AusBonsai

Hi Guys this a very juvenile pine that I would collect from the side of the road,look great with its clothes on but when stripped back for a look at its structure,wow wow wow hmm at best very dusty piece of material..lol,anyway as you will see a bit of time and patience and luck will pay off,when pulling this I looked for a tree that was in gravely,sandy or rocky ground knowing the roots would what we called be trapped,not far from trunk,meaning there will be lateral feeders just under the surface sifting the silt etc for nutrients and surface water and a long tap going straight down for moisture/water, really its life blood,so I was careful and basically got the lot.
After collect,plant at angle and bend top over,bend lower bar branch back(insurance for depth)sit on it for a year
Health good,have a bloody go at it,anyway I did have a plan ..lol,ready to compress
A bike tube,3x6mm wire applied and clamp to bottom trunk applied to slightly get off straight(naughty boy left clamp on too long,but it did the job)I would reply wire many times over the course(compress,break its spirit)
Funny story my panel beater mate put fibreglass in wound we knew it would fall out eventually but it look good at the time,just don't get him your tan body,missed half the tree mate.. lol the wound would heal beautifully so all good
happy with structure and depth
still healthy
bring down in container size,take good chunk tap root off,laterals very good
2014 new pot, tap root gone,flood pot for now
2015 candles are exploding,next year rake a bit of medium away see any more nabari there,anyway its on its way thanks for looking..cheers Anthony

Really like the progression mate. When did you take the first pic? I really must get out and get myself a couple of these to play with. We have pine plantations not far from me and there are literally thousands lining the roads, begging to be plucked up.

Thanks Graeme,first pic shows march 2009,the 5 & 6 pic just different view 3/9/2010 so moved pretty quick to that stage,rest the stages I just took my time(pretty cautious there)you could pick up time there but,remembering sat on for a good year to recover from dig just no root-ball as such,plus I did not hurry working on so many trees & other,so nearly six years from pic to now if that makes any sense..cheers

Hi graeme what technique did you use for this to get back budding?do you use the black pine technique or something else?and by the way great work!!

what a great progression
Nice result in not very many years.
I bet you wished you wired and bent it much more in the first photo?

Ken

Thanks Phil,yes the technique I used was black pine technique..cheers

Thank you Ken,the dint of the clamp put me off a bit,so the slow road was taken there , on,off rest,repeat( make sure no marking) but we got desired result in the end, my real wish a greedy one at that was a sacrifice branch ,but not to be,I did take to it with a stanley knife and hammer( make sure you go with the grain,don't want to ring bark it)got some character there from it,but did it add extra thickness I honestly don't know.But I know one thing Radiata are tough,this one any way, stabbed, abused with a hammer,cut its ding a ling off, held in chains(wire) and taken away from its original home and I keep cutting its birthday candles off ..now that's abuse and it still survives to love me..lol.. cheers mate

excellent tree. Its my favourite variety for bonsai especially if you collect then from the side of the road.

Thanks Brian,totally agree..cheers

Where are these located for yamadori purposes? I understand they are basically considered a pest and removal is encouraged, just don't know any good locations off the top of my head!

Hi truth there are a few spots,
On the highway between Sydney and Goulburn around the pine plantations, on the highway between Lithgow and Bathurst, basically anywhere you find large mature radiata's you should find some self down seedlings not to far away.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats awesome.

Little up date before after with its trim and shape(yesterday),now is the time to cut,blocking in quite nicely,needing a little more growth top front left and maybe a little on the left top side,getting there
Anthony
before cut
side view before cut
new cut(trim and shape)

I know where there are some of these growing on the side of the road near me, I was always a bit hesitant due to the large needles but this has inspired me to dig a couple up.

Nice work!

They are no bigger than any other type of pine in the wild generally,they respond well to reduction,just treat them like a black pine,you are 2 hrs north of me approx,the pine does well your climate..cheers

As Anthony said, there are literally thousands of perfect specimens growing along the side of the highway between brisbane and the sunshine coast. I have to make the time to scope a few out and get myself a beauty.