Tropical Climate with pines

[Dumper]

Hi.

not sure if this is the right place for this.
Basically my question is. Having pine bonsai in the tropics. good, bad, anything. please contribute.
I know there are people growing them in the tropics and reported that it is challenging.

http://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t5685 ... black-pine

[kcpoole]

I think that Japanese Black pine will do fine, I have seen many around the gold coast and some posted by people further north
But Red and White Pine I am not sure about.

Ken

[Dumper]

yeah.
but having a all round tropic year, will it makes the tree weaker?
or is it just because pine require winter to rest?

[AndrewM]

Gday Dumper

I have no trouble with JBP in Queensland I have not been growing them for long up here and there might be some one with more experience here to comment. But from what I have learnt they just don't go dormant like in the cooler climates.

[Graeme]

Dumper I tried, along with about 20 others, to grow JBP in Darwin. They did OK untill we planted them into Bonsai pots, during a weekend workshop with Mick Balsari. Not aware of any the survived unfortunately. There was one Red Pine that was mixed up in the order we got sent up which seemed to be growing OK when I left, but have no idea what is happended to it since. There is a variety of Pine which grows naturally in Bali, but I have no idea of it's name and it grows in the Mountain area up in the middle of the Island.

[Dumper]

yeah i've seen those pines in bali
long hairy looking needles. haha
ok. i guess im gonna give it a try and grow pine in the tropic next year.
i think i can get ounce of seeds easily there.

[Matthew]

my experiance with pines in rockhampton ( central queensland) for 3 years. starting from best performing to no hope.

japanese black pine. growth rate good seems to tolarate the humidity fine. have noticed buds aint as large as i have experiance here in ne vic with a COLD winter

dwarf black pine variaties all do well, soil mix is important up north

radiata pine. grows fine there are plantations just outside rockhampton.

japanese red pine. the one i had for 3 years started to go backwards and i put it done to humidity and a lack of winter. since been in vic without any other diffance in care it has looked ALOT better with plump buds

scotts pine. my mate got 2 seasons out of them before there dimise. i put it down to no proper winter

mugo pine same as the scotts

japanese white pine. Forget it it will only end in tears

[lindsay farr]

Papa Kaneshiri discusses Black pine in the tropics here
http://vimeo.com/3466073

[Dumper]

Noah

Thanks for that. Very useful information. those are experience that i need to know. so i can work further on them

[Dumper]

Lindsay

I'm going to take at look at the videos now

[Dumper]

Good video lindsay.

so what Papa Kaneshiri said is that jbp keeps on growing in hawaii. and hawaii is a tropic climate country.
interesting. Guess i will have to give it a go and try it out

[Tony Bebb]

Definitly focus on the JBP and Radiata. Both will give you great results. Really high humidity can be a problem, but you can preventively treat them with fongarid in the summer if concerned.

Tony

[lindsay farr]

Papa Kaneshoro is the name, not kaneshiri. typo

[Woody11]

I'm currently growing JBP up here in Townsville. They seem to be growing quite well. The lack of the traditional four seasons was something that concerned me initially but contacting folks in Hawaii who grow JBP without too many problems certainly gave me faith. I've got three more mature trees in larger training pots and ten seedlings I sprouted last year. They all seem to be growing well and I'm getting a good crop of candles developing right now reflecting the post-summer growth preiod you get up here. The only thing I have to look out for is the wet season up here which can easily lead to root rot. Keeping the trees out of excessive rain helps that as does making appropriate potting soil choices. Drainage is critical as always. Ample fertiliser also seems to strengthen the trees against diseases generally. i don't use chemical pesticides or fungicides.

One issue that needs to be considered is the issue of roots in shallow bonsai pots. They heat up quick in the strong tropical sun. Interestingly, I've found articles detailing JBP surviving 40 degree temps in Texas. These trees were in ground however and the author described that potted trees in the same climate sulked and died. This would suggest the importance of keeping the roots cool. Mulch certainly helps up here as does insulating the pots with styroform. Not pretty but who cares if your not exhibiting. Otherwise I position other surrounding trees to shade the roots of trayed trees. I think this is applicable to all plants.

I must say that when I moved up here the head of the local bonsai club was certainly discouraging as far as advice goes regarding JBP. But I suspect that was more to do with general mythology that goes with pine bonsai talking there. They
did admit there was one grower who grows beautiful JBP in Cairns which has a far more humid climate than Townsville but they couldn't elaborate beyond that.

All in all JBP does good up here and has a longer growing season. They do pause for a short Clancy's dormancy in July and the peak hot wet season. I guess an alternative to pines is Casuarina of which there are many fine examples in Hawaii and Indonesia which would rival pines elsewhere. Hell they are arguably tougher and quicker growing than JBP.

BTW I have seen comments regarding radiatas up here in Qld. Some cite the fact that there are plantarions of the stuff around the place. I'm personally not so sure these are radiatas. The DPI seems to indicate they are hybrids of carribean pine. Looking at these trees close up, they look and feel different to radiatas I've handled in NZ where they have a feral problem with radiatas. Ive also seen radiatas in northern NSW which look distinctively different to the plantation hybrids in Qld. There are radiatas growing around the place in Qld, but I'm not sure if they are always in plantations like some think they are. This may have consequences if your collecting - these hybrids may have a questionable value as bonsai unlike radiatas which has been tried and tested. Perhaps this could be why people disagree on other posts on here on what radiatas look like - perhaps they are actually comparing vastly different radiata clones if not pine species altogether.

[Dumper]

usefull info dude.
that helps heaps.
so in a way. repoting a pine in the tropics will occur on the long hot wet days? eg the monsoon season in south east asia?

john