cm tall

Welcome to the bonsai life! You are correct that it needs time to grow. For now just feed it well and maybe use wire to put some bends in the trunk while it's still flexible.
I've also been growing an Aleppo pine. They grow fast, but it's still a long journey from such a young starting tree.


I expect I've got another 10 years before it looks like a real literati-style bonsai.

If you can get your hands on an olive tree, that's great material too. In fact, if you see any older sickly or unmaintained olive trees or chopped olive stumps growing in a neighbor's yard or orchard that you don't think they want, you can offer to dig it out for them. If you think it would help, offer to replace the old tree with a younger one. Ugly landscape trees that people don't want anymore can be a great way to get really nice old material with big trunks. In addition to checking nurseries, keep your eyes open and ask around.

 

[AJL]

Yes, in my plans. But my area doesn't have any dedicated bonsai nurseries. I think I will try to get a young olive tree as a second.

Welcome to B nut - it would be helpful if you post your location on your profile so that you can get the most relevant advice for your global location!

 

[Bejzu]

Welcome to the bonsai life! You are correct that it needs time to grow. For now just feed it well and maybe use wire to put some bends in the trunk while it's still flexible.
I've also been growing an Aleppo pine. They grow fast, but it's still a long journey from such a young starting tree.

View attachment 498689
I expect I've got another 10 years before it looks like a real literati-style bonsai.

If you can get your hands on an olive tree, that's great material too. In fact, if you see any older sickly or unmaintained olive trees or chopped olive stumps growing in a neighbor's yard or orchard that you don't think they want, you can offer to dig it out for them. If you think it would help, offer to replace the old tree with a younger one. Ugly landscape trees that people don't want anymore can be a great way to get really nice old material with big trunks. In addition to checking nurseries, keep your eyes open and ask around.

Thanks for your reply. Did you prune your Aleppo at all in the first 3 years or just let it be?

Where I am from (Malta) , olives are quite common so it should be easy to get my hands on one even from a nursery.

 

[Bejzu]

Welcome to B nut - it would be helpful if you post your location on your profile so that you can get the most relevant advice for your global location!

Will do...Until I find it..it's Malta..

 

[AJL]

Check out Mistral Bonsai as you're in the EU - If UK was still in EU I would probably buy from them too!!

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[Esolin]

Thanks for your reply. Did you prune your Aleppo at all in the first 3 years or just let it be?

For the first three years, no I didn't prune at all. Around the third year mark, I started reducing any whorls that occurred. Whorls are places on the trunk where a pine sends out 2, 3, 4, or more branches from all sides, like the spokes of a wheel. Such places will swell over time, giving the trunk an ugly bulge called an 'inverse taper'. So any place the tree produced two or more branches from a single area, I reduced to just one branch. Otherwise I let it grow until just this year when I removed many low branches I did not want anymore.

 

[Bejzu]

Just an update picture. Have some brown tips because I left it out in the sun during a heatwave. I doubt that can be fixed at this stage. But overall growing quicker then I expected.

It it ok to use regular potting soil for a year or so before first repotting?

Any other tips? This is roughly 7 months old. About 20cm tall

 

[Bejzu]

Hi everyone. A novice question for any pine experts. Are needles supposed to grow along the main trunk all the way up? Am I supposed to prune them? Do they fall off on their own or do I just leave them? See picture for reference.




This is only about 8 months old. Was not planning on doing anything to at least for another year. Seeking advice.

 

[rockm]

Hi everyone. A novice question for any pine experts. Are needles supposed to grow along the main trunk all the way up? Am I supposed to prune them? Do they fall off on their own or do I just leave them? See picture for reference.

View attachment 506800


This is only about 8 months old. Was not planning on doing anything to at least for another year. Seeking advice.


View attachment 506801

The more you "do something" for no real reason, the slower the development of the tree. Using seeds is the looooooooooooooong way to bonsai. It's longer with conifers from seed.

At this point leaving it alone and making sure it has basic needs is about all you can do for it. FWIW, Developing any bonsai depends on developing the trunk and surface roots/trunk base (nebari). The rest of the tree depends on those foundational developments. I'm not a conifer expert, but the basics apply to them. In the next few years, you will have to keep that in mind in carefully pruning roots to insure nebari development. Generally, that entails eliminating downward growing roots to push growth to lateral roots. Perhaps some "pine people" can help with timing and advice on how to go about that.

And yes, needles on the trunk are a mark of immature pines. Pines lose their "leaves" (needles) but not every year. Those will drop off in a couple of years after the tree develops more foliage.

 

[Bejzu]

The more you "do something" for no real reason, the slower the development of the tree. Using seeds is the looooooooooooooong way to bonsai. It's longer with conifers from seed.

At this point leaving it alone and making sure it has basic needs is about all you can do for it. FWIW, Developing any bonsai depends on developing the trunk and surface roots/trunk base (nebari). The rest of the tree depends on those foundational developments. I'm not a conifer expert, but the basics apply to them. In the next few years, you will have to keep that in mind in carefully pruning roots to insure nebari development. Generally, that entails eliminating downward growing roots to push growth to lateral roots. Perhaps some "pine people" can help with timing and advice on how to go about that.

And yes, needles on the trunk are a mark of immature pines. Pines lose their "leaves" (needles) but not every year. Those will drop off in a couple of years after the tree develops more foliage.

Thanks for your feedback. Yes I understand that it's a long process. I'm basically just letting it grow as you said. But found the trunk needles weird. Tha ks for the explanation.

 

[Esolin]

Trunk needles are normal and will brown and fall off after a couple of years. Don't worry about them.

If you're really concerned about the tree drying out, you can use a soil with more organic material mixed in, but watering gets trickier. Pines like slightly damp, but not soggy soil. If you over water, you'll eventually do more harm than good if the roots rot. I personally wouldn't go straight potting soil, but maybe pumice or lava rock with shredded, finely chopped pine bark or coco coir mixed in to hold more water, while allowing the roots to get air.

You pine is looking healthy. You don't need to do anything to it now unless you want to put really really tight bends in the trunk with wire. Those are best done when a tree is super young and flexible. Otherwise you can wait until it's at least a full year old. I'd reccomend waiting until Spring. The only other thing you could do is make sure you don't have more than one branch coming out at any single point on the trunk.

 

[Bejzu]

I personally wouldn't go straight potting soil, but maybe pumice or lava rock with shredded, finely chopped pine bark or coco coir mixed in to hold more water, while allowing the roots to get air.

It's about 8 months old. I used regular potting soil thinking it's similar to just growing in the ground. Would you suggest repotting anytime when it's this young?

You pine is looking healthy. You don't need to do anything to it now unless you want to put really really tight bends in the trunk with wire. Those are best done when a tree is super young and flexible. Otherwise you can wait until it's at least a full year old. I'd reccomend waiting until Spring.

I am going for a formal upright or informal upright style so I don't think I need to style it early

The only other thing you could do is make sure you don't have more than one branch coming out at any single point on the trunk

This is my main concern. Some branches are quite close. Others come out from opposite sides of the trunk at the same point. Would you prune such branches this early?

 

[Esolin]

Unless you have four or five branches coming out at the EXACT same level, I wouldn't worry. It takes a while for inverse taper to develop when it's only two branches from the same junction. I think you should wait until early Spring both to prune and repot. Young pines are pretty forgiving of being bare-rooted, but I'd still recommend doing work in the safest season. Let it keep all its branches for now and build strength.

 

[Bejzu]

Unless you have four or five branches coming out at the EXACT same level, I wouldn't worry. It takes a while for inverse taper to develop when it's only two branches from the same junction. I think you should wait until early Spring both to prune and repot. Young pines are pretty forgiving of being bare-rooted, but I'd still recommend doing work in the safest season. Let it keep all its branches for now and build strength.

Thanks for feedback. Is there any benefit of pruning unwanted branches early in relation to preventing or minimising scaring?

 

[Potawatomi13]

Just an update picture. Have some brown tips because I left it out in the sun during a heatwave. I doubt that can be fixed at this stage. But overall growing quicker then I expected.

It it ok to use regular potting soil for a year or so before first repotting?

Any other tips? This is roughly 7 months old. About 20cm tall

Aleppo is desert pine. Sun will not hurt unless roots dry out. Biggest worry root rot as these susceptible to root fungus/disease. Regular potting soil not good. Should be very well draining but hold enough H2O for life to continue.

 

[Bejzu]

Aleppo is desert pine. Sun will not hurt unless roots dry out. Biggest worry root rot as these susceptible to root fungus/disease. Regular potting soil not good. Should be very well draining but hold enough H2O for life to continue.

Thanks for that info. It seems to drain well at the moment but I can easily report with a more suitable mix . Will do that this week.

 

[Bejzu]

Should I stake the tree? Now or eventually?