Cork pines - it's all about the bark!

[Walter Pall]

Any guess why that happens?
Irene

Sure,

this is not a natural species it is a variety, an accident of nature. It would not survive under normal circumstances because it is weak, like most garden varieties. There is a reason why they are grafted which makes them even more grotesque. They find it very difficult to survive on their own roots. They are just weak plants. Therefore they tend to be kind of sick usually and die easily.
You can tell that they are not my favorites.

 

[irene_b]

Sure,

this is not a natural species it is a variety, an accident of nature. It would not survive under normal circumstances because it is weak, like most garden varieties. There is a reason why they are grafted which makes them even more grotesque. They find it very difficult to survive on their own roots. They are just weak plants. Therefore they tend to be kind of sick usually and die easily.
You can tell that they are not my favorites.

Are not other trees accidents or grafted and still survive?
Irene

 

[Hans van Meer]

Sure,

this is not a natural species it is a variety, an accident of nature. It would not survive under normal circumstances because it is weak, like most garden varieties. There is a reason why they are grafted which makes them even more grotesque. They find it very difficult to survive on their own roots. They are just weak plants. Therefore they tend to be kind of sick usually and die easily.
You can tell that they are not my favorites.

NOOoooow, are you kidding, .... Where?
Hans van Meer.

 

[greerhw]

Hans, you facetious rascal,you !

Harry

 

[fredtruck]

This is my hachi-gen nishiki. It was grown from a cutting. It is 10 years old, and just beginning to cork. It is very vigorous. Every year, I have to thin the shoots at least once.

 

[Graydon]

this is not a natural species it is a variety, an accident of nature.

Yep - you would be correct to a point. But at some point it did "naturally" occur otherwise it would not be here. Species would be Pinus thnbergii. The cultivar would be "mi nishiki" (or other... fill in the blank)

It would not survive under normal circumstances because it is weak, like most garden varieties.

I don't see any basis for this statement. Again, somewhere in Japan the parent tree "happened". Unless someone can show me proof of it's demise we can only assume it's still around.

There is a reason why they are grafted which makes them even more grotesque. They find it very difficult to survive on their own roots.

The reason they are grafted is that there is no sexual way for them to reproduce (as in they do not come true from seed - same with many other cultivars in species such as Japanese maple). Asexual reproduction is the only way for it to happen.

I can't say that they do or do not survive on their own roots as I do not have enough years with them. There are people out there (here in the USA) that swear they actually do better on their own roots and have trees to prove it. I assume that most examples we see are grafted because grafting is easier and more common place - nearly the same situation with Japanese maples.

They are just weak plants. Therefore they tend to be kind of sick usually and die easily.

I don't agree. I am sure you formed this opinion from many years of working with them. I have yet to lose one and I can be pretty rough on pines.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

New to the forum...greetings all...
LOVE the bark on those trees! Definitely a novelty and I wouldn't need an entire collection of them...I'd be afraid to move them around. I have a couple that I aquired: A Hachi Gen, cutting grown from Evergreen

and a Kyokko Yatsabusa from Gregory Beach Bonsai...

both are young and just starting to bark up. The KY is 36" tall.
at: www.nebaribonsai.com

 

[greerhw]

Here's a picture taken by a friend in Japan, even branches die there for no apparent reason.

Harry

 

[JasonG]

Here's a picture taken by a friend in Japan, even branches die there for no apparent reason.

Harry

I know what you are saying, at OB we have a couple very nice old corkbarks that one of them just lost a branch for no reason.... This is a very common thing for corkbarks. Like you and Walter have said, they are a weak tree.

Jason

 

[Chris Johnston]

This is my hachi-gen nishiki. It was grown from a cutting. It is 10 years old, and just beginning to cork. It is very vigorous. Every year, I have to thin the shoots at least once.

Fred,
Do you candle your tree? Candling every year is not indicated on these trees, so your thinning process may also be the reason it's slower to cork. I let my candles go every other year, one year for leaves, one year for cork.

These two photos are 18 months apart. I did not candle this summer. I know the graft is high on this one, I am steeling myself to try to air layer it.

 

[fredtruck]

No, I don't candle every year, but if I don't eliminate new shoots in the middle of branches, it will get so congested that no light will get in at all. Brent has said in his catalog that this particular cultivar is slow to cork. I think it's just following the pattern. He said that mature bark appears at about 15 years. That's still 5 years away. Thanks for asking.