Maiden69
Masterpiece
Hi all, my name is Francisco and I am living in Boerne, TX, zone 8b. I have always been fascinated by bonsai trees, but because I was in the military I knew that it was going to be impossible to have one of my own. Now that I am out, I decided to finally start this journey. Right now I don't have a bonsai tree, but a small amount of "small" trees that I am hoping to transform into bonsais in the near decades. My first tree was a 1 gal JBP that I bought from Garden Goods Direct last year and was intended to be planted in the ground as a niwaki. Since then I have ordered a few plants from Brent to increase my "collection" and learn hands on, instead of just reading and watching videos.
What have I done to that tree. At the time I received it I was living in an apartment waiting for our house to be finished and I slipped potted the pine into a 3 gal container, filling the void with potting soil and perlite on a 1:1 ratio. I wired the trunk to give it a little movement (it was dead straight when I received it), I decandled, and reduced a whorl on the top of the tree from 4 to 2. I water the tree almost daily during the summer, at 90-100 degrees it was drying out daily in the San Antonio city area. Now that we are in a "cooler" area I check the soil and water it mostly every other day. We had a few ~25 degree days in December and I placed all the trees in the ground and mulched the sides of the containers in an attempt to prevent the soil from freezing. They are still in the same place with the containers sides covered with mulch. The weather is hoovering in the 40-70's, but this next 2 days we are supposed to be in the low 30's again.
The pine has done well in the container, but when I was out watering yesterday I noticed the browning tips. Normally I water the trees early in the morning (around 5am before heading out for the day). At that time I really can't see anything so I don't know if this has been going for a few days or if it is a result of too much water. I did check the flowchart and it indicates "air pollution", is that referring to the air in the pot? Or ambient air? I am keeping the pine in a container for a while instead of planting in the ground, and I am planning on repotting the tree into a big colander type container and start changing the soil to proper inorganic soil as soon as the candles are ready. I read here and in Jonas website to only change 1/2 the soil at one time, then the other 1/2 after 2 years, so that is my plan.
So the tips are browning with sap oozing from them, and some have this white residue on them between the brown and the green. I did took some picture of the needles, but not of the entire tree. The browning seems to be only on the needles on the apex of the trunk. I do plan on reducing them once the new candles open to let the apex grow as a sacrifice for a few seasons in order to thicken the trunk.
I tried researching, but most of the information I found was for needle cast, tip moth, and tip blight, which this doesn't look like the pictures I found.
Thanks,
F.
What have I done to that tree. At the time I received it I was living in an apartment waiting for our house to be finished and I slipped potted the pine into a 3 gal container, filling the void with potting soil and perlite on a 1:1 ratio. I wired the trunk to give it a little movement (it was dead straight when I received it), I decandled, and reduced a whorl on the top of the tree from 4 to 2. I water the tree almost daily during the summer, at 90-100 degrees it was drying out daily in the San Antonio city area. Now that we are in a "cooler" area I check the soil and water it mostly every other day. We had a few ~25 degree days in December and I placed all the trees in the ground and mulched the sides of the containers in an attempt to prevent the soil from freezing. They are still in the same place with the containers sides covered with mulch. The weather is hoovering in the 40-70's, but this next 2 days we are supposed to be in the low 30's again.
The pine has done well in the container, but when I was out watering yesterday I noticed the browning tips. Normally I water the trees early in the morning (around 5am before heading out for the day). At that time I really can't see anything so I don't know if this has been going for a few days or if it is a result of too much water. I did check the flowchart and it indicates "air pollution", is that referring to the air in the pot? Or ambient air? I am keeping the pine in a container for a while instead of planting in the ground, and I am planning on repotting the tree into a big colander type container and start changing the soil to proper inorganic soil as soon as the candles are ready. I read here and in Jonas website to only change 1/2 the soil at one time, then the other 1/2 after 2 years, so that is my plan.
So the tips are browning with sap oozing from them, and some have this white residue on them between the brown and the green. I did took some picture of the needles, but not of the entire tree. The browning seems to be only on the needles on the apex of the trunk. I do plan on reducing them once the new candles open to let the apex grow as a sacrifice for a few seasons in order to thicken the trunk.
I tried researching, but most of the information I found was for needle cast, tip moth, and tip blight, which this doesn't look like the pictures I found.
Thanks,
F.
