Bosnian Pine

[Balbs]

Hi All, I picked up a Bosnian pine on deep discount at HD the other day, along with some Mugos. I was hoping for some advice on this one. I was hoping you could all weigh in on branch selection. Or, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyway, I’m very new, so I’m not sure where to go from here.

All I’ve done so far was remove some of the potting mix to expose the base, clean up some old dead branches and dead needles. I was happy to see some decent flare at the base.

 

[roberthu]

This is a nice pick! Got some movement in the trunk and the tree looks very healthy. Definitely a good start.

I'd keep it in this pot and not do anything besides watering and fertilizing. Get it as strong as possible and do a repot next spring to reduce the root ball so it can fit in a bonsai pot and recover for another year and then chop at the red line.

 

[Balbs]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[sorce]

Or, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.

Definitely.

First priority would be getting, or strengthening the interior buds you will use to shape.

If you cut off whole branches, you eliminate all that folaige that would've powered your interior strengthening.

You'd be left with just the branch you want to keep, but you would still have to cut IT back to the interior buds, which would leave you in the negative as far as energy production goes.

There is a great PreMirai Ryan Neil video on pine energy direction.

Sorce

 

[hinmo24t]

Hi All, I picked up a Bosnian pine on deep discount at HD the other day, along with some Mugos. I was hoping for some advice on this one. I was hoping you could all weigh in on branch selection. Or, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyway, I’m very new, so I’m not sure where to go from here.

All I’ve done so far was remove some of the potting mix to expose the base, clean up some old dead branches and dead needles. I was happy to see some decent flare at the base.

where abouts for Home Depot, which state?

they didnt have much last time i was there for pines.

does Lowes and HD and other places generally have fall sales?

my mom got a yellowtwig dogwood for me and hibiscus hardy brad for $5 and $10 i think at walmart recently, i
want to find some pine son sale though...

 

[Balbs]

@sorce thanks, I appreciate the thought. I’ll take a look for the Mirai video you’re talking about.
As far as strengthening interior branches/buds, will that happen naturally for a strong tree or is it something that I can facilitate? Also, I assume the goal is to create ramification closer to the trunk. Is that what you’re thinking about?

 

[Balbs]

where abouts for Home Depot, which state?

Bellingham, Massachusetts seems to have the best selection that I’ve seen.

 

[sorce]

facilitate

The video kinda explains how we can facilitate it.

ramification closer to the trunk.

This is an odd idea of it for me, since I consider ramification to continue all the way out away from the trunk.

"The first division", should be close to the trunk, or more appropriately, a proportionally correct distance from the trunk.

Sorce

 

[hinmo24t]

Bellingham, Massachusetts seems to have the best selection that I’ve seen.

and were from the same state...im close to RI, southcoast, MA...but thanks!!

 

[Balbs]

Thanks @sorce

 

[Paradox]

Bellingham, Massachusetts seems to have the best selection that I’ve seen.

If you have never been, you should check out New England Bonsai Gardens in Bellingham.
Very good place and people. I took a 2 year bonsai school with John Romano there.
Highly recomended. Wish I lived closer.

 

[Balbs]

I was there this weekend actually! Good place. Not a ton of pre-bonsai though.

 

[Balbs]

So I did some stuff! Chopped off the top.
Not sure about the jin. Feels aggressive but I can always take it back I guess. The middle section of the trunk is too long and straight. Any ideas? There are some buds/shoots along the trunk that hopefully will strengthen over time and maybe I can cut back to them. Same on the two lower branches. I think the first branch has to thicken and I should let it run. Both the first and second branches have some small shoots that I can eventually cut back to.

 

[Balbs]

2 year bonsai school

I’m enrolled! Took my first class last month. John is running the course, though he was not present for the class. I repotted a JWP and that’s about all we did for the day.

 

[LanceMac10]

I’m enrolled! Took my first class last month. John is running the course, though he was not present for the class. I repotted a JWP and that’s about all we did for the day.

Who led the class, Jun?

 

[Balbs]

No, a guy named Peter who works at NEB.

 

[LanceMac10]

Someone from Bonsai Outlet? Seems a bit of a letdown to sign up for a course with @John Romano and he's not a part of the presentation.

Do you feel that this initial introduction was worth it? Just curious.

 

[Balbs]

Yeah I was let down. It was also scheduled for about four hours, we repotted one tree and were sent on our way. Tip to tail about an hour and a half. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt that something came up and they had to pivot. But, no, so far that intro wasn’t worth it. I’ve gotten a lot more info and instruction here on Bnut. There wasn’t a lot of teaching, which is what I had hoped for, and how the course was described. I’m hoping the next class will be better.

 

[Balbs]

Here are my thoughts on the direction for the tree. What say you?

 

[Potawatomi13]

Cut back to second limb. Use small sprout near base of this as new apical growth. This gets rid of long boring straight trunk section.