grafted pines

bonsaiTOM

Mame
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It is a commonly accepted practice to have Japanese White Pine grafted to Japanese Black Pine root stock. Now that I have one I have these questions.

#1 - what happened to the black pine that was cut off (the old top)? Was the grafting process done so early that the young 'top' was then rooted (layered?) and kept alive? Or just discarded? Speaking in generalities of course.

#2 - since the black pine (the roots) is less hardy than the white pine (the top) is the combined tree less hardy than a tree that is all white pine?

I'm in a cold zone and need to know how to treat my grafted tree. :confused:

Tom
 

Brian Van Fleet

Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
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It is a commonly accepted practice to have Japanese White Pine grafted to Japanese Black Pine root stock. Now that I have one I have these questions.

#1 - what happened to the black pine that was cut off (the old top)? Was the grafting process done so early that the young 'top' was then rooted (layered?) and kept alive? Or just discarded? Speaking in generalities of course.

#2 - since the black pine (the roots) is less hardy than the white pine (the top) is the combined tree less hardy than a tree that is all white pine?

I'm in a cold zone and need to know how to treat my grafted tree. :confused:

Tom

#1: You are correct, once the 5-needle pine (5NP) graft has taken, the stock's black pine foliage is reduced gradually and then removed completely. The scar heals over. Here is a photo of a strange 5NP where the black pine foliage obviously was not removed!

#2: Correct again. The black pine roots won't be any different in hardiness with a 5NP top grafted on. If you have black pines, winter your 5-needle pine the same way.

How about some pix? :D
 

bonsaiTOM

Mame
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Brian, Thanks for the helpful reply.
Your photo is, yes, a strange (weird) tree, like a Siamese something or other.
Our tree is newly purchased from New England Bonsai Gardens, pre bonsai, but nicely trained.
Sorry, no pics. I'm a virtual dinosaur. No camera, no cell phone. REALLY. :p
But I can peck away at this keyboard! :rolleyes:
:D
PS - we have a couple other JBP's and they are all rather new for us. We have been getting really good advice with them and took a workshop recently with Bernie Gastrich.
But wanted to check around here as well.
 
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BonsaiTom

White Pine are grafted onto Black Pine stock here in So Cal because White Pine by themselves can't take the heat, they need a sustained cold period (dormancy) to stay strong.

JC
 

bonsaiTOM

Mame
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Yeah I've heard that.
Other reasons too. Black pine having the dark craggly flakey bark with an older appearance with the neat short needled White combo. Compact and with bulk.
Hardy enough for upstate NY.
 

HotAction

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Tom, my JWP is grafted onto JBP, and it spends the winters in the garage with the tridents and the hornbeam. Worked fine for two years with the occasional snowball for water.

Dave
 
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