Toshi's Monterey Pine

[TR8Driver]

Here is the last tree from my father in law, this is also a large tree (over 3 feet tall), and like the other ones it had escaped into the ground. This is Monterey Pine. I didn't get a picture before we got it off the ground, as initially we were only going to take the JBP. It was covered in 4 inch candles, though unlike a JBP, they seem to extend with needles already on them. He had us cut all of the new growth off, as he was concerned about the root loss from separating it from the ground.

I also repotted this into a larger box, and have slowly been reducing the crown to get it more in proportion. Anyone with long-term Monterey Pine care experience? I think he mostly treated it similar to a JBP, though it seems to want to grow really densely, and the needles are much finer than a JBP. The last photo is the tree on display in 1982.

 

[WavyGaby]

I love seeing the current pics vs 42 years ago. So cool to see this time line of progression.

 

[OTown]

You may have one of the first Monterey Pine's grown as a bonsai from the start. This is definitly a special tree and you have family history too. Wow...

Have you concidered a design revamp? There is some significant reverse taper in the apex. Would love to see what you do with this one.

 

[TR8Driver]

You may have one of the first Monterey Pine's grown as a bonsai from the start. This is definitly a special tree and you have family history too. Wow...

Have you concidered a design revamp? There is some significant reverse taper in the apex. Would love to see what you do with this one.

Yes, cleaning up the design is a longer term goal. It does seem to be responding well to my attempts to thin the top and rebalance the energy. But I don't want to be too aggressive with it until I have a little more experience with it, and get all of the roots into better soil.

 

[TR8Driver]

As with the JBP from my father in law, I also cleaned out half of the roots on the Monterey Pine. Again, I was able to tunnel under the rootball fairly well, and even was able to remove the thick root that had escaped while it was in his garden. That root was basically supporting the planting height of the tree, so I used a wood block to replace it until I can lower the entire tree. You can also see a wood block on the right, I'm using that to reposition a root that was winding around under the tree. I'm also attempting to pull a high root down, but most likely I'll end up cutting it off eventually.

 

[TR8Driver]

And here is closeup of the candles on a Monterey Pine

 

[TR8Driver]

Worked on this tree a bit. My father in law treated it like a black pine, from what I was able to get from him, but I think that was his default treatment of any tree. Anyway, since I don't think Monterey Pine is a two-flush pine, I just cut back all of the candles earlier this week. I also did a little thinning, and cleaning out dead stubs all throughout. It is still going to need much more thinning/reduction, especially one big branch at the top. But I'm taking my time, it is really hard to cut out something that was developed over years (decades?) without a lot to thought.

Today I decided to take advantage of it still being in a wooden box, and added a lot of guy wires to pull most of the branches down. I'll go back in a couple of weeks and do some additional adjustments, and wind the wires to tighten them more and make they look a bit better. Even though I didn't make any big changes in the branches, I think the overall effect was quite impactful.

I also ordered a pot for this, it should be arriving in the next few weeks. I'm going to keep it in this box for another season, but I've not been finding many pots in the size needed, so I took advantage of finding one.

First two picture are after the candle shortening, the last two with the guy wires.

 

[TR8Driver]

In my previous update, I forgot to mention the rock that I added on the high root. Probably I'll eventually need to remove that root, but the rock does fit really nice in there. We'll see where it goes. I twisted the guy wires a bit, more for cleaning up the look than adding additional tension yet. Still pondering what to do about the big branch at the top, probably it will eventually need to go, but I'm not in any hurry to make such a major decision!