$10 pine. Great Potential or good firewood?

[robc]

Hi Everyone,

I bought this pine (unkown species) on impulse last weekend and,given i have no experience with pines, i wanna know if everyone in ausbonsai-land thinks there is potential or i should throw it in the rubbish bin.

I like the movement and taper in the trunk, and there seems to be quite a few branches to chose from. But how much work will it take to get back budding on these branches? (if it is even possible?)

Any advise, criticisms, opinions, virts welcome

Thanks Peeps

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[rowan]

If this tree is healthy - maybe the light colour of the needles is correct for this species/variety, then I would look after it till it shows signs of new needles and then chop all the branches back until you only have small shoots growing from the trunk or close to the trunk if there is any. There is potential in the trunk but you will need to completely grow new branches to get better foliage and potential for good ramification close to the trunk.
Just my .

Rowan

[Handy Mick]

Aproch graft the long leggy branches to the trunk.

[Ray]

At $10, you can't go wrong really, use it to learn/experiment with, try things and see how it reacts.

[kcpoole]

My plan would be to lop the top and all the long branches back to the closest shoots foliage to the trunk and see where it / if shoots back from

Hopefully you can chase the foliage back in to the trunk, or to get some grafting happening if that fails

Ken

[robc]

I believe the light colour of the needless is a species specific thing as there was a small paddock full of these pines and they were all very uniform in colour. I'll find out the species soon so I can be certain the light colour is not a health issue

[anttal63]

Hey Rob my bet is that its an under nourished radiata. if you can get a close up pic on the candles that will help confirm! Its only young but with lots of feeding and water morning sun only get this tree healthier then next year if its still alive and kicking hard chop to the line. All branches will need to get cut also to the first group of healthy needles. That trunk will pop like Mary Poppins all up and down! Then we can talk style. Now if ya in a hurry to style get ya hard earned cash out and buy good stock that is ready!

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[Tony Bebb]

Looks to me like Radiata also, which means your chances for back-budding are good. As mentioned feed well and keep in good sun and prune the trunk and branches back to promote shoots, If it doesn't shoot where you want after first prune, keep pruning back and it will develop more and more till you get close to what you want.

Tony

[anttal63]

One of mine 1 year after collection. Was already healthy when i got it and doubled its height in that time under the conditions i specified. Lots of water if soil is open draining. It gets sun to about 11am.

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[robc]

Hey Ant,

Did you hack all that foliage off in one session ? Ive been told a more gradual approach is needed for pruning pines as taking off too much foliage in one hit will kill em.
Is this the sort of treatment i should give my pine once it regains its vigour?

[lindsay farr]

Chuck it in the bin. MY BIN.

Great possibilities

[anttal63]

Hey Ant,

Did you hack all that foliage off in one session ? Ive been told a more gradual approach is needed for pruning pines as taking off too much foliage in one hit will kill em.
Is this the sort of treatment i should give my pine once it regains its vigour?

Thats what i did! No its not gonna die it wont even slow down. Now two things to keep in mind here 1) the tree is very healthy and vigorous and 2) No repot!!! One year chop and style next year repot. Although i do both sometimes just cause i can.

[Sahara]

no chuck it in my bin,, i just started bonsai afew months ago imo keepit, use it, train it, learn from it, dont burn it

[bwaynef]

Being on the opposite side of the world from you, I'd recommend taking advice from folks that know your climate before listening to me. That said, I'd feed it heavily this fall, then repot (removing half the soil this year, the other half at next repot) into an open draining mix. (I'm unfamiliar with your climate so you're left to the locals to find what works best in your area. Here I use lava, akadama, and pumice in equal parts ...with sphagnum on top if needed). Then wait a year before any real work, just light needle plucking to let air & light in. By the spring of 2012 this tree should be growing gangbusters and be ready for serious work.

You might consider approach grafting some of those leggy branches to get ahead when vigor starts to pick up.