First post / Japanese Black Pine questions

casun

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Greetings Bonsainutters. Short time reader, first time poster. I found this JBP at a local southern California nursery for $22 and decided to take a chance on it. Approximately 17 billion ants had colonized the root ball. I was able to get the ants to vacate, but the roots were quite a mess - poor soil, ants, large air pockets, etc. I tried my best to aerate the rootball. I removed only the very bottom of the rootball, approximately 10-15% of the roots. Now it’s in a mix of lava, pumice, and akadama and will stay there, untouched for a year or two.

Question: There are two areas where the needle tips are brown/red. What is the cause and what, if anything, do you suggest I do?

Although I’ve been reading as much as possible and viewing as many videos as possible over the last couple of months, assume I know nothing about bonsai, because I know nothing about bonsai.

95F7E466-951F-4EF9-94C1-D681B08E558D.jpeg05E671F1-DC9D-43F2-A424-1AFCF9FF50B7.jpegF166603A-4DEB-4E51-AB72-B9FBC7D5A213.jpeg28358E53-A7AE-4D4E-A1F4-90F67E7EDE73.jpeg2CA7FC7A-04D6-45F1-9C08-40757FC00EC5.jpeg76C2A663-9429-48A8-AA32-9D270B477AA7.jpeg571293E6-8175-4610-9E6D-07ECB613CC40.jpegThank you for your assistance. Hopefully in the coming years I’ll be able to contribute to this forum in a meaningful way.
 

Brian Van Fleet

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Old needles (Interior) will fall off after 2 years. The tips that turned brown look like they were sprayed or burned by something. Probably nothing major, and while they won’t likely get worse, they won’t turn green again.
 

sorce

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Welcome to Crazy!

What do the buds look like on the yeller parts?
Compared to the green?

Sorce
 

casun

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Old needles (Interior) will fall off after 2 years. The tips that turned brown look like they were sprayed or burned by something. Probably nothing major, and while they won’t likely get worse, they won’t turn green again.
Thank you. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and do nothing for now.
 

casun

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Welcome to Crazy!

What do the buds look like on the yeller parts?
Compared to the green?

Sorce
Thanks. The buds on the yellow parts look the same as the buds on the green parts - terrible (dead?)

D3FABD85-D610-48A4-8A1C-C4C6E5ECEBDC.jpeg86268879-12F1-450B-B2BE-8603F09D7D8F.jpeg
 

sorce

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The top looks like a cut too, with the resulting shoot going up left. What's that bud look like?

It almost seems like there was an attempt to cut a problem away and it persisted.

No real worries, it would be good to check the buds are healthy. There are bud tip pests.

Sorce
 

casun

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Circled In red are this Spring‘s pollen cones. They appear at the base of the new growth extensions in the spring, and usually fall off. It looks like this Spring’s new growth was pruned off at some point (blue arrow)

I can’t tell if the new growth was pruned. The blue arrow was pointing to dry sap so maybe you’re right but I’d be surprised if the nursery pruned it and I haven’t pruned anything.
 

casun

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The top looks like a cut too, with the resulting shoot going up left. What's that bud look like?

It almost seems like there was an attempt to cut a problem away and it persisted.

No real worries, it would be good to check the buds are healthy. There are bud tip pests.

Sorce
The buds are very dry and look a little unhealthy to me, but I know next to nothing.

Thank you both for the help. Here are some additional photos.

7B537D5A-98DF-47FA-866B-BAB51C03E3E5.jpegE5CB3503-6FCB-41E5-9FF4-8E79F918E84B.jpegDA55C422-26A5-4B99-B94C-6F0A33E5EA4D.jpegA36D7E9E-9702-454F-B96A-5B0876F887D0.jpeg5A3BB9E1-4F64-43E4-822A-DD8F1205617F.jpeg12D969B4-EF27-44E8-8D95-13B15554BAD5.jpegB52775BF-A41F-477F-9DEE-FA155E1C7A26.jpeg4172268A-8261-4681-A19F-30AF39EBAF77.jpeg
 

sorce

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I don't know what to go looking for, but it seems there is something worthy of an investigation.

Sorce
 

Schmikah

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Greetings Bonsainutters. Short time reader, first time poster. I found this JBP at a local southern California nursery for $22 and decided to take a chance on it. Approximately 17 billion ants had colonized the root ball. I was able to get the ants to vacate, but the roots were quite a mess - poor soil, ants, large air pockets, etc. I tried my best to aerate the rootball. I removed only the very bottom of the rootball, approximately 10-15% of the roots. Now it’s in a mix of lava, pumice, and akadama and will stay there, untouched for a year or two.

Question: There are two areas where the needle tips are brown/red. What is the cause and what, if anything, do you suggest I do?

Although I’ve been reading as much as possible and viewing as many videos as possible over the last couple of months, assume I know nothing about bonsai, because I know nothing about bonsai.

View attachment 322683View attachment 322684View attachment 322685View attachment 322686View attachment 322687View attachment 322688View attachment 322689Thank you for your assistance. Hopefully in the coming years I’ll be able to contribute to this forum in a meaningful way.

Sorry to derail but I appreciate the 'Car Talk' and 'Coast to Coast AM' nod. You made me smile.
 

casun

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It definitely has some dead buds, showing in your photos, but a few are alive:
View attachment 323220
You’re right. Good eye! I’m hopeful that this tree will make it through the repotting and the upcoming week of 100+ degree heat, and be much healthier a year from now. The guy I bought it from said it was 7 or 8 years old. Based on the photos, is that age in the ballpark?
 

Brian Van Fleet

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You’re right. Good eye! I’m hopeful that this tree will make it through the repotting and the upcoming week of 100+ degree heat, and be much healthier a year from now. The guy I bought it from said it was 7 or 8 years old. Based on the photos, is that age in the ballpark?
Probably close.
 

casun

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Update: It’s been growing well for the last 18 months and looks much healthier than it did when I brought it home. However, 100% of the new growth appears to be pollen buds. Is this normal?

480A2C43-D8AB-47A9-BE72-7B27AEAF6DB2.jpeg
 

Brian Van Fleet

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Update: It’s been growing well for the last 18 months and looks much healthier than it did when I brought it home. However, 100% of the new growth appears to be pollen buds. Is this normal?
Yes, for this time of year. The new vegetative bud is the one circled in blue and will begin to grow shortly.
5650609D-8CEB-4FE4-8164-B65119E76885.jpeg
 

casun

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The tree continues to gain strength but I’m going to leave it mostly alone through the rest of this growing season. I say “mostly alone” because I did cut a couple of branches that were shading the lower interior since I plan to turn this into shohin. Thankfully, there is a lot of back-budding down low near the base.

The roots were a mess when I got this tree two years ago and I want to repot it into something more shallow, probably an Anderson flat. I also want to remove some of the branches that won’t be part of the final design, leaving the tallest apical branch as a sacrifice.

Should I:
A) Repot in the spring of 2023 then leave it alone for another couple of years before removing branches, leaving the apical branch as a sacrifice, or;
B) Remove unnecessary branches in 2023, leaving the apical branch as a sacrifice then report in spring of 2024.

All suggestions appreciated. Some new photos from today.

5C247B83-9AC0-46F0-BA49-44B5BCE3CA90.jpeg80EAB55C-2B89-4061-A502-D9A7CDEE910C.jpegD07613A2-2F69-4C40-B84D-E09B97B8065E.jpegDB957B8A-2B90-4792-B4E8-270FF9BCDE7B.jpeg

From the side:

C809C4D0-CBB2-40CA-A4FE-982A90C622B7.jpeg

From the back:

D2945A1C-8B31-405E-9550-7008B8830617.jpeg
 

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JeffS73

Shohin
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Nice! Just seen your thread for the first time, pleased to see a tree that you worried about now going in such a good direction. Well done.
 
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