Parana Pine - Araucaria angustifolia- Triassic Tree

[BonsaiBlacksmith]

Hello, I am reaching out to pick the brain of those of you familiar with Conifers. I usually dabble with the Fabaceae family of trees, which are fairly forgiving. I have been doing some reading about the Araucaria and their entire genus seems to be sensitive to pruning and overwatering. Can anyone offer up some advice on this? I have one in the ground and one in the air pot, both saplings from a nursery. I would love your thoughts, critiques and suggestions. Apparently only of this species has been successfully turned into a Bonsai. I included the photo of the one Parana Pine turned into a Bonsai and a photo of what they do in nature. That is the look I am going for, the natural vibe. I am new at Bonsai and even newer to Conifers, so any guidance is appreciated.

 

[MaciekA]

Reputations like "sensitive to pruning and overwatering" sound like they are coming from indoor growers of houseplant araucariaceae. If you are growing araucaria fully outdoors full time, you can completely disregard bad reputations like these. All conifers will have reputations of "impossible / difficult / sensitive" from the point of view of incompetent growing (i.e. when grown with deficient lighting and/or asphyxiating water-retentive soils).

Treat them like other conifers and put them in the same soils (or soils with very similar characteristics) as the ones you would use with (true / pinaecae) pine-family trees -- pumice, lava, akadama, perlite, etc. I've found araucaria durable to pruning, but you need to establish vigor first. In this regard, all conifers are the same.