AusBonsai

So after attending a meeting at my local club on the weekend and listening to LLK talk about nursery stock, I decided to head down to one of the bigger nurserys here in Canberra and see if I could find any decent material. I was looking for an allocasurina, but they didn't have any small ones and I don't know enough about their backbudding capability to get one of the large stock they had. So I wandered off into the conifers section to see if they had any spruce, which they did....for $220. So I kept walking and came across some pines. There were tonnes of JBP and JWP. Most were grafted and had very straight trunks. So after rummaging through their stock, which started at around $90, I found one that
1. wasn't straight up or down, and
2. was under $80. It looks pretty healthy and I had a scratch around in the soil and the roots are only a few mm under the soil and they spread radially. (The can was added for height reference, not because the tree was thirsty).
There is a nice curve in the trunk too, I'll have to decide where it can be chopped and a new leader started to get a bit more taper though. I'll take it to the next meeting (as I have been threatened with ex-communication if I don't bring a tree) and have some of the more experienced members have a gander. If they don't think it will make a decent bonsai, then I have a good place in the back yard for it!
comments more than welcome.

Sean

Good looking material there Sean! Pines are easier than people think! It's a bit difficult to give advice on what you have there, but pines bend like crazy, and that first branch looks interesting as a possible new leader if you feel you can do much with the top section.

Cheers,

Andrew

Looks like an excellent buy! I guess it's a JBP? Hope to see it soon.
If your work allows it, read the chapter on pines here: http://www.bonsai4me.com/species_guide.html

Lisa

Thanks Andrew, yeah I had to use my phone to take the pics so they aren't that great. I just thought I'd post up some pics of what I found.
Lisa, I'll bring it to the next CBS meeting. I still want to bring over my leptospermum to your place.

Perfect, Sean. Get Grant or Jim to help you with the pine at the CBS.
Looking forward to meeting your Leptospermum.

Lisa

Great mate!

Autumn is a great time to get trees, you get plenty of time to feed the tree prior to the major work next spring, and you can open it up to promote the back budding.

I'd be keen to take a look at it next meeting, (but even keener to see more pics online )

Thanks Scott,
I know you're the go-to guy when it comes to pines, so any help would be much appreciated.
I'll have some more time on Wed to take a few more pics. My little pines that I bought off you as seeds are coming along nicely too. I did need something to work on in the meantime though.

Here are a few more pics, but its hard with only a phone camera to get some good shots. I have been told that the graft will eventually disappear.

Hope this helps.

Sean.

Graft?? What of? The Japanese black pine only gets grafted when it is the stock for a cultivar or a Japanese white pine, as far as I know. Is there a label telling you what the main tree is? Hope it's not a Yatsabusa.

Lisa

Well I could be wrong but it looks like a graft. Might just be a bit of reverse taper.

With regards to grafts and black pines.
Most of the varieties of black pine in vic are grafted.
What is the problem with Yatsabusa?

Damian,
that depends where the stock came from. There are a lot of seed grown black pines in victoria.

True I was single mindedly thinking of Conifer Gardens stock.
I should have remembered that I have seed grown black pine in my collection
Then, god only knows what's in there sometimes

Thanks for that info Damian. I couldnt see anything on their website to say they were grafted when I was browsing it a few months ago. I dont have anything against grafted trees, but it should be advertised.

You have to trawl through their stock, the grafts (even though they can be corrected with time) were a bit of a deterrent. It took me a bit of time but I came away with a Kotobuki which is currently in the ground. I aim to layer a piece off this year to see how it will go without the graft.

I also stumbled across a Yatsabusa (hence my question about what is wrong with them?) late last year. It too is grafted but like the Kotobuki it is a good one.