Atom#28's Little Christmas Tree Entry

[Atom#28]

Nice, looks like you grabbed three or four.

Yes sir. Three. I’m afraid 3 years may not be enough for this species, but fuck it!

#1: I’ll probably change the planting angle, push to the left and hopefully bury or disguise that big crossing root on the left. Chunky lil trunk and a bit of movement. Maybe chop above that right hand branch on the first pic?


#2another chunky monkey with a weird assed crossing root, but there’re a few potential fronts that would essentially hide/minimize the root. These needles are super long. Which is great for photosynthesis, but how the hell will I reduce these in only 3 years?! I won’t. But I still see potential,



#3. A little bit of crusty bark. Some nice, healthy, low branches, and a shimmy in the base. Also whorls, bar branches, and longish needles.....

 

[Atom#28]

How many entries can we have? Holy shit the addiction is real. Got a gift card and ended up buying this hinoki cypress for 50% off. #5 tree (“I HAD to buy it because 4’s an unlucky number”, said my addicted brain to my rational brain.)





is real. Got a gift card and ended up buying this hinoki cypress for 50% off

 

[PABonsai]

Austrian Black Pines on sale at WallyWorld. Do they make good bonsai? Hope so, cuz they’re on sale and I’m buyinView attachment 275394

Lucky duck.

 

[Atom#28]

Last entry. I promise. #6: Norfolk Island Pines were on clearance at Lowe’s. Extra Xmas glitter on top for no extra charge! Made a forest planting, not 100% happy with the arrangement, but it’s my first try. RIP? Prolly.

 

[Underdog]

That looks great! Wish them/you luck but I think your placement is very nice. Cheap practice if nothing else.
Love the Hinoki as well.

 

[canoeguide]

To my admittedly noob-ish eye, the placement here looks thoughtful. You've got a couple of double trunks that echo each other and convincing forced perspective overall. I hope this responds well and I'm excited to see how you eventually sort out the canopy. What's the recommended aftercare for this?

 

[Atom#28]

To my admittedly noob-ish eye, the placement here looks thoughtful. You've got a couple of double trunks that echo each other and convincing forced perspective overall. I hope this responds well and I'm excited to see how you eventually sort out the canopy. What's the recommended aftercare for this?

thank you very much! Planning a forest is tricky, and getting all the trees wired into the plan is even harder! Embarrassed to admit I still don’t know for sure what aftercare should be for these guys. I have them in a humid grow tent under 600w LED lights at about 75f.....

 

[Atom#28]

2 weeks later. Norfolk Island forest is still alive, but foliage is getting brown in places.

 

[Woocash]

Hanging on but not looking happy... Have you tried misting the foliage at all? I don't know if it would work to improve things, but the humidity may help. They took quite some punishment on the roots by the looks of things. I really hope they keep on keepin‘ on.

 

[Atom#28]

Hanging on but not looking happy... Have you tried misting the foliage at all? I don't know if it would work to improve things, but the humidity may help. They took quite some punishment on the roots by the looks of things. I really hope they keep on keepin‘ on.

yes sir, I mist them twice daily. Their bedroom is about 80% humidity and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Keeping the soil moist but not wet.

 

[canoeguide]

I mist them twice daily. Their bedroom is about 80% humidity and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Keeping the soil moist but not wet.

From what I've learned about this species, that's about all that you can do. How much root pruning did you do?

I don't know if it will help, but since these are tropicals I plan to repot mine in the summer.

 

[Atom#28]

How much root pruning did you do?

As little as I could. Fingers crossed, but it may be a dead forest...

 

[Carol 83]

As little as I could. Fingers crossed, but it may be a dead forest...

I stuck a $1 clearance aisle special in a pot a few years ago, out of winter boredom. I keep it at my office and water it once a week. It gets good sun from a southern window, but gets no special treatment. Hope your little forest recovers, I like it.

 

[Atom#28]

I stuck a $1 clearance aisle special in a pot a few years ago, out of winter boredom. I keep it at my office and water it once a week. It gets good sun from a southern window, but gets no special treatment. Hope your little forest recovers, I like it.

Do you think maybe I should reduce watering / let soil become a bit drier as I work on rehabilitating these trees? Any other advice?

 

[Carol 83]

Do you think maybe I should reduce watering / let soil become a bit drier as I work on rehabilitating these trees? Any other advice?

You're giving yours much better care than I do mine. When I planted mine, Grimmy's advice was "Only trim the top to keep from growing too tall. They do not easily back-bud on the older, lower branches, but if the top is kept in control you should not have alot of lower die-back as you would be letting light in". Here's mine, just something to amuse me.

 

[Woocash]

yes sir, I mist them twice daily. Their bedroom is about 80% humidity and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Keeping the soil moist but not wet.

Good man Fingers crossed they make it, it’s a nice little arrangement. They’re just starting to arrive in the odd garden centre or two here at ridiculous prices, but I hope to get one someday.

 

[coltranem]

Looks like there is a lot of algae building up on the soil. Is it getting too much water?

 

[Atom#28]

Looks like there is a lot of algae building up on the soil. Is it getting too much water?

The soil is damp. I have been misting the foliage BID, I wonder if maybe that's the cause of the algae? The grow tent is rather humid as well....should I be concerned?

 

[Atom#28]

Did some work on two of the pinus nigra. Early branch selections and some raffia+wire. It’s hard to get good pics that show the 3rd dimension, but I’m pretty happy with my attempt. The raffia was prob unnecessary but I wanted to try it out for fun.

#1 - A crazy spiral. (Holy moly these things are bendy!) I forgot to get pics after the other branches were wired. Straight trunk at the apex will be fixed next year. Or hacked off.



#2 got a more traditional treatment. I think. Branch placement was already there for an informal upright. Still took hours to apply raffia and wire and set the basic shape.



The working front for p. Nigra #2. Nebari is buried but i can feel some flare down there. I think.

 

[Atom#28]

View attachment 273886

DEAD DEAD DEAD

Amazingly, it retained a vibrant green color long into it's postmortem state. Embarrassed to admit, I may have watered it for weeks before realizing I was watering a desiccated corpse. BURN PILE!