five needle pine help

[rawhide]

Ihave had this pine for many years ,I know it is not a good example of a bonsai but it is the only white pine I have or have seen in nurseries down here in Tassie.It used to be a very healthy tree
but early this year i had 1 too many beers and thought Iwould repot it into a cheap potting mix .Iam now paying the price for it it has got mutiple branches that have given up the ghost.
Question should Irepot it now and risk shocking it to death or perservere with it till spring and repot it in a quality mix.
I currently use a 50/50 mix of sharp Quartz sand and a good potting mix that a local nursery makes.but am open to any ideas for a better pine mix as pines are my nemisis as are most conifers

[Grant Bowie]

Hi Grant here,

I think I saw this tree when I was down in Tassie a few years ago. Is that right?

If so it really has lost a lot of vigor in that mix.

We repotted a FNP at the collection when we thought the old mix was bad and doing it harm. It is a risk to re re pot now and a risk not to as well.

Can you get Diatomite?

Grant

[bodhidharma]

you could pot it up giving the root system on the bottom a light tease so it can move into the new soil. It would have to be very free draining. Start a feeding regime to get its vigor back and leave it for a year or two. Probably do the tree a lot of good too.

[rawhide]

thanks Grant and Bodhidharma might try very light repot as you suggest .just need to find diatmoite down here in Tassie .do you use it at 100% or mix it

[Grant Bowie]

thanks Grant and Bodhidharma might try very light repot as you suggest .just need to find diatmoite down here in Tassie .do you use it at 100% or mix it

I would use up to 50% plus some sharp sand/gravel and/or Zeolite plus maybe a small percentage of composted pine bark or potting mix.

You are making up an emergency repot mix; not your general everyday mix.

Depends what you can get hold of but you need good drainage and aeration to get those roots going again.

grant

[rawhide]

howdy all
just a update on this pine repotted in late winter and bare rooted it to get rid of any poor soil and
potted it with kens mix of diatomite and zoelite and have given it fortnightly feeds with seasol and it has some osmacote in the mix .
it has new candles shooting but what should i do with the flower/cones ?, leave them on or remove them ?
any thoughts ?

[kcpoole]

Nice to see that is has recovered somewhat
Flowering can be a sign of distress or can be just plaing raring to reproduce as it has so much vigour

Like most flowering plants, With Pines I assume you can remove the flowers to stop the wasted energy that goes into creating them.

Ken

[rawhide]

Hi Ken
this pine was very distressed but since its repot it looks a lot healthier so i hope it is a sign that it is regaining vigour

[toohey]

Hi,
take off the seed cones so the tree isn't wasting any more energy on them. I don't believe they were produced because the tree was in stress.
A good job.
The truth is - NEVER USE CHEAP POTTING MIX OR FERTILISER. (it is never cheap in the end)

Regards,
Michael Toohey

[ricardo]

Hi i also have these cones all over my tree is it safe/beneficiary to remove, also should i cut or pull them off?
Thanks Ricardo

[Leevers]

It's safe to remove them, but I think they look great. Really adds depth and character to the tree.