Japanese Black Pine Purple tips

Merfury1989

Seedling
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Dear members,

I need your expertise in something that I find as a problem.

I have attached 2 pictures of the Black pine (roughly 2 months old).
I see purplish/brown tips on these, and want to know if its normal.
Also there are purple hues at the base of the needles. Is this an issue? no clue what this is.

History:
1) These were grown from seed, and were kept indoors throughout due to 45c degrees temperature outside. I have just moved them outside recently when temperatures are in the range of 25c degrees to 30c degrees.
2) Soil is composed of 20% peat moss and 80% perlite. Only been 7 days since repotting. Earlier soil mix was 50% Peat moss, 25% perlite, 25% gravel.
3) Fertilizer I use is Dyna-Gro - Grow. At 1/4 tsp in 4litre can every time I water.
4) I water it every other day, when the soil is Dry by atleast 2 inches (This I check through Digital Soil Meter)
5) I noticed purplish/brown tips before repotting and before putting it outdoors. However, the purplish base is spotted only after repotting and putting the plants outside.

Please advice solution if any,

Thanks a lot in advance.
 

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MaciekA

Shohin
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I worked on JBP/JRP seedling cuttings last weekend at a friend's commercial field-growing operation, and we had several trays with dozens upon dozens of seedlings in the same stage as your's. Compared to the seedlings I was working with, yours would be considered to be in "good shape", and the tips you see wouldn't have concerned me. Seedlings looking much worse than this go on to be healthy as long as you manage soil moisture well (as in: not too moist) and feed plenty of light. In future JBP plantings, don't plant 2 or 3 seedlings -- plant at least 100 if not 500. You can fit dozens on a standard seedling tray. This helps reduce the possibility that a couple minor blemishes will cause anxiety :)

Remove the stones you have on top of the soil and never put them or anything similar on top of the soil. You want to avoid impeding airflow on any part of the soil with pines, even so far as to use 100% mesh container for your next repot if you can obtain those (pond baskets, colanders, etc).

If you are in the southern hemisphere: The sun will make you forget these tips in the next few weeks/couple months. You don't need to avoid sun / heat with young pines, in my experience pines love heat (and can survive 46C, 15% humidity conditions) as long as the roots have excellent air flow.

If you are in the northern hemisphere: Then you are settling into winter, and not much will be happening with these (except frost risk). If you have a budget set aside for things like heating mats and grow lights, then you could instead push these forward hard and move past this growth stage faster by putting them under very strong grow lights (important: do not skimp and buy crappy grow lights like a single e26 bulb or pencil-shaped amazon lights -- you want as many watts as budget allows) and a bottom-heating mat (the kind used to keep seedlings warm -- with mats pretty much any cheapo amazon vivosun seedling heating mat will work fine). If you don't have the budget for this, then definitely protect from frost (by moving into an unheated garage/shed or similar) and otherwise leave outside until spring and hope for the best. In the non-grow-op scenario, these seedlings will not have significant progress of any kind between now and spring, and may deteriorate in appearance/color between now and then as well, so brace yourself for that (it's all part of the planted-too-late-in-the-year game).

Don't forget to set your location on your profile because it will help people give you climate-appropriate and market-appropriate advice. Hope this helps! So far so good on these!
 

Wulfskaar

Omono
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A year ago, I had black pine seedlings just like that. They actually got much more purple than yours.

I'm in the northern hemisphere, so I had planted them in fall (way too early). Luckily, we have very mild winters here. Initially, they were not in enough light and I was not watering enough, terrified of damping off. See link below for my thread.

Once spring rolled around and they got more sun and heat, they turned green again and grew. Mine looked much worse and survived just fine.

 

River's Edge

Masterpiece
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The purply/ red color at the base is an expected phase, in the past it was used as an indicator of timing for cutting off the roots to shorten the stem and produce radial roots if desired. Not all shoots will show this coloration phase, so a more reliable indicator of the best timing to cut roots is when the second push of initial needles is beginning. This is a better indicator that the new seedling can handle the stem cut and produce new roots.
Just additional information to indicate your situation is normal.
 

sorce

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Location in the profile is optional but knowing your hemmy is near mandatory!

Welcome to Crazy!

Are you representing SoHem or what?

Sorce
 

MaciekA

Shohin
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Now that your location is filled in, I have a lot more confidence that you don't need to worry about frost. Though also in light of your location, immediately going into full on all-day UAE sun might be a bit hasty too 😅 -- if your growing spot is particularly ovenlike, introduce to full blast gradually over several weeks. They should have pretty spectacular growth once they get a bit larger and are in completely full sun.

In your climate you could also give chinese juniper a try if you're able to get your hands on material. It is another species that is exceptionally rewarding to grow from a small size (since you can introduce shari and extreme twists very early on). Check out the Bonsaify youtube channel for some nice guides that should be approximately appropriate for your (extremely mild-wintered) climate as well.
 

Merfury1989

Seedling
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United Arab Emirates (U.A.E)
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Now that your location is filled in, I have a lot more confidence that you don't need to worry about frost. Though also in light of your location, immediately going into full on all-day UAE sun might be a bit hasty too 😅 -- if your growing spot is particularly ovenlike, introduce to full blast gradually over several weeks. They should have pretty spectacular growth once they get a bit larger and are in completely full sun.

In your climate you could also give chinese juniper a try if you're able to get your hands on material. It is another species that is exceptionally rewarding to grow from a small size (since you can introduce shari and extreme twists very early on). Check out the Bonsaify youtube channel for some nice guides that should be approximately appropriate for your (extremely mild-wintered) climate as well.
Just a newbie question - Japanese pine / Flamboyant / Japanese Maple / Junipers / etc. I know have a hardiness rating based on how low can a temperature get before they start to struggle. But is there any hardiness based on opposite side of the spectrum such as how high can a temperature get before they start struggling?

I couldnt get my hands on Chinese junipers, but I did get California Junipers (they are in stratification process at the moment). How different are these species?

Ya lol it does get quite blazing hot here, I tried to slowly introduce them to this heat as we got into "technically" winter part of months starting November, where current max temperature is around 35c.
Note: I also planted Mimosa seedling in actual blazing heat of upwards of 45c 2 months ago. They growing fine, but purplish on 2 sets of branched leaves, and other 2 sets of branched leaves are lush green.

Bonsaify - Ya I watch him very closely (this is where I got the idea of 80-20 soil mix 😅), What soil mix ratio you prefer for deciduous plants?
 
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