The Italian Stone Pine Thread

[Flowerhouse]

After a few years local hiatus, these are back as potted Christmas trees again. I've avoided them in the past because they won't survive our winters outdoors, but I'm wondering if anyone has successfully overwintered them indoors without extreme measures.

My Piney pine is spending its third winter in my basement under t-5 plant lights. It's a semi-heated space, temps don't get above the low 60s. The plants get rotated through all the possible positions on the shelves 3x per week, and the upper shelf positions get sun through a basement window in addition to the t-5s. Both shelves have fans operating when the lights are on.

 

[Bonsai Forest]

I can get one tomorrow for ya.

How many primary branches exist at the top of the tree to form the apex? It looks like roughly 6-7, though I could be wrong. Is there a "standard" number of primaries/secondaries/tertiaries that make an optimal apex?

 

[Ruddigger]

It’s made up of 4 of the side shoots from the leader that was bent over, plus the original tip. It will get denser after I pinch it next year.

 

[ShadyStump]

My Piney pine is spending its third winter in my basement under t-5 plant lights. It's a semi-heated space, temps don't get above the low 60s. The plants get rotated through all the possible positions on the shelves 3x per week, and the upper shelf positions get sun through a basement window in addition to the t-5s. Both shelves have fans operating when the lights are on.

My mom has. She bought a couple as christmas decoration, together with some dwarf alberta spruce and they survived a winter in the living room.
They didn't come out looking great, but they lived.
My own italian stone pine survived two winters in the open, died the third.

Thanks, that's about what I wanted to know. Funds at the end of the year have been so tight in my house the past 3 years, on top of having a very small living room, that the kids have picked one of the trees each year to use as the Christmas tree. I keep trying to think of something that could be the permanent official living Christmas tree.
Last year I ordered a podocarpus, but then it got caught in a snow storm while in transit. Was thinking a p. pinea might do the trick now that they're back, but keep running into conflicting info on growing zones and thus dormancy needs.

 

[snowman04]

I'm sure you and your family will come up with something memorable. Hopefully not quite like this:

 

[Flowerhouse]

Here's mine, pic from today. I think I want to go in the umbrella top direction.

The first winter (2020-2021) I had it I tried keeping it in our cold room. 45-50 degrees in the winter, with some light from a north window. It survived, but was not happy. It does grow a little over the winter.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Thanks, that's about what I wanted to know. Funds at the end of the year have been so tight in my house the past 3 years, on top of having a very small living room, that the kids have picked one of the trees each year to use as the Christmas tree. I keep trying to think of something that could be the permanent official living Christmas tree.
Last year I ordered a podocarpus, but then it got caught in a snow storm while in transit. Was thinking a p. pinea might do the trick now that they're back, but keep running into conflicting info on growing zones and thus dormancy needs.

The dwarf alberta spruces were potted, and the plants were planted in the ground (inside the pots, terracotta) each year.
They lasted 2 winters indoors before they started to go bad and started dropping needles.

Pinus pinea is found all over the mediterranean, and I believe they don't require a super cold dormancy.

Not sure if you can get juniperus chinensis var. stricta in your area, but they're being used as small ornamental trees here nowadays. The junipers are sold for about 10 euros each.

I feel your pain on the transit.. I have 30 exotic seeds coming my way, seeds that have a viability drop of 90% three days after harvest. And they've been underway for about three weeks already. It's freezing out here at night.

 

[ShadyStump]

45-50 degrees in the winter, with some light from a north window.

So it sounds like sites saying zones 9 to 11 might be closer to accurate. I wasn't buying the zone 7 thing at all.
I've kept a bay laurel happy enough inside for winter the past several years, so I might just have to try a stone pine.

 

[Gustavo Martins]

I don’t remember seeing P. pinea up in the mountains here. It’s a costal pine. In rarely experiences freezes, at least in Portugal.

 

[Bonsai Forest]

It’s made up of 4 of the side shoots from the leader that was bent over, plus the original tip. It will get denser after I pinch it next year.

Is anyone else playing with these trees? I’ve seen a few threads on here that never gained any traction, or had much in the way of updates.

If you have a Stone Pine, post it here!

I’ll start it off, heres one I bought at the beginning of 2021. It was one of those miniature living xmas tree decorations on clearance after the holiday. Looked like this…
View attachment 516510

I hacked it all up and repotted it in spring. It’s funny to look back and see how much I’ve improved since then.
View attachment 516501

January 2022
View attachment 516502

September 2022
View attachment 516503

November 2023
View attachment 516504

I’ve learned that I can pinch the tips like a spruce during the growing season, sometimes even twice. Doing so causes a ton of backbuds and ramification, and allowed me to push the foliage back towards the trunk. It also helps keep the foliage juvenile, which I prefer. It almost looks like a larch.

The trunk is all lumpy and flawed, but they all seem to grow that way, so I just embrace it.

Who else has one of these?

One last thing I want to ask: Do you think I can accomplish a similar finished product on my dwarf Alberta spruce?? Thanks for your info

 

[Ruddigger]

One last thing I want to ask: Do you think I can accomplish a similar finished product on my dwarf Alberta spruce?? Thanks for your info

Absolutely.

 

[Bonsai Forest]

Absolutely.

You inspired me, greatly. It is my next goal, starting in Spring 2024

 

[Smithlandia Bonsai]

Really great tree @Ruddigger ! I've been working mine for just about the exact same time as yours; purchased in December 2021. Attaching a pic from when I bought it as a "living Christmas tree" from a big box store and some pics after working on it today. I'm still getting to know it, what it can tolerate, etc. I'm very much looking forward to the branch-hub bulges becoming less visible over time. Before I get hate for my sloppy wiring technique, just know that I know it is sloppy and I try to avoid wiring as much as possible because I have too many trees to keep up with detailed wiring on all of them and I prefer to clip and grow instead. The bottom four or so branches are sacrifices that will come off eventually. Here's a link to a video short of the tree as well;

 

[Ruddigger]

Really great tree @Ruddigger ! I've been working mine for just about the exact same time as yours; purchased in December 2021. Attaching a pic from when I bought it as a "living Christmas tree" from a big box store and some pics after working on it today. I'm still getting to know it, what it can tolerate, etc. I'm very much looking forward to the branch-hub bulges becoming less visible over time. Before I get hate for my sloppy wiring technique, just know that I know it is sloppy and I try to avoid wiring as much as possible because I have too many trees to keep up with detailed wiring on all of them and I prefer to clip and grow instead. The bottom four or so branches are sacrifices that will come off eventually. Here's a link to a video short of the tree as well;

It looks like you chased the growth back quite a bit. I’d love to have one in that shape to play with right now, with a good wiring it would be great. Nice work.

 

[jonahotwell]

Is anyone else playing with these trees? I’ve seen a few threads on here that never gained any traction, or had much in the way of updates.

If you have a Stone Pine, post it here!

I’ll start it off, heres one I bought at the beginning of 2021. It was one of those miniature living xmas tree decorations on clearance after the holiday. Looked like this…
View attachment 516510

I hacked it all up and repotted it in spring. It’s funny to look back and see how much I’ve improved since then.
View attachment 516501

January 2022
View attachment 516502

September 2022
View attachment 516503

November 2023
View attachment 516504

I’ve learned that I can pinch the tips like a spruce during the growing season, sometimes even twice. Doing so causes a ton of backbuds and ramification, and allowed me to push the foliage back towards the trunk. It also helps keep the foliage juvenile, which I prefer. It almost looks like a larch.

The trunk is all lumpy and flawed, but they all seem to grow that way, so I just embrace it.

Who else has one of these?

I have purchased one and this is my real attempt at Bonsai. Tried a Boxwood, and scored on a lime tree. I recked it. So I am just learning.

 

[Hartinez]

Really great tree @Ruddigger ! I've been working mine for just about the exact same time as yours; purchased in December 2021. Attaching a pic from when I bought it as a "living Christmas tree" from a big box store and some pics after working on it today. I'm still getting to know it, what it can tolerate, etc. I'm very much looking forward to the branch-hub bulges becoming less visible over time. Before I get hate for my sloppy wiring technique, just know that I know it is sloppy and I try to avoid wiring as much as possible because I have too many trees to keep up with detailed wiring on all of them and I prefer to clip and grow instead. The bottom four or so branches are sacrifices that will come off eventually. Here's a link to a video short of the tree as well;

Please don’t take this as too critical, but if you have too many trees to keep up with to give any a good detail wiring, maybe you have too many trees? So much of bonsai is in the details and wire is a HUGE part of that. Why spend time on a bunch of trees that come up just short just to have more trees, when you could have less trees that all look their best? You really have a great start for a tree and Like @Ruddigger said, this tree could have a wonderful appearance, if you took the time to give it a really good wire. It would really set it up for the future. I would even argue that the trunk on Rudds tree is not great, but it’s been his execution through attention to detail that make his tree so great. Something I really think a lot of hobbyists could learn from.

 

[Ruddigger]

Happy holidays everyone.

 

[BonjourBonsai]

I just broke one of my new years resolutions and bought a marked stone pine. For $3.24 I could not pass it up.