THE PINE PROJECT

[Ibuki Tappai]

Thanks for the reply
I am not so sure about it, but perhaps with "late hagari" someone means to select and remove certain couples of needles and reduce length of others (by half or similar) but it's just an opinion.

I've found not so good to try sow seeds in late august (late summer here) and now pines are germinated since then but suffering a 10% loss to pathogens that are not so aggressive in march-april (spring).

I sincerely hope to reach your results someday, even if it will be so hard.
Thanks for sharing your experience, I will wait updates

[Ryceman3]

I am not so sure about it, but perhaps with "late hagari" someone means to select and remove certain couples of needles and reduce length of others (by half or similar) but it's just an opinion.

Yes, you may be right there. I refer to this as "needle plucking" and it is common to do this to allow more light/air in. Cutting needles is sometimes used to help "even" energy distribution but (apart from perhaps on sacrifice branches) these are techniques that aren't as well used on pines that are in development... more in refinement. The main aim for most of my trees on this thread right now is to fatten the trunks as much as I can while preserving the lower shoots that will become the future tree. I am primarily doing this by using sacrifice branches and monitoring the growth of these to ensure they don't take all the energy at the expense of the low branches in close to the trunk. It is a balancing act.
Hope that explanation helps a bit.

[Ryceman3]

More work done over the Christmas period on the JBP that were ground grown. They have re-settled into pot life very well so looked to prune and decandle some areas that I wanted to push back/compress the growth on and left sacrifices/thinned out for light/air flow in other areas where I wanted to continue development and encourage buds. It's a bit of a balancing act until I can get all areas developed enough that decandling becomes the way forward on the entire tree as it moves into "refinement". I'm quite happy with where things are heading on these. I'll be down to check on the remaining pines I have in the ground over the next week or so and look forward to seeing how they are going. They've been pretty much neglected since July ... should be interesting.
Also will need to get to the pot grown ones at some stage soon ... they are also in need of attention... aren't we all!

JBP-DEV AB_2.jpg

JBP-DEV AB_1.jpg

JBP-DEV AB_4.jpg

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JBP-DEV AB_10.jpg

JBP-DEV AB_9.jpg

[Ryceman3]

Beginning to get to work on my pines this afternoon. There's a few of them.
The one I'm posting below is "JBP 1" from the post above.
I think all my cutting/wiring and whatever is starting to become a bit clearer now in terms of the end result I'm looking for ... hopefully!
I'll probably be putting up a few more in the coming days/weeks so those who are sick of looking at this thread, look away now!

JBP-CompA IG_02.jpg

JBP-CompA IG_01.jpg

[fae]

Envious, love watching the progression.
Great base.
Fiona

[bibimbap]

I'm always happy to see updates from your pine project and keep reading back. Hopefully I can start one of my own next spring (if I can get a hold of seeds). But I don't have space to put them in the ground.

[Ryceman3]

Here is some work from this morning.
I really like the base on this one, I think it has a lot of potential.

@bibimbap : Don't worry about the ground, its a "nice to have" not a deal breaker. IF you can get seed, pot growing has a lot of merit too.

JBP-CompB IG_02.jpg

JBP-CompB IG_01.jpg

[Ryceman3]

Had a go at another one this afternoon. This one is JBP3 from the earlier post in December (just for reference).
Not my favourite as I'm struggling a bit for direction, but the top view shows there is plenty of branching around the trunk, so I've kept it all until I can get a more solid way forward ... until then it can just keep growing.

JBP-Compc IG_02.jpg

JBP-Compc IG_01.jpg

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[Ryceman3]

I have been watching this cone develop over the last 12+ months, and a few others on some of my pot grown JBP. In the last week or so it is really starting to change to a purplish colour (a good indication it is nearly ready). I have no idea if there is any viable seed but I'll bag it in the next couple of days and we'll see what comes of it.

JBP Cone IG_01.jpg

[wrcmad]

I have been watching this cone develop over the last 12+ months, and a few others on some of my pot grown JBP. In the last week or so it is really starting to change to a purplish colour (a good indication it is nearly ready). I have no idea if there is any viable seed but I'll bag it in the next couple of days and we'll see what comes of it.

JBP Cone IG_01.jpg

Wow. That is sweet!

[Ryceman3]

I realised I had updated a bit on the ground grown pines, but not those solely developing in pots, so here's a few pics of some of the JBP that have been 100% in pots from seed and a bit of a description of what my intentions are with them going forward.
Nowhere near the size of the other ones, but still developing pretty well I think.

JBP_Comp IG_1.jpg

JBP_Comp IG_4.jpg

JBP_Comp IG_3.jpg

JBP_Comp IG_2.jpg

[Ryceman3]

In May, I harvested a few cones from the trees developed from my original pine seed venture that started this whole thread.
I decided to prep them for sowing today, so I extracted all that were still in the cones, cleaned them up and now have them soaking.
I'll be interested to see how many sink.
If I get a few to germinate I'll have pines from the seeds of trees that I grew from seed ... I'm satisfied with that idea.

JBPSeed IG_01.jpg

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JBPSeed IG_03.jpg

[Daluke]

Has it been worth it?

[Ryceman3]

Has it been worth it?

100%

[shibui]

No sinkers in that batch of seed
Sometimes surface tension will float a viable seed but more often the seeds are empty.
Try squeezing a couple between thumb and finger. Empty shells collapse relatively easy and are completely empty. Viable seeds have solid white inside.
Unfortunately I've found most cones on potted trees don't have viable seed.