Collected Virginia Pine
- Thread starter ohiogrown
- Start date
GGB
Masterpiece
So jealous, it's pretty lush. Like most pines they love being real dry. They appreciate some calcium in the soil (apparently). Super awesome native that will double flush and reduce needle size down to 1/4"
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
Depends completely on how much roots you got with it. Not easy to collect, at least around here in Va. They grow in very poor clay soil. Root systems are very spread out and typically bare root themselves when you dig them up, which doesn't help.
Potawatomi13
Imperial Masterpiece
Wires_Guy_wires
Imperial Masterpiece
What helped me with some bare rooted young pines, was adding a few tablespoons of honey on top of the soil. I added auxins to it, but that's not needed in most cases.
Mycorrhizae grew crazy fast, filled the pot in a week or so.
The one pine that got that treatment from the start, was collected the latest and was the first to start extending buds. If it skipped a beat, I must have missed it.
I might have just chosen the best subjects, and it might be my own bias, but it can't do any harm to add some honey, I feel like it worked. The untreated pines did way worse.
Not sure if that helps, but I'll be repeating that treatment for everything I collect from now on.
Mycorrhizae grew crazy fast, filled the pot in a week or so.
The one pine that got that treatment from the start, was collected the latest and was the first to start extending buds. If it skipped a beat, I must have missed it.
I might have just chosen the best subjects, and it might be my own bias, but it can't do any harm to add some honey, I feel like it worked. The untreated pines did way worse.
Not sure if that helps, but I'll be repeating that treatment for everything I collect from now on.
Potawatomi13
Imperial Masterpiece
Be prepared for ants and yellowjackets. Remember some ants bring aphids and scales as their farmed animals
.Wires_Guy_wires
Imperial Masterpiece
Ants over here are harmless, the aphids over here don't affect pines, scale isn't transferred (or farmed) by the species of ants we have around here. God, sometimes I love Europe.
Wasps could be a problem, but then again, they like to eat stuff that's portable. Akadama with honey isn't that portable. It's halfway in the spring here, and most of the wasps are just building their nests and numbers now. Usually they become only problematic in the summer and fall. They're predators as well, and I've seen them clean my plants of bugs (especially caterpillars) more than once. So luring them in can work both ways.
But from what I see is that most of the honey is being eaten by fungi within a week or so. The filaments make a good structure in that time and because honey is so nicely dispersed in water, my containers are fully "inoculated" in 2 weeks.
I'm putting together a document to show how fast the rhizobiome can grow when fed more-or-less correctly. As a matter of fact, I'm at day 3 of observations and to my own surprise, most petri-dishes have been overgrown by pine-root micro-organisms.
Wasps could be a problem, but then again, they like to eat stuff that's portable. Akadama with honey isn't that portable. It's halfway in the spring here, and most of the wasps are just building their nests and numbers now. Usually they become only problematic in the summer and fall. They're predators as well, and I've seen them clean my plants of bugs (especially caterpillars) more than once. So luring them in can work both ways.
But from what I see is that most of the honey is being eaten by fungi within a week or so. The filaments make a good structure in that time and because honey is so nicely dispersed in water, my containers are fully "inoculated" in 2 weeks.
I'm putting together a document to show how fast the rhizobiome can grow when fed more-or-less correctly. As a matter of fact, I'm at day 3 of observations and to my own surprise, most petri-dishes have been overgrown by pine-root micro-organisms.
GGB
Masterpiece
Of those pests mentioned none will affect pine. I can go snap a pic of 40 Virginia oines currently ailing in wet soil. That Pottawatomie guy seems like he just comes on here to tell people they're incorrect. Yellow jackets will not harm your pine trees in the USA either same with the others
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
BTW, if you start seeing reddish color on the foliage in the coming days, the tree is toast. These will "live" for a few days to a week if you've removed significant roots, then almost over night turn red and die.
DO NOT ADD HONEY to the soil. That's a pretty silly thing to do which isn't going to buy you anything other than a mess and probably vermin--raccoons LOVE honey, as do possum--both could start digging around in the soil and knock the tree over/disturb the soil, etc.
DO NOT ADD HONEY to the soil. That's a pretty silly thing to do which isn't going to buy you anything other than a mess and probably vermin--raccoons LOVE honey, as do possum--both could start digging around in the soil and knock the tree over/disturb the soil, etc.
jeanluc83
Omono
Here is some interesting info on Virginia pine:
Virginia Pine
Of interest is this passage here:
Out of curiosity, how many Virginia Pines do you have growing in Oregon?
Virginia Pine
Of interest is this passage here:
Out of curiosity, how many Virginia Pines do you have growing in Oregon?
I just want to thank everyone for their suggestions. I'm taking all things Into consideration. I guess I wont get too attached to the tree because we all know what could happen and probably will. This tree was growing next to my grampas shop that he is building on to so regardless it was going to get taken out. I'm going to try my best with it and we will see what happens from there. It's my understanding that these trees have been successfully used in bonsai. Also here in ohio your only other choice is white pine. They say pitch pine (pinus rigida) are here too but I'm yet to find any. Not at least from Columbus,ohio to Wheeling ,west Virginia as I'm often everywhere in between. I'm just really looking for something decent to learn to work pines that dont break the bank. I would love to learn to keep these Virginia pines alive!
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rockm
Spuds Moyogi
That description of growing in poor soils is spot on. That makes it hard to collect successfully. Here in Va. it tends to grow in red clay soil with roots only in the top few inches. Those roots can spread 25 feet before there are any feeders. Poor soil can mean extremely poor roots for bonsai purposes...
That makes perfect since from digging it. Big ass tap root with not a ton of feeder roots. It was in a ton of clay. Yeah I'm loosing hope.
GGB
Masterpiece
Shame, it's really hard to find em with trunks like that, at the height. at leat anywhere near me
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
First tree, or one of the first, I ever collected was a spectacular Va. pine. Had three inch diameter trunk that twisted 360 degrees within the first three feet of the trunk. Had shari on it too.
Saw it at the end of an old railroad access road. It was growing in red clay dirt.
Started digging it intending to get a lot of roots. As I dug, found roots only had feeders ten feet out. One major root stretched 20 feet before any feeders. I thought I might be able to coil some of those shorter roots up to get them in a pot along with some of the soil. Lifted the tree ALL the soil fell off of the roots all at once. Took the tree anyway. Planted it in regular bonsai soil and a larger container. Tree stayed green for a week or so, then the foliage started turning red at the ends of needles. Within two days, the trees was almost fire engine red with dead foliage. Needless to say, it was a goner.
Nice trunk though.
That taught me that if you don't have experience with how a particular species is going to react to collection, or don't have much collecting experience, that digging the tree NEXT to your awesome find is a better way to go to get experience....
"That taught me that if you don't have experience with how a particular species is going to react to collection, or don't have much collecting experience, that digging the tree NEXT to your awesome find is a better way to go to get experience...."
Yeah I think I've learned the same. I've had great luck with deciduous trees and white pines. But I always see awesome Virginia pines in the landscape and I'd love to have a nice one. Maybe seeds are the way to go. But then again waiting 30 years is a hard thing to do.
Yeah I think I've learned the same. I've had great luck with deciduous trees and white pines. But I always see awesome Virginia pines in the landscape and I'd love to have a nice one. Maybe seeds are the way to go. But then again waiting 30 years is a hard thing to do.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
You will find some folks have been successful at collecting the species. I have a feeling it all depends on local collection conditions. The species can be found in a variety of soils and apparently is diggable in some of those.
GGB
Masterpiece
Hey Ohio, I don't know how old you are (because my way takes time) but it is real easy to collect young pines at the right time of year. I bare root stuff 1-3 years old with great success. Old pines are really tricky, only tried once but it ended in failure. but if you lift a few young ones you can get a better idea of a species, like when to repot or what to look for if you want to collect an older one, all the while you're building up some nice stuff to keep or sell on ebay or whatever. I'm lucky in that I like the literati style when it comes to pine trees so I can actually get to an okay trunk girth in a lifetime
