Japanese White Pine troubles

[Westcoastwild]

I'm a long time reader, first time poster.

Im brand new to bonsai and bonsai techniques and 2 years ago I bought a somewhat large Pre-Bonsai Japanese white pine (Goldi-Locks) it was roughly 2' in height. I was growing it in a 16"x16"x16" container in a sandy/loam soil to hopefully fill out a bit before a did its first structural trimming/wiring.

First mistake I made was trying to make an aggressive bend on the main trunk which caused it split. I was going for a wind swept look. It was a break that went half the diameter of the trunk... oops. I glued it and it seemed to be okay and the tree still continued to get growth on the top end until last winter so I cut the deadwood off the top of the tree.

I live in a very wet part in the Pacific northwest in the States and the trees location was north facing. It would only receive morning and late afternoon sun for 3-4 months of the year. The pine needles went from gold to green due to the lack of sun and the soil remained very wet during the fall, winter and spring seasons.

Long storey short, I dug the tree up to repot into a smaller container only to find the root ball which was once 12" or more had decayed due to root rot. There was only a very small amount of healthy roots that remain. I carefully removed any dead roots and repotted it.

I have now learnt a lot from my mistakes but is this tree worth trying to save?

 

[Silentrunning]

All trees are worth trying to save. Even if just for practice. You have already learned lessons from this tree.

 

[19Mateo83]

@Westcoastwild welcome to the nut house!

 

[Lorax7]

Only time will tell if it survives the root issues, but I wouldn't give up on it yet. The accidental trunk split is less of an issue than you might think. There are actually some techniques for doing big bends that involve deliberately splitting a trunk in order to make the trunk more bendable. Those techniques involve doing something to protect the freshly exposed interior and make sure that it is kept from drying out until the tree has had time to compensate for the damage by compartmentalizing that area. It requires time, but the trees recover from those techniques. So, I think your accident is probably not going to be a problem in the long run.

 

[Potawatomi13]

IF tree survives just beginning of tribulations. First should not have put in smaller Bonsai pot. Tree needs much growth especially to unattractive grafted trunk. How many years to reduce this eyesore one can hardly guess. Removal of several branches to hide trunk was misfortunate. Be aware windswept trees not impossible but having some difficulty doing good job of. Survival and growth should be only focus for some years now. After possibly 2 years IF survives and tree regains robust health should be moved into decent sized growing container.