AusBonsai

This is the tree:


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It is the air-layered portion of a black pine that has been discussed in Air layering a black pine.

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I wanted to bend it parallel to the ground, starting at the point of the lowest branches. Please see View 1 - 1.
I set out to do this on Sunday 05/July/2009 -- I did not succeed. It broke right at the point where I tried to
bend it. This process has been discussed in post When to do heartwood drilling on black pines?.

So I choped off the dead top, and repotted it on 06/September/2009. It has a lot of roots on one side. But not on the other.

I also wired the top branch to be a new leader, and wire the lower branch downward.

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This is it nearly a year later -- on the 22/May/2010:


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It has been in good health, and the growing had been vigorous. I did do some "heavy" cuttings during
the 2009 growing season. Notably, I chopped the top off to stimulate more branches -- and it responded
as I have anticipated, there are now five branches at the tip. Three will go, one will become the third
branch, one will be the new leader.

There two main secondary branches on the main lowest branch, I sort of let it grows unchecked. One of
the secondary branch became dominant. I have cut it off on the 22/May/2010. The remaining one is in
proprotion with the rest of the tree:


After cutting of one of the lowest branches

The length of the old trunk is about 26 cm. The overall height is about 45 cm.

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I am not planning the repot it this 2010 season. I am thinking of possibly doing some root grafting
using seedling black pines, and put it onto the ground in season 2011.

It is not much to look at right now, but I am very happy with the shape and the development of the
branches. With the knowledge and experiences I have of black pines, I believe this tree can be
turned into something presentable in the future -- however long that is!

Long time no see! great to have ya back viet. how are ya? good to see ya still hard at it!

I think Pup would call this making the best of an Oh bugger moment. Great rescue work!

Nice to see you back Daiviet, TheJBP is coming along nicely. I like it shorter like that.

Hi Antonio,

I have been visiting the not but signing in, it is good to see you there

I have moved most of my bonsai to my father. The house on mine's left has been
demolished. But now the planting season is about to start, so I am on it again.

Hi Greth,

I did actually plan for the fact that I might not be successfully in bending it.
Back up planning is always good

Hi bodhidharma,

Thank you for the message. I hope your martial art training is going well

Let's see how this pine turns out in a few years time.

Best regards.

It has been in this box since 06/09/2009, and it had been growing well. But since 04/2011 or so, I have noticed that the needles have been slowing turning yellow.

I hoped it would stop. I am confident that the roots cannot rot as there is no drainage problem. But it only got worse. I think the main new leader is dead!

So today, 14/06/2011, I changed it to another pot using larger growing particles -- my mix only has pine bark, diatomite, and a much smaller percentage of scoria. I also gave it a lot of Seasol liquid.

As I have predicted, the growing mix in the old box does not smell bad, I lifted the tree up without losing any roots, just some gentle pokings with a chopstick and the soil fell off. I can see a few smaller new roots, as expected this time of year (I guess.) Overall, the roots did appear to be healthy.

-- I am at loss. I did lose a black pine before due to drainge problem. But I could not figure out what was wrong with this tree.

The only thing that came to mind was early in the Summer, I fed it a rather heavy portion of dynamic lifter, they have since disolved into the soil. Might be this was a side effect of that?

I really do hope this pine would survive!

I Use Diatomite for my pines but do not use Dynamic lifter
Neutrog Sudden impact for roses or at the moment have Seamungus
Both seem much milder than the DL

I would make sure you do not fert again till spring, as the new roots indicate new growth you mak be OK

Hope it survives

Ken

Hi Ken,

You are right, in these instances we should not feed till there are sure signs of lives.

It has been 5 weeks since the changed of soil, the yellowing of needles seems to stop or at least on the not so yellow area. I still remain hopeful that it will survive.

These two photos were taken today -- 23/07/2011.


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Yellow needles

-- The wirings were carried just about the beginning of June 2011.

It appears that this pine has survived and flourished well. The following photos were taken on 19/02/2012:


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View 4 - top

On the 16/09/2011, two months after slip-potted, it showed sign of recovery rather vigorously, so I chopped the top, and part of the two lower branches. They put out more branches. During the last few months, I had done some more minor trimmings etc. I have not touched it since the beginning of the year. There are a few more young branches that I want to trim off; but that just has to wait.

Its vigorousness after recovery was a surprise to me. I feel lucky. And I am happy with the ramification at this stage. But its still remains that the roots are one-sided. I have not had my chance to do root graft yet.

-- This tree behaves strangely.

Since February 2012, my last post, I was optimistic how well it was going. But it slowly deteriorates. I just do not get it. I was and still am confident on the mix that I use. I am very sure that there was no drainage problem. I did not overfeed it. But needles just kept getting yellower. I just left it where it was.

I have given it for gone. So, today I thought I would just check the roots, but I was fully prepared for a repot regardless. These photos were taken today 05/08/2012:


View 5 - whole tree


View 5 - needles

-- The top branch, or the leader, I think is dead already! This is not the colour of a healthy pine. But look at the roots:


View 5 - roots 1


View 5 - roots 2

The roots of a healthy pine!

The particle of the mix is about 5 to 6 mm, consists of red scoria (20%), pine bark (20%) and diatomite (60%).

-- That is why I do not get it. Why do the needles keep dying?

So I carried out a formal repot with minimum roots disturbances. I did have a chance to cut down the dead trunk under the roots surface, therefore reduce the height of the root ball quite significantly.

I put it into a large orchid pot: a lot of drainage holes. I plan another formal repot next Winter -- if it lives till then!

For a start: congratulations on getting your airlayer this far!!
I wonder if, now that it has roots, it would benefit from a more acidic soil. Of course you don't want to upset the pine again by changing its soil, but you could (I think) start giving it a reduced dose of trace elements in a weak Seasol solution, especially chelated iron. Anyway, let's see what others think.

Lisa

Hey Viet how are you good to see it still wants to live. I have some jbp that behave this way. I am starting to wonder if the mix is to open ??? Does the diatamite get to hot in the sun ??? Because when i put these trees in shade, they look better for it... The other issue is that when the tree gets to this weakened state, disease attacks occur. Mine is the black sooty stuff and white dandruff on the candles and at the base of the needles. It goes away in summer and then shows up in winter. Two things i am changing in my garden as we speak. 1) is a more closed mix for all conifers, ( On reccomendation from Ba Loc ) still fast draing but far smaller particles. 2-5mm pumice/succulent mix (sandy loamy mix). 2) Recently in a conversation with Peter W he said to me Confidor is your best friend every 3 weeks. Now i havent used pesticides in my garden for years, thats about to change they will introduced in a frequent and systemised manner. need or not. I will do this as dilligently as i fertalise. No more leaving things to chance. Sorry bout the rant hope this adds to your thoughts.

Good evening Lisa,

Thank you for reading and commenting. Making soil a bit more acidic has not ocurred to me, but now that you have recommended, I will do a bit more reading on it. I do use weak Seasol after repotting every week for the first four (4) weeks or so.

Best regards.

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Good evening Antonio,

Thank you for the info Antonio. It does sound like you have gone through a major rethink on several issues.

I must admit diatamite getting hot never occured to me before; it was still well last February, twice in two years, it seems to get worse starting April and onward. During the last two Summers, I did keep it under shade.

I am lucky to not have any needles problems. I did have previously, something just ate needles right off, but not on this tree.

The first few years in my care, this tree did not display this behaviour. For some reasons, the issue of drainage still stick in my mind, might be the bottom roots (old ones) blocked all the holes? The orange pot has no feet, that added more problems? I will keep close eyes on this tree during this season, see how it goes. If I have a chance to repot it again, I will use smaller particles too, I do think I was a bit panic when applying the larger ones.

Best regards.

I like

I have just taken these photos -- 23/May/2013:


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I think it had done well since last photos on 05/August/2012. I will do cleaning on it soon. But might be I will not repot as planned...