Styling advice for my Pitch pine

[thatbonsaiguydb]

I collected this young pitch pine early spring of 2020. It didn't seem to be doing well at the time of collection and probably would have died if I didn't get it. Now that it has recovered, I think its time to get it started on it's bonsai journey.

I like the movement at the base. I hate the trunk is straight with no taper. I like that the trunk is still flexible enough to wire some movement in it.

Root over rock possibly?

Any ideas will be appreciated.


Derek

 

[just.wing.it]

Too young and small to consider styling, I'd say.
Cool little tree though!

 

[Kanorin]

If it were mine I would just let the top grow as a sacrifice for 2-5 years depending on how thick you want the base (then chop at red). Then you have several decent low branches to choose from as the new leader (blue or yellow lines). Pitch pines backbud well, so you may even have more choices in a year or two. You can wire that future leader into it's future direction now. It'll be much less stressful on the tree wiring 1 or two small branches compared to a large trunk bend. It also solves your taper problem, wheareas if you just bend the trunk you still have a lack of taper.

 

[Shogun610]

If you just collected in 2020 , I would not style this for another year or two. Just leave it in the container it’s in now. But neat little tree as it has crackly bark already. Style next fall if it’s healthy ..Depending if you want to keep the crackly bark, I’d put it in a smaller container in spring 2023. If you want to grow it , repot into a colander in spring of 2023.. so you have options. If it were my tree , I’d keep it the size it is now and turn into a small literati. It’s got nice cracked bark forming ….. idk what your location is but there are other opportunities to cultivate pitch pine from nursery stock to grow and build. Again just my opinion, if you do decide to grow it bigger , then really a colander will yield good root growth and size once it’s safe to repot.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

It survived collection which is great! As others have said, it needs at least another season or two before I would consider doing anything to it. The needles look yellowish, and I don’t see good extensions yet. Keep fertilizing and leave it alone for now. You want the needles to be a nice dark green like this, with tips loaded with buds!
Once the time comes, Jonas has great development posts on pines that I think will help you a lot. Find them at bonsai tonight.com

 

[thatbonsaiguydb]

Thanks a lot everyone for the feedback. I can definitely let grow and strengthen up more. I'll keep the post updated with pics over the next couple years.

@Kanorin it have tons of buds everywhere. The thought of sacrificing the trunk for taper crossed my mind.

@Tidal Bonsai I will definitely check out the website. Love the pic.

@Shogun610 i live in RI. Literati

 

[sorce]

All them low buds are kinda begging for a chop.

Sorce