THE PINE PROJECT

[Snipz]

I've jumped on the bandwagon and bought some JBP seeds to give it a go after the success of my 3 Acorns that are now wee oaks!!

Great fun watching nothing turn into something..

Thanks for the inspiration R3

[Ryceman3]

Thanks terryb, TimS and Snipz ... I'll update with developments as usual.
Good to hear you've got some seed to play with Snipz, it's hard to track down so I wish you all the best with it - keep us posted on your progress.

[Ryceman3]

I was out having a look at my trees this morning and I noticed this ...

IMG_4485.jpg

It seems normal enough - but the candle/bud growth at the top is a little different.

IMG_4484.jpg

The dominant candle at the tip is quite domed compared to regular JBP and there are a myriad of "buds" that extend radially down the trunk from it in big numbers, which doesn't seem to fit the traditional JBP growth habit. Here's another close up :

IMG_4488.jpg

And below is what I consider more typical growth for JBP

IMG_4489.jpg

Is it a rogue seed (and not JBP at all) or maybe just a rogue growth pattern? This particular tree has a lot of juvenile foliage still on it from last year when it was developing. It was one of the seeds to be sown later (in October) so is not as big as others, maybe this is a factor ... but others also sown in October appear quite normal. The mature foliage it does have definitely is consistent with JBP (2 needles per sheath).
I can't imagine a seed mix up so I'm going with the latter. Whatever it is, I'll be interested to watch how this one develops this year - would love to hear any thoughts on how/why this might have occurred!

[Snipz]

I need to get some of these seeds!

[Ryceman3]

Firstly, aplologies to those who are sick of seeing this thread pop up ... but here it is - AGAIN!
Today was the start of "pine-o'clock" on my repot calender, and I started with a bunch of JBPs. I was very keen to check out these pine roots and compare the differences between stem cutting and standard root prune techniques.
Good things come to those who wait - it was kinda like Christmas!
First up - a regularly pruned JBP (traditional root prune)

IMG_4500.jpg

IMG_4502.jpg

IMG_4505.jpg

IMG_4506.jpg

I was pretty happy - lots of nice radial spread and fine roots up close to the trunk. This is going well!

Next, a stem cut tree :

IMG_4516.jpg

IMG_4517.jpg

IMG_4518.jpg

IMG_4520.jpg

The stem cut versions were better than I could have ever hoped. There are still plenty to do but of the 6 or more of these I repotted today, all had slightly denser/finer roots in close and at least 5 roots spreading radially from an even level. I was very excited with the progress. I think they're looking very good.

I repotted just over 20 or so, including a couple of Austrian Pines which I will post about later.

IMG_4522.jpg

This was a GOOD day!

[MJL]

Hey R3, firstly - never sick of these updates; and hey ... we’ve all got the option to ignore anyone’s posts. I’m pretty sure most of my rot gets ignored! Great update - I’m excited, I think I’ll get onto my repotting you’re offspring this week too.

[TimS]

I am hugely impressed with what you've achieved here Ryan, there's a lot to be said for growing your own material (or just growing for fun!)

Some really sweet little trunks, and radial roots as well! I commend your effort and your results. Interesting to see the difference between tradtional root prune and the stem cutting.

[boom64]

Hi Ryceman 3 ,great results ,also highly impressed with how well you are organised. .Any plans to wire a few of them up ?
Cheers John.

[Miikeboyle]

So did you find the stem cutting trees that much better than the root trimmed ones that you would next time do all stem cuttings? Or was it close enough that you would just trim the roots next time?

With the balmy Sydney winter we are having I have got a few JBP seeds germinated now but all still have their seed covers on and was wondering if I should bother with stem cuttings when the time comes.

[Ryceman3]

So did you find the stem cutting trees that much better than the root trimmed ones that you would next time do all stem cuttings? Or was it close enough that you would just trim the roots next time?

I think the results I’ve seen so far show the stem cutting has produced marginally better results but, like I said I’ve only repotted about half a dozen of these so far which is a pretty small sample size. If my seedlings come through this year I’ll most likely do both methods again... I might even trial another technique I’ve been reading about depending on how many I have to play with.
To be honest, I’m very happy with how both methods have performed to date, they’re doing well.

Hi Ryceman 3 ,great results ,also highly impressed with how well you are organised. .Any plans to wire a few of them up ?
Cheers John.

Hi John, thanks for your comments! I have wired a few already and once the roots get solid I’ll put some on these ones too... a lot of the information I’ve read has wire going on at the end of year 2 but if I wait that long these will be too thick to get much movement. I’ll need to get in earlier than that.

I am hugely impressed with what you've achieved here Ryan, there's a lot to be said for growing your own material (or just growing for fun!)

Thanks both MJL and TimS for the kind words. Tim, I think you might be the same as me... there is a lot of satisfaction I take from growing something from essentially nothing and developing it into something impressive. I haven’t quite got there yet but I am motivated by the potential that is emerging. I see something similar happening with your maples. Keep at it (I’m pretty sure you will)!

[MJL]

Hey Ryan,

Here's a couple of your Japanese Red Pine progeny. I am really happy with these. I took the opportunity to remove a high root on one to even out the level of root growth. I re-potted 5 and albeit I only took photos of a few - all were healthy. The Japanese Black Pines are alI nearly double the width of any of the other pines (Red, Scots etc...). Also, I took the opportunity to seperate and replant a little 7 plant scots grouping that you had kindly put together too. All good. I am really happy with these little plants and it was good to spread the roots too - they were already getting one-sided and over-lapping so this early work should help future nebari, I hope. I'll do the rest during the week.

Photos follow.

IMG_1219.jpg

IMG_1220.jpg

IMG_1221.jpg

IMG_1225.jpg

IMG_1226.jpg

IMG_1228.jpg

[Ryceman3]

Many thanks Mark, very happy to see some progressions of what were seeds this time last year. I haven’t looked under the soil on any JRP or Scots yet so that was great to see. Looking good, hope they continue to do well for you, I’m looking forward to more growth this Spring.

[Ryceman3]

As I said, I also did some Austrian Black Pine on the weekend so thought I would post how they looked also ...

IMG_4508.jpg

IMG_4509.jpg

IMG_4510.jpg

Definitely differences between the roots systems on the 2 different species of pine ... I found the JBP had a denser/finer (more ramified?) root spread but I have no complaints really about the majority of these Nigra seedlings either - lots of potential.

[Ryceman3]

More repotting today - this time Japanese Red Pine and some Scots Pine.
Again, for comparison I have included shots of the stem cut vs traditional root prune trees. The JRP were in a similar state to the JBP in terms of root ramification and growth, so I was very happy with these in both forms of root work ...

IMG_4577.jpg

IMG_4578.jpg

I think I actually took a little more off than that before I repotted but as you can see the spread was pretty sweet so a good outcome here.

IMG_4579.jpg

IMG_4580.jpg

Again - nice spread and a pretty finely ramified set of roots, lots to work with there.

As for the Scots Pine I found the roots on the 10 or so I repotted to be the coarsest and less ramified of all the pines I am growing. There was lots of long root extension and less roots (but thicker) than the others, so after being spoilt with the others I was a bit "meh..." with these. Nothing disastrous by any stretch but there is more work to be done to get them more "bonsai" under the soil.

IMG_4582.jpg

IMG_4584.jpg

I really cut back a lot harder on these to encourage those roots to ramify. I thought I took a pic of a traditional but it appears not ...
I still have more to do so will get one when I get around to them. Unfortunately at the moment I am in the middle of a rain delay (and I have a work deadline looming) so might be a few days away. I have a lot of candle extension happening so I want to get onto it sooner rather than later.
Too much to do!

[Matthew]

Those are looking really good. Some great root development