Mail call! Yet another epic tree from Mr. Don Blackmond:)

abqjoe

abqjoe

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Have I ever mentioned just how badass of a selection of tree's Don Blackmond has? Have I ever mentioned just how stand up of a guy he is? Don was gracious enough to send me this absolutely epic 80 year old Japanese Black Pine that I got in today and boy is this thing massive:) These pics don't do it justice and it's not as full now as it will be in a month or two because it was cut back quite a bit before being sent out but I figured I'd take some pics anyway to share with the community. I'll get some better one's in a couple of days when I put it out in the sun:)

Box opening time, oh how I wish I could kill peanuts:)



Peeking out from within!



At 33" tall from the soil to the top of the tree and 100lbs I quickly realized that I was going to have to build a custom table just for this beast, and here it is! I actually dug the frame out of the trash on a jobsite that I was working on years ago, I knew I'd use it some day:)



A look at the bottom, this tree is safe and secure as can be!





















 
Abqjoe,

That's an old tree, and it's been neglected. I'm not saying Don neglected it, but whoever had it before Don did.

It has long spindly needles. A sign of not enough sun. Maybe too much water. It probably wasn't decandled in past years.

The lower branches have no interior branches. These will have to be grafted. The top was probably allowed to get too thick, and shaded out the interior.

It looks like Don decandled it, I think I can see some new summer shoots popping out. That's good. It needs to get back out into the sun as fast as possible. Maybe don't go full sun, but give it a half day sun for a week, then go full sun. Don't keep it in heavy shade. This tree has been starved for sun.

I don't know how much you know about JBP. If you are new to them, you need to get Boon's DVD series on JBP care. Go to www.bonsaiboon.com to find his DVDs. He's recently set them up do that you can stream them. Either you can stream them as much as you want, or, you can rent them. However you choose to do it. But you need the information.

This tree is a rehab project. Good luck!
 
Adair M said:
Abqjoe,

That's an old tree, and it's been neglected. I'm not saying Don neglected it, but whoever had it before Don did.

It has long spindly needles. A sign of not enough sun. Maybe too much water. It probably wasn't decandled in past years.

The lower branches have no interior branches. These will have to be grafted. The top was probably allowed to get too thick, and shaded out the interior.

It looks like Don decandled it, I think I can see some new summer shoots popping out. That's good. It needs to get back out into the sun as fast as possible. Maybe don't go full sun, but give it a half day sun for a week, then go full sun. Don't keep it in heavy shade. This tree has been starved for sun.

I don't know how much you know about JBP. If you are new to them, you need to get Boon's DVD series on JBP care. Go to www.bonsaiboon.com to find his DVDs. He's recently set them up do that you can stream them. Either you can stream them as much as you want, or, you can rent them. However you choose to do it. But you need the information.

This tree is a rehab project. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Sun is good for them, but as I stated earlier, full sun all day is not here. Full sun until 2pm at most, anymore it'll start to burn. Maybe not now that it's the "monsoon" season. But next summer definitely don't do all day full sun, I'd like to see this tree around for more then 3 years!

Aaron
 
Adair M said:
Abqjoe,

That's an old tree, and it's been neglected. I'm not saying Don neglected it, but whoever had it before Don did.

It has long spindly needles. A sign of not enough sun. Maybe too much water. It probably wasn't decandled in past years.

The lower branches have no interior branches. These will have to be grafted. The top was probably allowed to get too thick, and shaded out the interior.

It looks like Don decandled it, I think I can see some new summer shoots popping out. That's good. It needs to get back out into the sun as fast as possible. Maybe don't go full sun, but give it a half day sun for a week, then go full sun. Don't keep it in heavy shade. This tree has been starved for sun.

I don't know how much you know about JBP. If you are new to them, you need to get Boon's DVD series on JBP care. Go to www.bonsaiboon.com to find his DVDs. He's recently set them up do that you can stream them. Either you can stream them as much as you want, or, you can rent them. However you choose to do it. But you need the information.

This tree is a rehab project. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thank you for your insight! What I do know about JBP through my research is that they are extremely durable trees that live on sand dunes, coast lines, and rocky cliffs 100+ meters up. They prefer well drained soil as Bonsai and live in similar soil in the wild. As Bonsai they prefer dryer hotter weather and lot's of sun but also need a decently cold winter. Don did remark to me that this tree would probably enjoy my climate more because it likes hot dry weather. I'm just happy to be able to have a tree of this caliber to work with:) Come spring it will be root trimmed and put in a soil mix consisting of 70% full organic and 30% organic all Bonsai Jacks blends. It's current location will allow it to receive 2 hours of light sun in the morning and 3 hours of low intensity late afternoon sun. Saturday or Sunday I will relocate it somewhere for slightly more sun and eventually full sun. By late summer early fall it will be getting full sun all day. Now that monsoon season is here and summer is passing our temps are high 80's low 90's so it's a perfect time of year for this tree to adjust. The tree is thin on foliage but I'm thinking by next spring it will be a lot better and as of now there are lot's of new buds reaching for the sky! Definitely a tree that's worth the effort IMO.
 
abqjoe said:
I actually dug the frame out of the trash
Click to expand...

Sorry for having you all wrong in the beginning Joe!

Or however it went!

I'm glad you stuck around!
image-1.jpeg

You are amassing some collection.

When you decide to stackrank them first 2 funky trees out the mix....I want to start the fire!

The new shit is kill!

Sorce
 
I just snapped a pic outside right now at 7pm and as you can see the tree is getting some of that low intensity late afternoon sun:)



Poor pic but you can see some of the new buds popping out.

 
Looks like @Adair M beat me to the punch but this needs a few year to get strong and that knob above the first set of branches may need attention. Could be the pictures and not in person but it draws my eye and not in a good way.
 
This question is directed at aml1014.:

No one wants the tree to burn up. Is it the heat? Or the sun? I keep mine out in sun full time.
 
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