Aleppo pine seedlings

[Shagga]

Hello everyone,
My girlfriend and I were walking through the gardens in Kew and there was a pine with a plaque say it was an Aleppo pine descending from seeds bought back by soldiers in Gallipoli.
I found a cone and got 5 seeds out of it. I stratified them in the fridge for a few weeks and planted a couple of weeks ago and 2 have popped up. Does anyone know if they are good material for bonsai, has anyone seen one as a bonsai?

[KIRKY]

No reason it can’t be used to make a bonsai.
Cheers
Kirky

[Sbwright]

Hello everyone,
My girlfriend and I were walking through the gardens in Kew and there was a pine with a plaque say it was an Aleppo pine descending from seeds bought back by soldiers in Gallipoli.
I found a cone and got 5 seeds out of it. I stratified them in the fridge for a few weeks and planted a couple of weeks ago and 2 have popped up. Does anyone know if they are good material for bonsai, has anyone seen one as a bonsai?

I have read a Northern Hemisphere book on Bonsai that had Aleppo pines as suggested bonsai stock. Pretty sure they are consider a pest in some parts of Aus. Our local councils were cutting them down.

[KIRKY]

There are a lot of plants that are considered pests that are still being bonsai’d. A common one is Lantana, Privet, Radiata Pines and there are many, many more. As a bonsai with regular trimming/training will never produce a Pine cone because allowing a Bonsai Pine to produce cones puts great stress on your tree. As with the Privet once it flowers if let to flower at all, as a bonsai it would be trimmed after flowering to maintain shape size etc...before seeds develop.
As per your original question, if you want to bonsai your seedling there is no reason it would not make a bonsai, given time and care.
Cheers
Kirky

[Shagga]

Good point Kirky, I’ll have a good crack anyways although I’ll probably be 80 before it’s consider a good bonsai lol but it’s all about the journey not the destination right?

[KIRKY]

not sure where you are on your journey? If you aim for a Shohin you may get there quicker. So you’ll only be 70
Enjoy the journey
Cheers
Kirky

[BirchMan]

I grabbed a couple of cones from the child tree at the War Memorial on Mt Clarence, Albany back in 2014 or so. From those I've still got two waist high trees I've been ground growing - well, one went to my Mum but the other one I've started branch selection already.

There is a fine example grown by Peter at Bonsai Emporium here in Perth that I'm basing the design on, so the answer is yes.

[Shagga]

Thanks birchman that’s awesome! They are a beautiful looking tree I’d love to see an update on yours some time

[BirchMan]

If i can snag a photo of the Emporium one I'll post it - or if other Perthites have one lying around...

[treeman]

[ Our local councils were cutting them down.

Nothing angers me more than this insular, misguided, stupid, hysterical, nonsensical, naïve, un-researched, trendy, one-eyed, short sighted, unprofessional, illogical, ridiculous,
astigmatic
blind
careless
foolish
headlong
ill-advised
ill-considered
imperceptive
impolitic
impractical
improvident
imprudent
injudicious
myopic
near-sighted
rash
absurd
false
groundless
implausible
inconsistent
incorrect
irrational
irrelevant
preposterous
senseless
unreasonable
unscientific
untenable
casuistic
cockeyed
fallacious
fatuous
faulty
hollow
inconclusive
incongruous
inconsequent
invalid
mad
meaningless
not following
nutty
off the wall
screwy
self-contradictory
sophistic
sophistical
specious
spurious
unconnected
unproved practice of cutting down pine trees to be replaced by any old scrubby rubbish as long as it's indigenous. It's happening at breakneck speed here on the peninsula with magnificent century old radiata pines which are the only really tall tree cover we have, which are a favourite food plant for black cockatoos and a home for owls and nesting site for prey birds and not to mention adding character and picturesque beauty to the surrounding landscape and not to mention the fact that they are NOT weeds and do NOT self sow into the bush as commonly claimed. Madness!

[Matt S]

There's an Aleppo pine growing at the war memorial on North Tce in Adelaide and I grabbed a pine cone hoping to get a few seeds to germinate before I realised that their were plenty of small seedlings growing in the leaf litter around the park. I pulled one up and took it home and it's been growing strongly in a pot for about 4 years.

I know of a few Aleppo pine bonsai and they can make nice trees but there are a few drawbacks:
- They produce nice compact juvenile foliage but the adult needles are long and straggly. The best example I saw only had the juvenile leaves and was never allowed to mature.
- They are hard to get to backbud, so get your ramification done early. Someone else here might have a technique but I was unsuccessful with a previous tree.

Matt.

[shibui]

Good points from Matt S. I've tried working with this species a few times but without good pruning just ended up with long, straggly branches with tufts of needles at the ends. Prune regularly as with most pines to keep growth close to the trunk and the base.
I wonder whether these are really Alleppo pine? I believe that the 'Lone Pine' that are grown at war memorials in Australia and promoted by RSL was thought to be P. halapensis but has more recently been identified as Pinus brutia. Both species are common around the Gallipoli area and quite similar.

[Starfox]

The actual tree at Gallipoli that is called lone pine turned out to be P. brutia(Turkish Pine), it seems many of the cones brought back and planted as memorials were actually P. halpensis(Aleppo) and even P .pinea(Stone). They were just cones found in the area or Turkish camps as opposed to being collected from the actual tree. You should be able to get a reasonable ID when it has grown a bit more.

These are native Med trees here, we are lousy with the blasted things and all have the similar habit of long needles that don't reduce.
The one thing I notice is the ones that start to look proportionate are all huge trees, 2 to 3 times the height of the average full grown trees. I think 30 meters may be the golden ratio. So if you do grow it out keep it tall.

[MJL]

Hey Treeman - tell us what you really think! Your post reminds me of the old Batman TV shows - I can almost see the words ....WHACK! BOOM! POW! [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]


Bonsai teaches me patience.

[Shagga]

Yeah! Go tree man! I agree totally we have an so many other destructive weeds to focus time, energy and money on than beautiful old pines.

Anyhow even if it grows into some kind of small tree lol it will have an interesting background at any rate