The Pine Project - Offspring

[MJL]

Rather than hijacking Ryceman3's wonderful "The Pine Project" thread here - viewtopic.php?f=131&t=25843, I thought It might be good to develop an offspring thread - creatively titled: The Pine Project - Offspring.

So here's a start - maybe it'll only ever be my offspring but if anyone else has any they'd like to add - feel free. In short, I have root-trimmed and re-potted and the pots are now in a full sun grow bed. I plan on wiring in some bends in Year Two.

For once I am half serious about these trees and hope to follow a 'traditional' approach whether that be for the single or double flush varieties,

Here is a selection of my Year One photos.

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Thanks Ryan. I hope we all manage to do something reasonable with your offspring - given all the work you put in!

[Ryceman3]

Very cool MJL. I look forward to seeing how these go for you, particularly as you'll be applying different techniques to getting growth than me. Hopefully a few others who got some seedlings will contribute too.
Don't know where you found that sun today ... it wasn't in Melbourne!

[TimS]

Very good start there Mark!

Nice work with the roots, and sitting on the soil will allow access for the roots out of the pots and help them push on faster as well. If you want some mycorrhizal fungi let me know, my JBPs have tonnes, i can pull a few bits out and you can add it into your pots and it will grow through the root system very quickly and help them even more.

With good plants like these it's worth putting the time in early to get the best possible start

[MJL]

Cheers Ryan and Tim.

Ryan... what a feral day today and yesterday for that matter. But yesterday is when I found a moment of sun.

Tim... yes please and thank you for your kind offer.

[terryb]

OK, I'm in. I acquired 3 x JBP, 3 x Scots pine, 3 x Austrian pines from Ryceman3. They have been root pruned, repotted and I have wired some bends in to a couple. Have put one JBP into a small colander to see how it performs compared to its peers. All are showing good growth so far with the tallest candles around 20cm.

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[MJL]

Thanks for adding to this thread Terry. Much appreciated.

[terryb]

Following on from MJL's post
https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/forum/view ... 50#p279338

I'll also be looking to put some movement into mine, although not sure how to handle that with the buds on this little Scotts.

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[Ryceman3]

That’s a lot of buds terryb! Some of my Scots have a similar inclination, if you figure out how to wire it let me know!?
How’d the colander grown JBP go in comparison to the others?
Thanks for the update, nice to see the progress.

[MJL]

Following on from MJL's post
https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/forum/view ... 50#p279338

I'll also be looking to put some movement into mine, although not sure how to handle that with the buds on this little Scotts.
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Thanks Terry - I am getting lost in my own threads... I should have posted my update here!!

Thank you for linking it back to this thread.

[terryb]

That’s a lot of buds terryb! Some of my Scots have a similar inclination, if you figure out how to wire it let me know!?
How’d the colander grown JBP go in comparison to the others?
Thanks for the update, nice to see the progress.

Here you go Ryceman3, progress shots. The order of the JBP and Scots pines are the same as above to make it easy to compare. Not sure about the Austrians.

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Definitely will need to repot these as the pots feel quite tight.

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Will probably leave the colander alone and let it grow. Not sure how much movement I will be able to put into this one low down. I'm glad I did some of the others last year.

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Will probably leave these for another year. I will need to clean up the dead needles and wire though.

[Ryceman3]

Here you go Ryceman3, progress shots.

Thanks for the update terryb, good to see how things are growing.
I see similar kinds of progression in my pines in that I get lots of bud options etc on the Scots and Nigras but the growth of the trees themselves is nowhere near as discernible as what I get from the multi flush (JBP and JRP). There is still a bit of give in the pots for the Scots and Nigra, so not full of roots like the others. I too will be leaving them alone mostly (no repot ... might do a few) and see if the extra year of untouched roots helps to kickstart a bit more action.
Keep going with them, it looks to me like the colander was worthwhile. I like the initial stuff that is developing, particularly on the JBP on the left side of the pic (JBP A1), but they all look nice.

[MJL]

Funny, I just read Tim's post and we could further away from each other on our bonsai work today. Tim's off repotting a big kahuna and I am repotting small bananas - well pines! I know I am a month early but there are few reasons I went early.
I...
- was bored
- effectively slip potted with only minor root work so I there was not major disruption
- wanted to get my pines into one standard mix; a looser mix than I had previously. The mix you see blow - was not final I added a little more organic matter but it is still open
- placed pines into squat orchid pots where I can ground grow them for the next 2-3 years, undisturbed or at best, lifted and to prune the roots escaping the pot into the ground
- mainly worked on root spread/arrangement - hopefully setting a really good nebari
- took a few secondary roots off some - perhaps not the right term - but removed a lower level of roots where there seemed to be two seperate levels of roots starting to grow
- have a courtyard that is not subject to frost so again relatively safe to repot, I hope
- will place these pots back on grow beds in due course.

Sorry I did not take more photos but I got messy and wet and to was hard to take the phone out a lot. The root work and placement shown was not final - just indicative. Also - a lot of the pot had far more roots escaping the pots.

I am really appreciative of Ryceman who sold me these seedlings ... quality seedlings that I am trying to do justice to by creating quality pre-bonsai. Some years to go yet! Something is going right - I gave about 6 pines to my step-dad but his don't seems to be flourishing like many of these (and generally his trees are in better knick than mine.

I am also appreciative of Tim. He provided me some Mycorrhizal Fungi back in the day and I innoculated my soil pots with it and most had heaps growing which I tried to keep in the repotting process.

Anyway - a range of photos below - soon they will move from the tale back to grow beds.

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[TimS]

Looks like they are pressing on well under your care Mark. The root systems look strong and healthy so you’re on a good footing going forward with them. You’ll have some ripper trees coming down the pipeline soon enough!

[Ryceman3]

Ditto what TimS said MJL. Nice work and I look forward to seeing how these grow on under slightly different techniques/methods from other people, so thanks for posting! They are looking healthy.

[Keels]

Those pines are looking really good Mark. I think your brave repotting now but Melbourne weather must be different? Is it warming up a little there?