Say hello to my little (JBP) friends

[Juniperus Californica]

Hi Gang,

Here are a few pines that I'm developing. Let me just say this first, if you like Black pines then you need to pay close attention to this thread because you will not find anybody in the Bonsai community with my level of experience killing Black Pines. So needless to say, I think I've partially cracked the code and, so far (knock on wood, rub the rabbits foot, etc.), the trees are alive and healthy.

Some of the pines, I've had in pots for a few years, others I dug out of the ground this spring. With the exception of two trees, I didn't de-candle the pines that got dug up this year. I've found that not doing too many things at once along with adjusting the pH down (from 7.8 to around 6.2) when fertilizing and neutralizing the chlorine & chloramines seems to be paying dividends.

A few of my trees started to look pale and the color wasn't dark green. After spraying the trees with a spider mite spray and Daconil (an anti-fungus product) for needle cast, the trees came back - I've never had pines come back after they started to decline.

So the moral of the story is this ..."no one thing is going to keep your pines alive and healthy (at least not in my world), you have to have a regimen of good water, fertilizer, good soil and pest & disease control." Hopefully by posting this, I've saved at least one Black Pine in the world.

As always, love & kisses, and if we can't laugh at ourselves we're taking life a little too seriously!

JC

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

Your post gives me hope! I have no experience with pines and I'm still very reluctant to start growing them...but seeing that you've overcome the numerous obstacles and have created very nice material gives me hope. Thank you for posting this. I enjoy the way you write, by the way. ;-p

Also, what are those bags you have your trees in and where can I get some?!

 

[Juniperus Californica]

Well Axx,

Thanks for those kind words and the containers I have the trees in are called "Smart Pots" I'm able to get them at my local hydroponics store. They're made of a felt material that not only allows the trees to drain well, but also air prunes the roots. If you're not familiar with air pruning, when the roots hit the bag, instead of wrapping around like in your standard plastic pot, the roots stop growing and throw off side roots. The benefit is that you have tons of very fine roots that keep the trees healthy and the roots stay compact so that transplanting to a bonsai pot is much easier.

The other benefit is that the "Smart Pots" don't heat up when it's very hot. On the hottest day of the year, I can go out and touch the pot and it's warm, not hot.

A wise man once told me that failing is not the sin, but failing to set your goals high is! So don't worry about making mistakes, jump in and get started on those pines.

JC

 

[tanlu]

I love what you've done with these.. Excellent work!

Pines are my favorite subject for bonsai, and are worth the time spent learning and growing them. I only have one JBP and the rest are JWP. I actually find pines easier than other species since they require less maintenance and are relatively drought resistant.

What are you going to do with all those nice pines? =)

 

[Alain BERTRAND]

Superb material ! How old are they ? I wish you'd post bigger pics with evolution through the years...

 

[bonsaiTOM]

JC - Good tips with the Daconil and the 'Smart Pots'. Very helpful. I'm just getting into pines in a serious way and am obsessed. Any good info is much appreciated.

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

A wise man once told me that failing is not the sin, but failing to set your goals high is! So don't worry about making mistakes, jump in and get started on those pines.

JC

Thank you for the encouragement I needed a bit of a push and I feel less frightened by them now. Even still, I'm dedicating my bonsai-reading-time this winter to reading up on pines and will probably start acquiring some in the spring. Unless I can find some good material at a clearance sale in the autumn...but we'll see.

Those Smart Pots are amazing!!! Do you stick solely with the Smart Pot brand or would you suggest pretty much any fabric pot? I found these pots called Oregon Breathers that look really sturdy and are about the same price. What do you think?

*Edit: Here's a link for an ad on eBay. I was considering getting some of these, but do you think sticking with the Smart Pots brand would be better?

 

[biglou13]

any smart pot is agood thing, i have both rootmaker, root maker knock off, rootmaker grounder, and some in terra firma.

the bags by far are least expensive.!!!!!!!!

name brand doesn;t make a difference as far has hard pots go the mesh ones i have no experience with

great material!!!

 

[Juniperus Californica]

I agree with Biglou, brand name is not important because they all do pretty much the same thing - root prune.

Check out the last pic of my first post. The third tree on the right is a Root Maker pot which is hard plastic with holes in the sides and channels inside the pot to direct roots to the holes - I've had pretty good results with these pots. As a matter of fact, the only two trees I candle pruned, from the trees dug this year, were in Root Maker pots. Is it the pot, or were the trees healthier, or perhaps in the spring the pot got warmer and stimulated the roots, I don't want to draw conclusions until I can do a more conclusive test.

Another advantage to the hard plastic is that the tree can be secured to the pot. A disadvantage is that the pot will heat up on very hot days.

Just a side note: Two trees that I dug this year were put into root bags and put back in the ground. They receive city water and Miracle Grow with the rest of the yard plants. They are the greenest and healthiest trees out of everything that was dug up this year - go figure.

Your humble bonsai servant,

JC

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

Ah, makes sense to me. I suppose I'll be shopping around a bit more and hopefully in the next couple weeks I can just slip-pot a couple of my trees into these. Thank you so much for telling me about them. And also a thanks to Biglou for your input.

 

[biglou13]

re airpots, i changed my soil mix for air pots to more organic. since they dry/cycle quicker a ...good thing, i went with more organic for less hectic watering. and better growth.

what does spider mite and needle cast look like. ive been using the darwinian approach and have been rethinking my ways.

as always ground growing is king.

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

I ended up stopping by a hydroponics shop today and picking up some -- what were they called? -- Grow Pots, I think was the brand? They were the cheapest and the guy said for the price they were more worth it than the Smart Pots. So I bought five of them and already filled them today. lol -- Not with pines, of course, but still. I appreciate the insight on this and I'm excited to see the results.

I ended up using almost all Turface, but I mixed in some of the nursery soil in hopes that it helps with the watering. Next time I'll throw more organic soil in as Lou suggested because this sounds like the best remedy for thy drying issue.

 

[crhabq]

JC,

The first pine you posted looks to have exceptional nice root flare and basal taper (or maybe I'm trying to say the same thing twice). Care to share a bit about how you developed this? I just find it hard to believe that this just happened on its own without you having a plan and a good deal of work and time to develop this nice of root flare and the amazing taper.

Looking forward to your reply.
Ray

 

[Juniperus Californica]

CR,

You're right; you have to do a few things to get the flare:

1 - Start with a tree with branches right at the soil line. Which means you might have to start with a very young tree so you can prune the top off and have it bud back (usually around 1 year old);
2 - Plant the tree on top of a disk. The disk placed under terracotta pots, a stone or ceramic tile works well;
3 - Allow the sacrifice branches at the soil line and one leader at the top to grow unchecked;
4 - Candle prune the rest of the branches as usual;
5 - Fertilize the heck out of the tree;
6 - When the top leader gets about 2/3 the size of the base below it, cut it off and start a new leader. This step is important to maintain the taper up the tree and to allow the scare time to heal;
7 - After the base is the desired size, start cutting back the sacrifice branches. Start with one in the front then the back - this gives the scares time to heal while the tree is in the ground; then,
8 - Dig that sucker up and post the pics on BonsaiNut!

Hopefully this helps and you can post some progress pics.

JC

 

[discusmike]

Were these grown from seedlings or seed?How many years from when you started growing them in the ground till now?Your material looks very nice.

 

[Alain BERTRAND]

Juniperus Californica, thanks for your tips.

BTW, I tried the tourniquet method through a tile on a JPB growing in the ground and the result is not too bad. Good flare up at the base of the tree, even if the angle of the pic doesn't show it well.

 

[Juniperus Californica]

Juniperus Californica, thanks for your tips.

BTW, I tried the tourniquet method through a tile ...

What is the "tourniquet method through a tile"? Great taper, what does the rest of the tree look like?

JC

 

[PaulH]

Alain,
Do you mean the technique where you plant the tree through a hole in the tile and it layers itself as it grows? If that's what you did I'm impressed with the results and will have to try it.
Paul

 

[pwk5017]

JC, Im so pleased you tried the tile method!! I have had great success with all my deciduous species, and i found myself asking "can this be done with conifers??" I was going to try for it next spring with some 2 year old black pine seedlings that I didnt cut the roots off of when they were a couple weeks old. You will get nebari/base flare if you perform the seedling cutting technique, but I missed the boat on that particular batch of black pines. Thanks for posting, Im pretty thrilled right now. Did you thread the roots through the hole in the tile?

 

[pwk5017]

My apologies, here it wasnt JC experimenting with the tile method on pines! Still great trees, JC.

Ok, now for Alain, did you just thread the roots of young jbp seedlings through a hole in the tile?