Klytus
Omono
Thanks for shearing?
Seems to me that members of this forum, for example, could make a list of what they want to know (e.g., can I decandle/defoliate?). Given these factors, a designed experiment could be defined to get good answers. Participants (probably by climate and/or region of the country) buy a few trees of the species and execute their experiment assignments. Everyone reports on their results, with pictures of the tree-progressions.
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Back to my original point: Might there be BNuts, each willing to buy 3 to 5 cheap trident maple saplings, say, that they will repot (by combing out the roots and planting in new soil or per a better definition by the participants) ca. 31 August 2013, say? They would report on how their saplings responded going into fall and again mid-season 2014. Might another group do likewise with Japanese maples, another with JBP, another with Ponderosa, another with blue spruce, another with a juniper cultivar, another with lodge poles, another with _____?
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I live in NY and have several and they do very well- extremely cold-hardy. My first concern is that you live in Zone 9 and not sure about how cold it gets in your area. They like it cold - and since they get the contorted shape from the wind, snow, etc. you can figure they like it very well. No problems with back budding at all - in fact you will find that as compared to many Pines (JBP, JWP, Ponderosa, JRP) they back bud the easiest. So no problems creating nice foliage pads/masses at all. With good sun and good pumice/lava mix - you get buds everywhere along the branches. Of course - they do not bud out on the trunk like a Pitch Pine. To me - they are most similar to a Scots Pine. My big concern for you (San Diego area ?) is how cold does it get and for how long.....good luck ...Tom
SoCal has a reputation of being one hot and sunny mother of a place to live in. Our daytime winters are usually in the 60s, but it does in fact get pretty cold here at night. Temperatures can drop as low as the mid 30s depending on where you live. In Escondido, it's a city located within a valley with lots of mountains surrounding us. Our winter months don't last very long. Usually around March is when the temperatures start to rise.I live in NY and have several and they do very well- extremely cold-hardy. My first concern is that you live in Zone 9 and not sure about how cold it gets in your area. They like it cold - and since they get the contorted shape from the wind, snow, etc. you can figure they like it very well. No problems with back budding at all - in fact you will find that as compared to many Pines (JBP, JWP, Ponderosa, JRP) they back bud the easiest. So no problems creating nice foliage pads/masses at all. With good sun and good pumice/lava mix - you get buds everywhere along the branches. Of course - they do not bud out on the trunk like a Pitch Pine. To me - they are most similar to a Scots Pine. My big concern for you (San Diego area ?) is how cold does it get and for how long.....good luck ...Tom
Dear Intriguedbybonsai,
... they prefer not to fertilize until well after bud set as they’ve found that fertilizing to early gives one too much lush growth.
Dear Intriguedbybonsai,
We have both Pinus contorta and Pinus contorta contorta up here in the PNW but our climate is much different than yours so I’d assume that the techniques might also be different. With care and fert the ones I have really back bud well and despite what Attila advised, I do remove the candle in the fall and get some great buds set up before our first frost hits. My mentors up here have been growing them for years and on their almost finished trees they prefer not to fertilize until well after bud set as they’ve found that fertilizing to early gives one too much lush growth.
I’m sure there must be other Californian’s out there that could provide you with proven methods for your specific area.
Good luck and I look forward to its progression.
Cheers Graham