Looking for a large Japanese red pine in Melbourne/Vic

[damienw133]

Howdy everyone,

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me out in my search for a large Japanese red pine in Melbourne or further afield elsewhere in Victoria?
As i'm planning on growing it out quite substantially as a trained garden tree i'm open to trees at any stage of development, from totally raw nursery or field grown stock through to more refined trees.

My one scruple is that i'd prefer a straight species jrp rather than the more common 'aurea' variety which has a much lighter green needle

Any help anyone can offer would be muchly appreciated,
Cheers!

Damien

[TimS]

Rare as rocking horse you know what as a specimen tree.

Specimen pine full stop is uncommon, though I know Nishiki Nursery were starting to do large JBP (2-3m) a few years back for that purpose, but I don’t know what availability is like as they are wholesale only. To order from them you need to order through a retail nursery unless you have an ABN.

JRP is uncommon, though can be found at bonsai nursery’s, but as a specimen plant? No real incentive to grow it from a profitability point of view so no one is doing it.

I’ve a young JRP that I’m on the fence wether I’ll bonsai it or turn it into a garden tree, but yeah only really ever see them either as a starter or as a refined bonsai.

[KIRKY]

I’ve got one about 5’ tall it’s pretty straight if your interested.
Cheers
Kirky

[Daluke]

There’s lots of places offering them.

Yamina and conifer gardens come to mind.

[damienw133]

There’s lots of places offering them.

Yamina and conifer gardens come to mind.

Alas, when i checked a few weeks ago Yamina were saying they only had a few small ones in 20cm pots and Conifer Gardens only sells cultivars, not the species for jrp

[Rare plant Pat]

There’s lots of places offering them.

Yamina and conifer gardens come to mind.

Alas, when i checked a few weeks ago Yamina were saying they only had a few small ones in 20cm pots and Conifer Gardens only sells cultivars, not the species for jrp

Speaking from experience, I think you would find that the 20cm pot would give you the best results and best root system for a garden specimen. Big pots and established trees just sit there and sulk for a couple of years while the root ball catches up to the size of the canopy, then they take off. A small well grown tree in a 20cm pot will take off from the get go. If you push it along with intentional fertiliser and watering after two years you will still have a better tree than a larger one from a 50 or 100 litre pot.

[Macros]

I was at Bonsai Art in Heatherton the other day, Trevor had quite a few seedlings, but nothing larger unfortunately

Good luck on the hunt!

[damienw133]

I was at Bonsai Art in Heatherton the other day, Trevor had quite a few seedlings, but nothing larger unfortunately

Good luck on the hunt!

I'll check them out!
Happily, i was able to source aone from Jeff at Chojo Feature Trees that'd been wired for large bonsai stock...a little more wire on my part to straighten out some bends to make them more appropriate for a bigger scaled tree and it fit the bill perfectly!

Though i'm still very much on the hunt for other red pine stock to grow into bigger stuff....do you happen to remember if Trevor had any multi trunk seedlings?

[Macros]

[/quote]
I'll check them out!
Happily, i was able to source aone from Jeff at Chojo Feature Trees that'd been wired for large bonsai stock...a little more wire on my part to straighten out some bends to make them more appropriate for a bigger scaled tree and it fit the bill perfectly!

Though i'm still very much on the hunt for other red pine stock to grow into bigger stuff....do you happen to remember if Trevor had any multi trunk seedlings?
[/quote]


Sorry for the late reply, Taptalk didnt issue a notification!
From memory unfortunately not. Most were quite small, so able to be produced in any configuration. I got one to try it again, but I remember that they can be a challenge with how brittle they can be?
I want to go and check out Chojo, but lockdown makes it hard!

[damienw133]

Sorry for the late reply, Taptalk didnt issue a notification!
From memory unfortunately not. Most were quite small, so able to be produced in any configuration. I got one to try it again, but I remember that they can be a challenge with how brittle they can be?
I want to go and check out Chojo, but lockdown makes it hard!

No worries!
Thats a shame to hear that there werent any multi trunks amongst them...i've got a few tanyosho red pines which naturally grow into multi leader trees, but i'd love a straight species red pine so i could grow it bigger.

From my albeit, limited experience with them, the reds i've worked on havent really been all that much more brittle than the Japanese black pines i've got. Thus far the main contender for most brittle pine i've come across is definitely a dwarf Austrian black pine - its a good thing it can survive broken branches well, cause i've accidentally busted every single one it had over the years

I'd definitely recommend Chojo, Jeff's got some pretty awesome stuff there