Twin Trunk Black Pine

[Craig]

hi all, recently i've manage to find some really nice Black pines, this one has a base around 90mm and a height around 440mm. The idea will be to have the right tree (the shortest) with the most foliage and branches, and the left tree as the tallest with sparse foliage and jinned branches. Hopefully i'll be able to represent a point in this trees life where the secondary trunk is starting to take the place of the older taller trunk. I've wired and twisted the branches and it's starting to backbud nicely..comments always welcome,,,,, Regards Craig

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[lennard]

Love the lines of the two trunks!

It's going to be a stunner one day.

You mentioned the base is 90mm- where did you measure it?

Lennard

[Craig]

Cheers Lennard, i should of said the trunk is 50mm and what you cant see is i've since cleaned up the surface and exposed a nice fused rootspread, which is around 90mm. i'll repot in early spring and see what else lays beneath, Cheers Craig

[alpineart]

Hi Craig , i'm beginning to like JBP for their ease of back budding . This should make a very nice twin trunk . Personally i would re-pot it into a very large Bonsai pot or tray to allow root run and speed up the development .Ground growing would be ideal but i know a lot of members don't have the area to do this .I use big pots/trays or trainer boxes as trainer pots to guage the future outcome of the intended tree and to work the roots into a shallow dish/pot as early as possible , plus you cant rotate a tree in the ground .For many years i under potted my pines and largely restricted their development .The only advantage was needle reduction in a short period .Keep us updated on you progression .Cheers Alpineart.

[Scott Roxburgh]

There is definitely some potential there! I agree with Alpineart, this coming year I'd repot it into a large foam box and feed like crazy to get it into a really strong state for the next round of work. Next restyle, I would reduce the second trunk and pull it in closer to the main trunk. I'd also get some copper on it, you'd be amazed how much extra control you have using copper!

Since working with Boon http://bonsaiboon.com, I have also taken a real liking to JBP, they are one of the most responsive bonsai if you treat them right! Previously I have killed all JBP that I have had

I've had one now for a bit of time, and I think I've cracked its care! I dug it from the growing field, tied it into it's new pot (I think this has been one of the most vital changes to my treatment), and planted it in Boon mix (Akadama - Pumice based).

Its in a big pot with heaps of fertiliser in full hot sun and above all its not getting treated like a maple!

It has really pumped up the growth each time I added more fert.

I don't know whether you would be interested, but I have learnt a lot from these DVDs http://bonsaiboon.com/pages/shopping.html.

[Craig]

Thanks Alpine, and Scott, I'll definately pot into a nice size grow box this spring, I've been working with them for a while now, i have also killed a number of bought pines and collected pines, my biggest loss was a J red pine that i had for about 4 yrs ,not exactly sure what happened m,but was a real eye opener as far as pines are concerned. I thought i had learnt to care for them but realized i needed to apply myself alot more than i was..The mix i use now is 90% Akadama and 5% bonsai mix and 5% 4-5mm gravel, they love it, i water near on every day but should put them out into full sun, which i will do soon..I think i may need to look at bumping up my fert regime for pines aswell.
Thanks guys ,Regards Craig

[craigw60]

Hi Craig, you have had some good advice there. Pines are notoriously slow to thicken once they get into a bonsai pot. I have seen a lot of pines grown by some of the early Vic. growers which were put into a bonsai pot way to early and while the foliage pads have developed the trunks have hardly thickened at all after many years. I think its much better with pines to spend some years getting some weight into the trunk, if you can feed your tree heavily and encourage some back budding you might be able to establish some sacrifice branches and really grow the trunks on.
Craigw

[NathanM]

I'm no expert with pines, but my understanding, which is passed down from my teacher, is that you're best to repot in autumn, not spring.
I'll be repotting my pines late march, early april, but it might get cooler a bit sooner in your area.
Definitely a good looking pine though, I like where it's heading

[Craig]

Thanks Craig and Nathan for your input, I was definately thinking of potting soon, however the temps have been over 30 degrees now for something like 22 days in a row, so i'll play it by ear, otherwise i'll just do it in spring- might lose some growing time doing it in spring but better to be safe than sorry . Thanks guys, Craig

[dregs24]

the backdrop is a little distracting!

[Craig]

You mentioned the base is 90mm- where did you measure it?

Lennard

Lennard, a pic for size comparrison
Regards Craig

JBPtrunk1-march201101.jpg

[Matthew]

its got good bark and quite a nice nebari- 2 things i look for first in a pine. The differance of bark textures within the japanese black pine family is amazing. Im not sure whats happening to that side branch on the first right hand branch. almost in a knot if its to shorten the length so foliage is closer thats a reason but that will be distracting in time -no doubt about it better to wire the branches with mutiple bends like a snake to shorten or when the times right cut back hard to a bud/needles etc and see if you get some backbudding. cheers

[Craig]

Thanks Noah,the bark/nerabi is quite good, i have several JBP and i can see differences in the bark on most of them , i believe that comes from the different growing conditions; eg; sun direction, shade times, water, soil, probly even fertilizers. The right branch, i was wondering how far you can bend and twist young branches before they die back,i was fairly careful and ended up doing a loop, it wont be part of that branches final design,just an excersise in bending for my own benefit. Other branches have been wired and shaped more like you say.. Thanks again,,,,,Regards Craig

JBPtrunk2-march201101.jpg

[Matthew]

I'm no expert with pines, but my understanding, which is passed down from my teacher, is that you're best to repot in autumn, not spring.
I'll be repotting my pines late march, early april, but it might get cooler a bit sooner in your area.
Definitely a good looking pine though, I like where it's heading

Nathen its one of those things, some people repot in autumn i guess the only problem would be if a severe repot was done and a cold winter came through new root growth would be almost nonexsistant which may cause problems- having said that a mate who i learnt just about all my pine knowledge from repotted in the coldest month which was july on the south coast of nsw. If you in QLD with milder temps i think autumn would be no prob. i will repot here in spring as last winter it was hitting -5 without a worry. Be interested to see when other members do theres. Also maybe the health of the tree, age, last repot etc comes into consideration

[Craig]

Hi all,, Noah/Nathan, you have me very interested in repotting in Autumn ,is the reason Pines are repotted in Autumn ,that the tree has time to recover-put off new root growth before spring. This way it's ready for a full season of growing - opposed to needing to recover etc if repotted in spring,, eg; shortened growing season if potted in spring.
Thanks Noah and Nathan,,,,,,,,,,,Regards Craig