JBP cones

[shibui]

At last I have some cones developing on my seed trees. Will need to keep a close watch through the summer as they ripen because pine cones open quite suddenly and drop all the seeds.

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There are 12 on this younger tree I planted in the paddock

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and another 4 or 5 on the older JBP in the garden but they are way up high so I'll need a good ladder when the time comes.

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It will be great to have some fresh seed again.

[MJL]

Cool! Neil, do you 'pick' your cones at a certain time of the year? Or is it by sight/their colour? Or a combination of both?

[shibui]

They ripen some time in summer. When the cones start to change color the seeds should be ripe enough.
They suddenly decide it is time and one warm day the cones open up and the seed drops out and blows away on little helicopter wings. Then when the cones get damp in evening dew or rain they all close up and look unopened. There will still be a few seeds left inside just to tease us but I've found that the ones left are almost all infertile.
Need to pick the cones before they open the first time, put them somewhere dry and warn and wait for them to open up and release the seeds.

[Miikeboyle]

If you secure a fine mesh bag over it when the cone opens all the seed will be captured.

[MPP]

Nice work. I would love to have 1 or 2 nice JBP in my collection. I'm in two minds whether to take the slow route with JBP and grow from seed (cheap but slow option) or buy 1 or 2 pre-bonsai JBP (more expensive but faster option).

[shibui]

If you secure a fine mesh bag over it when the cone opens all the seed will be captured.

Good idea Mike. I may even do that for a couple of these but the reality is that there are cones in 10 different locations on 2 trees. Some are 5m high so that will mean numerous bags and climb up a ladder to secure some bags then another climb to retrieve the seeds. Might just keep a close eye on those higher ones and make 1 climb instead of 2.

Nice work. I would love to have 1 or 2 nice JBP in my collection. I'm in two minds whether to take the slow route with JBP and grow from seed (cheap but slow option) or buy 1 or 2 pre-bonsai JBP (more expensive but faster option).

That's always the dilemma with bonsai, not just with pines. If you are handing over good money for pines just make sure you know about them first and know what you are getting for your money. I've seen many fast grown pines that have so many potential problems bought by unsuspecting beginners. To be fair, some of those would also have been sold by well meaning growers who also did not understand the problems that those pines represented.

[MPP]

Let me know when you harvest the JBP seed. I might take the slow zen path.