AusBonsai

Hi all,

I have what I thought to be a JBP seedling but its growth looks quite different from others I have. Maybe it’s something else? Any ideas?

Cheers






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The needles are strong and thick which is like JBP
Tips of candles are brown which is not really like JBP.
Looks like there is still quite a lot of juvenile foliage on that one.

What features make you suspicious?

It’s the tips of the candles that give me most pause for thought - they are brown and almost fern-like with hairs. The foliage around the candles is very fine and dense. This is a very young tree mind you, only two years. In the last image, all the growth on the left is this year’s new branches.


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I don’t have any JBP that look like that. Buds are very different to all of mine.
I do have P.sylvestris and to some extent P.densiflora that look similar… needles look pretty coarse though for the latter (discounting the juvenile growth).
I’m in the “not JBP” camp though based on those pics and my trees.

Because of the juvenile it’s a bit difficult, could be a Contorta pine or lodgepole pine or Pinus Sylvestris or variant of it.
This site has a pic with similar juvenile growth.

https://www.larchcottage.co.uk/product/ ... n-penguin/

Cheers
Kirky

There is also the possibility of a hybrid.
JBP and JRP are known to hybridise where trees grow close together. Way back when we could import seed there was a batch that had lots of apparently hybrid seedlings, seed probably collected from park trees where both species were growing.
Based on the needles and buds that would be my best guess.

Of course it could be another species entirely as Kirky has suggested.
Whatever it is it will still be a pine tree and will be just as good for bonsai. Keep growing and keep an eye on it as it matures.

Thanks for your advice Shibui, Kirky and Ryceman.

I’m now pretty sure it’s P. densiflora after doing some more research and finding similar images online, as below (from a scientific paper on P. densiflora needle development) and comparing to another red pine I have.



I am now questioning another young tree that I thought was P. densiflora but now not convinced at all


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I'm no expert but I have both JBP and JRP seedlings, in that 2nd photo it really looks like Japanese red pine seedlings - aka densiflora.