AusBonsai

Hi Guys,

I was lucky enough to grab a few JBP that looks about (3-4years) old for $10 a pop.
I gave them a quick repot as they where in small punnets and these where restricting growth.

So at this stage i am unsure if i should be

1. cutting back the long excessive growth
2. removing the branches that won't be part of the design
3. or just letting them grow grow grow
Any thoughts , ideas or advice would be appreciated on where to go from here the preference is to get a bit of maturity into them

Regards

Daniel

what I would do-------place some tough wire loosely along the trunk and give the trunks as much movement as you can without cracking them( put each branch on the outside of the bend) -put them into larger pots or in colanders in the ground -allow to grow for a couple of seasons with perhaps some minor tip pruning

Hi baddabing888 , mate i would put a wire on each of them starting by wiring tight all the way up the trunks on some half way on others . Place a bit of movement into the trunks and sit back for the rest of the season to let the wire bite in . Wire them differently as in some close and at different angles .

This wiring will work like a tourniquet and swelling will occur from the base up . Leave all the branches in place to aid the fattening and it doesn't have to be removed unless you want to , the bark will roll over in 1-2 seasons producing are swollen base which will be unique .Removing the wire can damage the bark hence the reason i have and will leave it on .
This is typical i have i have done . The triple wire clearly shows how the bottom doesn't form a complete ring to cut off the sap flow .Each of the 3 wires are shorter than each other so at the end of the day the groove will have a unique tapered spiral up the main trunk .

I have dozens of various pines undergoing this treatment , the ground growing young stock didn't perform as good as the pot grown material so all have been removed and potted up into 200-250mm pots .They were purchased in 75mm pots then started off their treatment in 100mm pots and have progressed over the seasons into larger pots .

Hope this helps .Cheers Alpineart

Wire them now and do not worry too much about them yet.
As alpine says, wire cutting in on JBP is not a problem and many times is good.

Ken

Hi Daniel,
Your trees look like they are very hungry. I'm sure they would benefit from a good feed. If you compare the colour of your trees to Alpine's, you will see how much greener Alpine's are.

Regards Ray

Thanks for all the replies sounds like a plan.!

They where in very small pots prior to the photos so they should be good for another year or so in the current ones.

I'm going to wire it up in the next few days and then give it a year or two to grow.

Yes they are certainly not as green as they could be when i have them sitting next to another one of my jbp
How soon after repotting can i begin to feed them?

Thanks again everyone for your help!

Hi Daniel,

All you should be doing at this stage is removing all of the dead and yellowing needles. Then water and feed the Pine until it show renewed vigor and health. After it is looking healthier then you can think about applying some Wire to the tree.

good luck

badabing888 wrote: How soon after repotting can i begin to feed them?

Hi Daniel,
For the moment I would only give them Seasol. Mix at the 25ml per 9litre. Once you start to see new health introduce liquid fertilizers. I use Powerfeed and Charlie Carp. I alternate between the two. When you see some nice green growth, you could then use some Seamungus.

Regards Ray

Thanks guys!

I'll grab some seasol in the next few days give it a feed and see where they are in the next few weeks / months!
i'm not in a massive rush and these are long term projects but i'd prefer to try do things the right way then the wrong way from the get go. As from all accounts with black pines you often only get 1 chance at it due to no back budding etc

As from all accounts with black pines you often only get 1 chance at it due to no back budding etc

That is my thought also Daniel. I'm surprised you have had so much advice but no-one has mentioned this. The early pines I grew got long and leggy and unusable so now prune all pines regularly. I think the one you have posted is at the crossroads. the older needles will soon drop and leave you with few buds on the branches therefore few options. I'd be cutting all shoots back to the lowest needles now to get some shoots started. New shoots can be allowed free growth for up to 2 years but this tree only has 2 yo shoots on it. time to prune - soon.

Cheers shibu,

thats what i assumed regarding the back budding thanks.
Looks like some chopping, some feed and letting them to settle and grow is in order!
Should be fun! worse case if i kill 1 or 2 they are only 10 bucks a plant! =o)

Hi Guys,

Sorry to bump the old thread.

So after a solid 5-6 weeks of seasol and feeding they have come back quite strongly and are looking much healthier with some strong new growth.

So my plan is to remove any locations where more then 2 branches are coming from the same location to avoid formation of whorls cut back leggy branches a bit shorted and applying some wire to the trunks.

Is this too aggressive in one go? or is it too late in the season? In general from what i've been told people cut shoots back short in late jan early feb in perth and i was going to wait till around this time.

any opinions would be great.

Daniel