Tim's JBP Thread
Posted: October 18th, 2023, 8:43 am
Until now I've been posting in R3's Pine Project thread and think it's time that I stop posting over his excellent work and start my updates in a new space.
This is definitely a learners attempt at growing pines. But, I'm hoping through my ignorance others will learn as I do and maybe in 5 years time I won't have killed every single one of these trees.
Where I started: 6 month old seedlings
I got these mid-April. Unfortunately they were way overcrowded and I had to do an emergency repot. You can see about a third of the bottom has died off due to lack of sunlight.
At the same time I did some root work as they all needed to be moved, I thought that they were being disturbed anyway. Come spring, I was lucky with the first round of spring growth almost every one of them budded at the lowest point even though needles were already dead.
1 year old seedlings:
At the beginning of Spring, I was happy that the majority of the seedlings had survived. I lost about 10 out of approximately 140 due to repotting. I thought they may have enough space until the next repotting window but I'm getting worried this may not be the case. They have already put on considerable Spring growth and some of them already have another round of green appearing at the head, so I guess over the next couple of weeks there is more growth coming (assumption)? I'm concerned that I may have underestimated the growth and they may be back in the situation where they are again overcrowded.
I'm not just concerned about crowding at the top, but if they are growing really well, the tray may be too shallow?
My question: Looking at the pictures below, when do you suggest I repot?
I'm thinking the options are:
- Now, it's not too late
- In Autumn, it's already too late and Autumn is fine in Sydney, Australia to repot JBP
- They are not overcrowded yet; Spring next year?
This is definitely a learners attempt at growing pines. But, I'm hoping through my ignorance others will learn as I do and maybe in 5 years time I won't have killed every single one of these trees.
Where I started: 6 month old seedlings
I got these mid-April. Unfortunately they were way overcrowded and I had to do an emergency repot. You can see about a third of the bottom has died off due to lack of sunlight.
At the same time I did some root work as they all needed to be moved, I thought that they were being disturbed anyway. Come spring, I was lucky with the first round of spring growth almost every one of them budded at the lowest point even though needles were already dead.
1 year old seedlings:
At the beginning of Spring, I was happy that the majority of the seedlings had survived. I lost about 10 out of approximately 140 due to repotting. I thought they may have enough space until the next repotting window but I'm getting worried this may not be the case. They have already put on considerable Spring growth and some of them already have another round of green appearing at the head, so I guess over the next couple of weeks there is more growth coming (assumption)? I'm concerned that I may have underestimated the growth and they may be back in the situation where they are again overcrowded.
I'm not just concerned about crowding at the top, but if they are growing really well, the tray may be too shallow?
My question: Looking at the pictures below, when do you suggest I repot?
I'm thinking the options are:
- Now, it's not too late
- In Autumn, it's already too late and Autumn is fine in Sydney, Australia to repot JBP
- They are not overcrowded yet; Spring next year?