Eastern White Pine

augustine

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Guys, I’ve not been on the site for quite a while. Did I miss something concerning training EWP as bonsai?

the reason I ask is a discussion on Mirai Assymetry with person that owns Driftwood Bonsai in which they briefly mention that EWP is available. Driftwood does offer EWP.

Is the species now being used?
 

mwar15

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I think it could be used if it would grow in your area. I have helped dig out a lot of the EWP at Driftwood wood and are impressive in person. EWP Is used a lot in the nursery trade as the rootstock for a lot of other white pine cultivars.
 

Potawatomi13

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If listening to Ryan instead of negative know it alls🤪on here personal knowledge will be much better served. Why even ask here? Who IS the Bonsai Master?
 

Underdog

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@vancehanna has a spectacular one I can't find the thread for. I have a humble little one in training for 5 yrs and still learning about how to deal with it.
 

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0soyoung

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I have a couple of EWP, a 'minima' and a standard EWP that I call 'strobus stick'.
Every pine bonsai technique can be successfully applied to them including JBP decandling --> needle lengths can be dramatically reduced, though it takes a little time and effort to figure out the timing for your climate. Otherwise, they are very similar to JWP.
 

hinmo24t

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My EWP,"Blue Shag". They don't lend themselves to bonsai very well, but I didn't tell it!!View attachment 388987
i saw very similar at nursery and almost got one but it looked grafted to me which surprised me since they grow everywhere around. yours looks nice. the ones i saw had green pinecones on them
 

Underdog

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I have a couple of EWP, a 'minima' and a standard EWP that I call 'strobus stick'.
Every pine bonsai technique can be successfully applied to them including JBP decandling --> needle lengths can be dramatically reduced, though it takes a little time and effort to figure out the timing for your climate. Otherwise, they are very similar to JWP.
I cut these by about half for the first time mid May just to see what happens.
 

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Dav4

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If listening to Ryan instead of negative know it alls🤪on here personal knowledge will be much better served. Why even ask here? Who IS the Bonsai Master?
Have you ever grown EWP? Fwiw, I have. The 2 biggest issues with the species will be the needle length and the bark. Well, those and the relative rarity of a trunk with character. I'm pretty sure you can decrease needle size and internode length a bit with proper energy balancing technique, but finding a good trunk with aged bark will be exceedingly difficult, though worth working with if acquired. I had one dug from a farm in ME that I sold before moving to GA. Estimated between 10-15 years of age, It had a fat (4 inch wide) and decently tapered trunk due to several chops with smooth "juvenile" bark without any plating and small, thin branches with 5 inch long twisty blue needles. The only decent feature was the trunk so it didn't make the move south. I think attempting to grow out young nursery material, or even the typical volunteers I remember seeing in the woods in MA will inevitably lead to a lot of time and effort invested with little to show.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I'm with @Dav4 been growing EWP for over 30 years. It's a crap tree to work with. IF you find a decent trunk, okay, go ahead and work on it. But in the same time I put into EWP, a MUCH better tree could be created from a seedling JBP, JWP , mugo, or pinus sylvestris. Put your learning effort into proven species. Only work EWP if you are willing to be disappointed. Generally, they are not worth the time.

The Vance Hanna EWP is great, but it took Vance 45 years to get those results. If Vance had put the same effort into a JWP by 25 years he would have been winning medals with it.

So yes, in theory EWP can become bonsai, in practice, for most they will be a disappointment.
 

Bonsai Nut

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I think generic Eastern White Pine is still difficult material... but there are now a TON of cultivars out there with more suitable characteristics. However I have only seen them in nurseries here and have not worked with them.
 

Underdog

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I for sure agree with Leo and Dave. Mine was a volunteer plucked out of the flower bed at my camp site when I was starting this hobby. My fire pit is ringed with mature 35-45 ftrs so this was grabbed out of the ground and tossed in a pot to add to my tree count. Likely not worth the effort but I haven't invested much of that aside from some wiring practice and a 2 dollar pond basket:) Never saw one worth collecting otherwise.
 

Nybonsai12

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there are good examples out there but there are just so many better species of pine to work with. If you have time and patience I suppose you could make something of one of em. I’m at the point where I want to care for far less trees with far more potential. I'm over tinkering just to tinker nowadays.

And yes I Had one. Sold it. Don’t miss it. Thread below.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/eastern-white-pine.13002/
 

vancehanna

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I'm with @Dav4 been growing EWP for over 30 years. It's a crap tree to work with. IF you find a decent trunk, okay, go ahead and work on it. But in the same time I put into EWP, a MUCH better tree could be created from a seedling JBP, JWP , mugo, or pinus sylvestris. Put your learning effort into proven species. Only work EWP if you are willing to be disappointed. Generally, they are not worth the time.

The Vance Hanna EWP is great, but it took Vance 45 years to get those results. If Vance had put the same effort into a JWP by 25 years he would have been winning medals with it.

So yes, in theory EWP can become bonsai, in practice, for most they will be a disappointment.
I also have JBP’s from that era as seedlings…. They are equally beautiful …
Here’s my girl Michigami as she was accepted into this year’s National Exhibition but the costs to get her there are keeping her home. Maybe the next one in a
Few years I’ll drive her there in a Winstream …
Since she’s staying home here in CA I have not detail wired or plucked old needles (which I’d be doing as I write this).
 

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PA_Penjing

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Jim Doyle recently showed me a picture of one he collected and styled then donated to .. ? the Kennet collection? .. I forget but it's in some book. It looked great. Something I learned this summer is that EWP and ERC are fairly widely and successfully used by the clubs near me. I think it's mostly a Bnut hate train. They obviously aren't the best material on earth (either of them) but a talented artist can make use with a good specimen
 

hinmo24t

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Jim Doyle recently showed me a picture of one he collected and styled then donated to .. ? the Kennet collection? .. I forget but it's in some book. It looked great. Something I learned this summer is that EWP and ERC are fairly widely and successfully used by the clubs near me. I think it's mostly a Bnut hate train. They obviously aren't the best material on earth (either of them) but a talented artist can make use with a good specimen
i have seen beautiful yamadori ERC. from lawnmowing and shoulder-cleanup
but in my area, ercs and apples, a lot of full size trees show rust
 
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