AusBonsai

My first attempt at this thread got a little side tracked, as can easily happen on public forums, so I thought I would start again.
I got this tree from Bonsai by the Bay a couple of years ago for $25. It was a bargain
After trunk chopping it has been de-candled a couple of times and I am thinking it will go into a bonsai pot next spring.
I de-candled using Boon's method but I never backed of on the fertiliser as he recommends. Not sure how wrong this is but I figured as I am mainly after back budding and not so worried about smaller needles yet then why not keep feeding. Does not seem to have done any harm anyway.
Here is the tree after the trunk chop. Must be about 3 years ago.
Here it is before needle plucking recently. And after Needle plucking It's dimensions 300mm being the hieght at the moment and expected finished hieght of 200mm. It has a good base on it that flares out more but as indicated it is 60mm across.

This is my JBP Kotobuki Literati that I entered in the new stock category of the Ausbonsai Literati Contest.
I was very happy to receive 2nd prize for this entry.
You can see it's earlier progress here
viewtopic.php?f=122&t=2623
This is the tree recently before Autumn needle plucking.
And after

I am finding this species of JBP has some great attributes for bonsai.

I got this pine in a group deal and probably should not have gone ahead with the deal when I found this one was on it's way out but my mate was in a pickle and I decided to go ahead with the deal. Some how with my limited experience I was able to return the tree to health.
Then after some guidance from Clinton Nesci in a workshop we had a plan to set forward with my plans for the tree.
You can some earlier progressions of this tree here
viewtopic.php?f=131&t=4145

When I went to Bonsai by the Harbour several years ago A guy showed us his results of growing JBP from seed. You can see more on this here.
viewtopic.php?f=104&t=2135

This is the seedling cutting he gave me. You can see lots of pictures of it in the linked thread but here is a picture of it at it's worst. Under nourished and inflicted with needle blight. If I had known what I was doing it would be further along than this but at least it is still alive and now thriving. It wil be due for another slip pot next year and then maybe it will be time to start gradually removing the sacrifice branches?

This guy inspired me to start growing Pine from seed. It is alot of fun but tends to take up alot of my bench space.

I now have several different techniques of growing pine from seed going. I wasn't game to try the seedling cutting technique in the first year. In fact the first year I was too scared to even transplant them from the seedling trays But over the next couple of years they got seperated the tap root removed and most also got the trunks wired and twisted into various shapes. How many different shapes are there to twist a pine seedling into
The next year I germinated a new batch and made a bunch of seedling cuttings. Not sure my results where very consistent but I am sure there are at least a few with a good spread of roots.
From here many have again been repotted. Some had the wire removed while others had the wire left on to be swallowed by the trunk. I also stagerd the techniques and some have had the tops chopped of and some haven't. I would like to chop the top of most now as it is getting quite tricky to find the pots to water amongst all the trunks of the small pots. I have lost a couple over the last few months presumably from them not getting waterd enough (missed water) I am meant to wait until At least early Winter but I have started to experiment and chop a couple now.
I am losing track of the years but I know that If I was better all these trees would be further on than they are.

I used the first lot to be repotted to try various mixes and got MANY fatalities in mixes that contained organics. The one that performed the best and has continued to do so is the one that was planted in akadama
This tree has a great little shape and taper I would like to grow bigger but don't want to lose the shape achieved. I will reduce the top over Winter and I think I will start to develope this tree.

Here is a selection of other seedlings I am growing.

Bretts wrote: You can some earlier progressions of this tree here

Said it before Bretts but will say it again. This will be a really nice tree if you get it right. No pressure though.

Here are another couple that are the same age as the first seedling, they survived but did not grow as well as in the akadama. The wire was also left for the trunk to swallow. I cut some of the top recently to try and stop thyem falling over
Lastly a couple of seedling cuttings that I desperately want to chop the tops off as soon as possible to make watering easier (it is also the long term plan ) I can either chop at the first worl of branches or below this leaving only weak buds and needles ? Obviosly only the bottom few centermeters of this trunk will be used but I can't cut it all off in one go withy pines
I do have a couple of these that I cut the top of last season which I think I should have done to all. I am happy where I am at but could get much better results if I followed the various techniques with more discipline. They should all be as big if not bigger than the first seedling shown in this thread.
I am looking forward to what happens with all these trees in the future in my hands or others.

bodhidharma wrote:

Bretts wrote: You can some earlier progressions of this tree here

Said it before Bretts but will say it again. This will be a really nice tree if you get it right. No pressure though.

What you don't like the others

Thanks for sharing Brett!! After reading your initial thread, I sourced a copy of Bonsai Today #12, and currently have 23 seedlings growing which I too was reluctant to chop and treat as cuttings. However I did sever the tap root and spread the remaining lateral roots and re-potted into 6cm pots with Diatomite/zeolite/pine bark. I have more seeds which I will be planting later this year, and I will definitely try the cutting method. I will continue to watch this thread with interest, keep up the great work

Any for sale???

Everything is for sale but some are priced to sell.
I would like to take them all a little further before I sell any but I am thinking of bringing a few various trees up to a club meeting to sell off so maybe my arm could be twisted.

You bring trees, and I'll give that bag of Akadama that I owe you