First foray into Black Pine.....where to start?

[Thymetraveller]

I bagged this little triple-trunk JBP yesterday. It's my first time with this species, and I am more than a little nervous
So any advice would be very welcome.

Location is Hornsby NSW, North facing balcony, slightly down a gulley. My tridents are just starting to push and my elms are already breaking.

There's a lot if great info on seasonal care on the wiki, and in loads of very good posts, but I am unclear as to what I can do with this one straight from the nursery.

The roots seem strong, and I am guessing that the white fur is mycorrhizae, so that's that box checked.
I am assuming that it's ok to slip pot it into something bigger without disturbing the roots. Is that right?
Can I wire now?
Can I pluck the needles from the trunks?
What should I do withe the long things (a technical term I picked up on the web.. ) at the top of the trunks?
Anything else I should be doing at this initial stage?
Thanks in advance,
TT

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[Daluke]

What are you trying to do? Increase trunk size? Decrease needle size? Etc

Depending on your answer, it will help determine a plan.

[Thymetraveller]

I want to increase trunk size for a year or two, and get a bit of movement into them.
What do you recommend?

[kez]

Get some wire onto the trunks and bend to shape and then feed feed feed. Once you start to get heavy growth over the next couple of seasons balance out the vigour by removing needles from the strong areas to allow light to the interior and to distribute vigour.

You can take the stronger areas down to 10-12 pairs or needles, allow weaker areas to grow freely

Thats about all for now I would think. Gotta develop your trunks and branches before anything else:)

[bodhidharma]

Good advice from Kez.

[Daluke]

Place in full sun. Don't touch the roots or needles. Feed with liquid fertiliser once a week and water everyday.

The needles are solar panels. The more sunlight, the more power for growth.

[shibui]

I'd take a different approach.
1 repot now to sort out the roots for better future nebari. When the roots thicken you may not be able to fix problems.
2. Pot into a larger pot to promote growth. Wire trunks to get complimentary movement now while you can still bend them.
3. Ignore all pine maintenance schedules until your trunks have developed to the required thickness. Instead of candle pruning and needle plucking you can allow free growth for up to 2 years but every year or 2 you need to cut back hard to promote new buds so that ramification is not lost. 2 year old needles will naturally die off in summer and budding is reduced in those bare areas.
As with all pine maintenance/development schedules it is easier to show than to tell.

ps. the 'long things at the top of the trunks' are called 'candles' in polite bonsai circles.

[KIRKY]

Agree with Shibu, Could be pics are you sure the three trunks are connected? Looks more like twin trunk and a single tree. Like I said could just be the pic angle. As Shibu has stated check your root structure correct any faults you may have repot and then you can wire tight movement into the trunks and allow to grow.
Cheers
Kirky

[shibui]

are you sure the three trunks are connected? Looks more like twin trunk and a single tree.

Knowing black pines I'd be confident this is actually 3 seedlings in a pot but that's beside the point. It does not matter whether the trunks are connected. It does matter how well they harmonise.
Multi trunk trees are far harder to get right than single trunk bonsai. Not only do the branches need to harmonise with each trunk, you also need each trunk and its branches to harmonise with the others. Seems simple enough but I'm sure that's why you see so few good multi trunk bonsai - each added trunk actually multiplies the possible problems.

[Thymetraveller]

Update:

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Good roots on this one - only one fat anchor root growing straight down, which I cut back, the rest nice and radial so left untrimmed. Popped a CD under it, (a rather too slow version of "Jambalaya" I recorded a few weeks ago - hope it likes Cajun!) And popped it into a big old pot. Wired up for movement. I have found several literati style three-trunk plantings online, and that's where I would eventually like this tree to end up. Power feed to follow in a few days.