Pinus Envy by Flex Houvig

Flex lets us tag along as he takes us through the Jersey pine barrens and introduces some of the suitable east coast pines for bonsai cultivation

Wow, you must be a mind reader! I couldn't see the forest for the trees! As a new bonsai nut, I began to realize that my 3 acres held many potential projects. About 1/2 of it is "lawn" with various trees and shrubs of considerable age. What dawned on me was that 1/4 of my property is loaded with P. Viginiana seedlings of various sizes with quite a few aging adults. I was wondering how suitable for bonsai this specie would be. Life is good!

bonsapien wrote: I was wondering how suitable for bonsai this specie would be. Life is good!

Yes it is Tom! Years ago the author Flex Houvig introduced me to P. Virginiana and I have never looked back. Once containerized and given a rest they seem eager for bonsai cultivation. They throw buds like mad on new and old wood a like. They are very pliable so styling is quite easy providing you have a design in mind The only draw back that I can comment on is the bark. While very pleasing to the eye. It has a tendency to come off easily when the tree is worked. So caution would be advised when wrestling with a trunk.

"I was wondering how suitable for bonsai this specie would be."

Tom...Since you live in Seaville (South?) you are basically in the middle of "pine heaven"! Since you are close to the coast, you probably have lots of the "shore pine" P. Echinata around as well...these are easy to ID, as they are very twiggy (see the photo in my article), and lend themselves easily to bonsai. The P. Virginiana have longer needles which are twisted.
One caution.....the long-needled floppy pines you also have about are P. Strobus, a white pine. In my experience these do not make good bonsai subjects.

I would suggest getting to know your pines by digging a few (even this early), but carefully! Be sure to get a good rootball, and try this...go down to Lowes for one of those "plant baskets", which are basically highly perforated plastic pots (for pond plants)...they let in much greater amounts of oxygen, and allow maximum drainage. When you put the pine in one of these, put some medium grit, red lava rock, or medium Turface around the periphery of the rootball. This will help in forcing much smaller root hairs, which are so advantageous to good food absorption by the roots.
Let them go in full sun, and be sure to water when they start to dry, and watch, particularly now, so the soil does not dry out.
These pines grow slowly in poor soils, so when fertilized and watered, they grow like weeds...would be interested in seeing some pix!
Flex

My part of pine heaven is in northern Seaville. Anyway, after a walk outback and a closer look at my pines, I think the are P. Enchinata. This is based on bark plates, cones with a small "prickle", 2 to 3 needles to the bundle and most clearly, the color of the bark on young stems and branches.
So, as soon as I get some pond baskets, I gonna dig a couple and see how they do. I'll keep you posted as they progress. Thank for the help, Flex. I'm finding that tree identification can be tricky!

Tom

Tom...re tree ID...You are quite correct, particularly with Jersey pines. There are so many which look "almost" identical, that all the little details count, like the pointed scales on the buds that you noted.

But, that makes you a better horticultural knowledge base!

I clearly remember Colin Lewis asking me and another HoYoKu student, what a particular pine was in his nursery....and of course my first answer was wrong!

The key is not to know all the answers, but to know where to go to get the answers!

Don't forget to keep a record, preferably pix as well. You would be surprised how quickly your trees change, and the only way to know sometimes, is by the pix.

Good luck with your pines...take a break and go up to Red Sky for dinner, or into Brizzles in SIC for some buns!
Flex

Ah yes, Red Sky! And don't forget to BYOB!

Ok, so here's a question for the group. Let's say I have a field full of 2-4' Seedlings. I dig one carefully, leaving the rootball intact as much as possible. Then I......................

I dig one carefully, leaving the rootball intact as much as possible. Then I...................... Question

Fine dice it and use it as a garnish? ......Where you going with this Tom not sure what your asking

With regard to this thread I am most humbly sorry. The posts were getting off topic and so I decided to move the relevant posts to another thread. The discussion on grow boxes, pond baskets and the like made compelling reading and I wanted to make that exclusive. But my lack of expertise in the technical area led to all your valuable data been sent to cyberspace.

If someone could open a new thread in the Bull Pen regarding this topic please do so.

Thanks Ash