Hello

paddles

Yamadori
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Location
Echuca, Australia
Hi, just dropped in to have a look, I'm in Australia, have black pines (Which I have next to no idea about, and regularly butcher my deciduas (So I can't spell) trees, but aside of that I keep them alive (for the most part) and seem to remain enthusiastic about bonsai. Recently I got given a bhutan pine seedling, And a grafted white pine, I look at them occasionaly, but am not game to touch them....Sad but true. However I'll happily hack away at my maples. Always ready to learn tho. Maybe one day I'll manage to develope a decent tree? :eek: ;)
 

Bonsai Nut

Nuttier than your average Nut
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Charlotte area, North Carolina
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Hello Paddles;

Welcome to BonsaiNut! With black pines the first thing you have to learn is how to care for them. There are several good books on the topic - including a Black Pine book from Stone Lantern Publishing that I hope to receive for Christmas :) At any rate, black pines are difficult because they always want to grow out with long needles, and do not bud back well on old bark. So if you are not careful, without constant maintenance you end up with a pine that has long spindly branches with bundles of long needles at the end, and no easy way to fix it. If you have specific questions about any of your trees feel free to post and we will be happy to try to answer them. Additionally, I would recommend locating and joining a local bonsai society / club if you can find one near by.

Cheers!

- Greg
 

paddles

Yamadori
Messages
79
Reaction score
1
Location
Echuca, Australia
I would love to join a bonsai club, BUT, the nearest one is over 2hrs drive away, and I have young kids. I have that pine book, but I have to admit that I don't understand a lot of it, I'm trying to arrange to go for a course at a bonsai place in the city, but they don't run many, and to date there has been various reasons to stop me. Most of my trees are young (Some very young) so I have a bit of time, but would love to learn. Bonsai is not a big thing here, and many who do have them know less than I do (I'm actually considered the local expert, and that's just frightening, cause I'm just a beginner who's managed to keep my trees alive, well most of them anyway, we don't talk about corokias in this household anymore:eek: )

So I hang around forums, read, and experiment, I grow lots of stuff just to learn on, or buy seedlings to grow on for experimentation (At the moment I want to learn about approach grafting) and leave my "good" trees alone, My oldest black pine, I took to a bonsai nursery to have it trimmed, and I must admit to getting to the point of thinking that I should just arrange for someone else to do the trimming and wiring of my pines/ceders etc, i Keep looking at them and am afraid to cut (Can't graft on a pine) Still I make mistakes, and then hide the mistake up the back of the yard and leave it alone to recover for a year or 10...... but hopefully I'll learn one day.

Heres a pic of my black pine before and after..
whitepine003-1.jpg

corokia002.jpg
 
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