Bristlecone pine?

[Colorado]

This dude “larchbud” from our club has a spectacular one:

 

[Bonsai Nut]

This dude “larchbud” from our club has a spectacular one:

I hope it survived. When I see an old pine collected from the wild and under-potted into a bonsai pot within "a few days" of collection, I fear the worse.

 

[Potawatomi13]

This was my first instinct as well. However both Ryan and Randy recommend potting in the smallest container you can get all the roots into even if that includes wrapping them around the inside of the pot. And qutie a few good Yamadori have very small root systems and that's also why there is very little foliage. Wonder how it looks 8 months later?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

This was my first instinct as well. However both Ryan and Randy recommend potting in the smallest container you can get all the roots into even if that includes wrapping them around the inside of the pot. And qutie a few good Yamadori have very small root systems and that's also why there is very little foliage. Wonder how it looks 8 months later?

Well at least he used a nice Sara Rayner pot

 

[Colorado]

I hope it survived. When I see an old pine collected from the wild and under-potted into a bonsai pot within "a few days" of collection, I fear the worse.

I have no idea, don’t know the guy personally. He has some pretty sweet trees, though!

 

[yashu]

I hope it survived. When I see an old pine collected from the wild and under-potted into a bonsai pot within "a few days" of collection, I fear the worse.

This was my thought ad well, can’t help but be concerned for such an amazing tree. And as far as what RN and RK say, I’m pretty sure that they recommend collected trees go into straight pumice which that isn’t and that the tree actually “fit” in the container which is suspect in this case due to the way the media is mounded up around the bottom of the tree. It seems like some of the roots may be above the rim of the pot. Personally I would go with a grow box built to the tree where you have the benefit of maximum drainage and more even wet/dry cycles. All that said… omg! That trunk!!! What a tree!!!!!

 

[IzzyG]

This dude “larchbud” from our club has a spectacular one:
View attachment 533297

I know Matt! The tree is doing well when i was talking to him most recently.

View attachment 533288

That’s Todd’s Bristlecone and is a sister to Ryan’s Bristlecone that they had carried up the mountain to style (it was one of the Mirai in the Wild projects).

I think Adam has one of the best Bristlecones around. This photo doesn’t translate well as far as how large of a size it is. It is definitely a powerful tree standing at around 30” or so high.



I’m a huge fan of Bristlecones and picked some raw ones last year. They’re still recovering but there’s some really beautiful specimens. Much like ponderosa pines, most of them are longer trees with foliage near the end(think bunjin style) and it’s pretty rare to find one of the more traditional wide base with gradual taper. These are some of the ones that I’m most excited about;

Watch Bristlecone 1 | Streamable

Watch "Bristlecone 1" on Streamable.

streamable.com

View attachment 533324

Watch Bristlecone 2 | Streamable

Watch "Bristlecone 2" on Streamable.

streamable.com

 

[Bonsai Forest]

I hope it survived. When I see an old pine collected from the wild and under-potted into a bonsai pot within "a few days" of collection, I fear the worse.

I thought the standard was 1-2 years recovery from the trauma and to rebuild health

 

[IzzyG]

I thought the standard was 1-2 years recovery from the trauma and to rebuild health

There’s nothing special about a Bonsai container if it’s the same size as the recovery box you’re going to use post collection. That particular tree didn’t have a large rootball when collected and fit into the Sara Rayner container as is. The only difference was the aggregate used (usually 100% pumice but I believe Matt used the APL mix) but if oxygen/water mix is properly maintained, it doesn’t matter as much. No additional work was performed on the tree but it has been recovering really well and is now 17 months post collection.

It’s definitely interesting to see how different collectors handle post collection. Randy Knight for example will minimize the rootball collected(and often immediately fit in a pretty small recovery box). The argument is that the tree is strongest/most vigorous at time of collection compared to post collection so it’s the ideal time to make such a large reduction. Alternative Richard Le maximizes the rootball and recovers them in really large containers.

 

[Bonsai Forest]

There’s nothing special about a Bonsai container if it’s the same size as the recovery box you’re going to use post collection. That particular tree didn’t have a large rootball when collected and fit into the Sara Rayner container as is. The only difference was the aggregate used (usually 100% pumice but I believe Matt used the APL mix) but if oxygen/water mix is properly maintained, it doesn’t matter as much. No additional work was performed on the tree but it has been recovering really well and is now 17 months post collection.

It’s definitely interesting to see how different collectors handle post collection. Randy Knight for example will minimize the rootball collected(and often immediately fit in a pretty small recovery box). The argument is that the tree is strongest/most vigorous at time of collection compared to post collection so it’s the ideal time to make such a large reduction. Alternative Richard Le maximizes the rootball and recovers them in really large containers.

Thank you for the insights into this!

 

[clem]

I think Adam has one of the best Bristlecones around. This photo doesn’t translate well as far as how large of a size it is. It is definitely a powerful tree standing at around 30” or so high.

View attachment 533327

wow it is an incredibly wild tree and your Bristlecones pines are amazing too .. this species makes me dream as much as the Japanese white pine

 

[Potawatomi13]

Many thanks to all adding Yamadori pictures and comment about keeping these most venerable and iconic of American trees