Ryceman3's 6yr JBP Contest Entry

[Ryceman3]

Thanks Shibui,
Hopefully the difference with these ones is the roots were worked late winter so they weren't in too much of a mess and I was able to lay them out pretty laterally when I planted them in the ground (think like a pancake of roots rather than the shape of the pot... they splayed/untangled without too much effort). I also plan to dig these next August and re-look at what is there so I'll correct stuff then if required. Right now I just hope they make it to next winter!
Thanks for the input - it's all a learning curve for me so happy to hear past experiences etc... I can learn from.

 

[Shibui]

I was able to lay them out pretty laterally when I planted them in the ground (think like a pancake of roots rather than the shape of the pot... they splayed/untangled without too much effort)

That should give a much better nebari than just planting the pot of roots intact. My bad interpretation of your previous post.

 

[cmeg1]

Some serious candles going there!

 

[Ryceman3]

Given we are 2 weeks into summer I have noticed quite a bit of growth going on with these JBP. The spring candles have now fully opened up and there are needles everywhere! Too many in fact I think, I have also noticed that the bases of these pines are being shaded out by the growth above and that is not so great for the low-down branching I want to develop. So today I thinned a few back, stripped the sacrifice branches of a lot of their needles and even decided to experiment with decandling a few of the lower branches on a few trees to see how that would play out. The pics below show an example of what I'm talking about ...

Here's what I started with, you can see the base is shaded by all that growth above ...


And here's how it finished up. Stripping back the needles down low on the sacrifice to let the light/air in. Thinning out/cutting back needles that are left and I even decandled the lower branches on this example to see how it turns out.


A close up for a better view ...

There are 3 lower branches on this one (one at the back out of view) but also a few buds forming about 1/2" above them. Hopefully with the increase in light these get a boost to also develop.

And a few of them back on the rack ...

They are developing pretty well, if they keep this rate of growth going through summer I'm going to run out of space for them all ... again!

 

[moke]

Looking great!!!

 

[my nellie]

Looking great!!!

Exactly!!!

 

[cmeg1]

Nice

 

[Ryceman3]

End of summer for us down here so time to take stock at the change of seasons. The potted JBPs (15 left in this comp) are all developing fine. I seem to be hanging on to the low growth OK, and I can see buds emerging/new growth developing in and around these low branches, so that is keeping me interested. The long apical sacrifices continue to grow on and help thicken everything up ... I have been stripping away needles along their trunks to increase sun/air flow to the growth I aim to keep below. This is a pretty ugly phase in the development of pines I reckon, but as the low growth extends and begins to take shape, things will make a bit more sense... I hope! As for the ones planted in the ground - I haven't sighted them for over a month now so I'll be interested to see the comparison in size etc... should go visit them within the next week.

Here's a group shot above. The steel rule standing up in the pot in the tree on the left is 200mm (8") as a rough guide to size. I would say around 300mm (11") is about the average, with the one on the right getting to close to 400mm (16").

And here's a close up of a trunk section on one of them. Visible buds are circled. Hopefully when these develop and extend things will start to look a little nicer!

 

[Ryceman3]

Just an update on the ones I planted in the ground. I ventured down to check them out over last weekend. They are looking pretty good.

Most have added a bit of height/girth, somewhat more developed than those I have in the pots I guess - definitely enough to notice and given they have only been in the ground a few months I would say that is pretty significant. Two in particular had really seemed to enjoy the transition to their own patch of dirt.

The base on this one was around 30mm (1.25") or so, almost 6mm (0.25") bigger than the best pot grown one I currently have I think.

Also taller. The tape is set at 500mm from the ground, so these are just a bit taller than that ... about 20".

 

[Ryceman3]

I removed most of the lower needles on the sacrifice branch to maximise sun/air exposure to the all important lower branching. Also gave them a bit of slow release fert and left them to do their thing.

 

[Ryceman3]

Heading into the 3rd Spring for these pines and this is where I am at. Repotted a few of these last weekend, still a few to go but these give a good indication of how they are travelling so far, I am reasonably happy. Due to CoVid restrictions where I live no chance of me checking on those I have ground growing, they are over 1.5hrs drive from my house and we can’t go further than 5kms from our home so I need to trust I set them up OK and maybe in about a month or so I’ll be allowed to check on their progress! The shots below are from the trees I have at my house.

lots of great mycorrhizal growth in almost all those I have repotted so far.

The roots after I gave them a bit of a trim and separation. I realise I haven’t used anything for scale... I’ll look to rectify that in my next post. Apologies!

another one with a base that I like...

and back on the shelf, did about a dozen of those I have here, probably 6 or so more to go. I’ll post a pic of them all when finished.

 

[Ryceman3]

Just an update on growth that has been developing since the start of spring.
This is just one of the average sized JBP that are in pots...

The red line = current sacrifice branch which is developing pretty well. It will stay over summer to continue with trunk thickening.
The blue line = the next sacrifice branch I am developing to replace the current when it gets removed. This one originates down the trunk so hopefully I will get some taper as the trunk below it thickens more than above when it comes into play.

A close up of the nice little shoots developing near the base of the trunk ... hopefully some good future branching options come from these.

Terminal buds are already forming on some of the candles from this year's growth. These are mainly on the sacrifice branches (which makes sense... these are strongest right now). Given we are not yet into summer, I think the chances of a multiple flush (without decandling) are pretty high.

And a gratuitous baby cone shot ... probably should be removing these to allocate energy to more crucial areas, but hey - I like them!

As of today we are coming out of lockdown ... sort of! Shops are opening again etc. so in a few weeks the restrictions on regional travel should also lift and I'll be able to go and see how my ground-growing pines are developing. Looking forward to that - stay tuned!

 

[Ryceman3]

Reunited with my long lost ground grown JBP since I last saw them about half a year ago... it was a good day, they’re going OK.








Still more to be done in terms of work... but that will do for now, not bad for some seeds 3 years ago. I have 6 in the ground in total. 3 are this size, the others a bit smaller, but I think I’m convinced growth with this technique is quicker. I really wish I could’ve dug them up at the start of spring to monitor root growth, but no chance of that with lockdown rules in my neck of the woods, that’ll need to wait until next year. Summer begins in 2 weeks, plenty of growing to be done still this season.

 

[Ryceman3]

I did a bit of work on the developing pines that are at my house this morning (the potted ones). Basically involved stripping needles back on the sacrifice branches and some pruning down low to allow light and air in to the developing buds.
They are growing pretty well I think. I'm happy with the development of girth as well as the options that are presenting in terms of future branching.

 

[DirkvanDreven]

Very nice young trees! Doing so much better then mine.

 

[cmeg1]

Is a nice crop of Pines there!

 

[Ryceman3]

The ground grown stuff had a bit of work over the last couple of days. Not looking too bad for 2.5 year old stock... at least I’m pretty happy with it.

Before...


After...The base...

... and the interesting bit...

Main sacrifice got chopped, now using the second to thicken from closer to the base. Apex cut back to needles, looking for budding options. All in all, I’m happy... moving on to next developmental stage.

 

[Ryceman3]

Budding up on this tree since the chop I made about 4 weeks ago (see above), plenty of new options are presenting themselves so I’m happy with the development.

 

[moke]

You clearly know what the hell your doing!!! Very nice work!!!

 

[cmeg1]

Nice