AusBonsai

Anyone able to tell me what tree this is? And if it would be decent to bonsai? It stands a little over 6' tall and the trunk is about 70mm wide at the base.
It's at my work, so if it turns out to be decent for bonsai, then I'll ask if I can tax it, if not, would it be possible to air layer?

Hi Ma7t

looks like a radiata pine to me,are the needle in bunches of three?

Cheers Craig

Yep. That's Pinus Radiata or Monterey Pine.

Looks like a Slash Pine to me, but that could be because that's the only pine I know
What would be the difference between a Pinus Radiata (Monterey Pine) and a Pinus Elliottii (Slash Pine) ?

radiata pine (Pinus radiata) has relatively large asymmetrical cones (7-17 cm long) that are borne on short curved stalks. Its leaves are relatively short (8-15 cm long) and usually borne in groups of three (rarely in twos).
slash pine (Pinus elliottii ) has relatively large symmetrical cones (7-20 cm long) that are borne on short stalks. Its leaves are relatively long (15-30 cm long) and borne in groups of two or three (usually in twos).

Worth making a bonsai out of?

ma7t wrote:Worth making a bonsai out of?

Well you have to start somewhere...

The trunk looks just flexible enough to get some shape into it.
The needles might not reduce as much as for other typical bonsai pines species, but its worth giving it a try

I'm working with slash pines, and I know there are some other bonsaika out there who are doing awsome pieces with slash pine too.
4 years ago when I entered the bonsai community, most people where telling me that Slash pine is not a good bonsai material because of its long needles.
Since then I know that Dorothy Schmitz and Jay Wilson (have been) are creating bonsai with Slash Pine materials.
There must be others too, but those are the people I've manage to find.

I am not saying that you can make a bonsai out of any species or any material, but you can give it a try if you think you can handle it.
I see your favorite species are Japanese Maple & JBP. I'm treating my Slash pine as a JBP in terms of candle pruning, at least what I've managed to grasp out of the techniques I've managed to find. Maybe the Monterey Pine would accept that treatement too.

Hi,

Looks like a Radiata to me. I have one and to cut a long story short it was in a fairly old and in a large pot plant pot and about six foot tall. I had about 4 to six bricks on top of the pot to stop it blowing over in the wind and over a few years cut it back to a reasonable height and it turned out ok. It did have some basic structure to it. I'd bend it to get some movement in it and just be patient. It will take time.

Regards
Rudy

Just use the search function and you'll find lots of people working with radiata, and some pretty good pictures to boot. Starting from a larger tree like that is good for the trunk diameter, but may need lots of work (over lots of years) to develop good low branching and foliage, can't really tell from the photo. I haven't done anything with radiata, but if I could get my hands on one like that, I would have a go.