Making bonsai from bought Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii)

[Stockgington1956]

Hi everyone,
This is my first post and my first experience with bonsai. I recently bought a Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii) and would like to style this to make a bonsai tree. I live in Stockholm, Sweden and came to the conclusion I am in "hardiness" zone 7 according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardiness_zone and USDA zones.

I have read it has similar properties to a scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and will produce candles once a year. My pine bonsai will be on my balcony and will be exposed to sunlight 13-19 during the days (2pm-7pm).
Here are 3 images of my pine. The trunk at the bottom has a diameter of about 2.5 cm.

1. Spring is here and summer is approaching. What is the best strategy, should I both prune and repot or just repot or just prune? When I say repot I mean put into a smaller bonsai pot.
2. What about the candles, they are starting to get brown. Should I pinch them off just above the new pine needles and keep 2 per end of branch?
3. How should I prune this, I guess this question is up to me but I want some advice if I am going in a good direction. I want to have a slanted, upright, informal design, see last image. Which one do you suggest for this tree?

Cheers!

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[Bonsai Nut]

Welcome to the site! I think one of the reasons no one has responded to your thread is that you are asking some great questions that would require a lot of typing to answer

(1) Repotting should be the priority. You want the roots to be as strong as possible before you start aggressive work on the tree.
(2) You should decide how large you want your bonsai to be. This will lead you to decisions regarding whether you want to prioritize trunk thickening or foliage ramification. As a general rule, most people try to develop ramification on the bottom lower branches of the tree (which they intend to keep), while doing NO pruning to a single sacrifice branch growing out the top of the tree, which they eventually plan to completely remove. If you go this route, strip the needles off the lower section of the sacrifice branch, so that you are allowing the most light to reach your lower "keeper" branches.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Aye no rush more think!

Sorce

 

[Lionheart]

The needles on this pine are... rather stout, kinda like dealing with a porcupine.

 

[We're all Mad Here...🎩]

Any updates on this? I acquired one yesterday, though it's rather upright...should be interesting. @sorce is this generally the modus operandi you take...repot and think before making drastic cuts or decisions?

 

[sorce]

Any updates on this? I acquired one yesterday, though it's rather upright...should be interesting. @sorce is this generally the modus operandi you take...repot and think before making drastic cuts or decisions?

Unless large portions of the top need to be removed to save something so good in the top from going bad.

I usually find I can remove most(cuz there aren't many) of the worst offenders in spring and still Repot after the Solstice to the sound of leftover fireworks.

I guess it's important to note this is pretty much all evergreen.
I don't find worthy deciduous material here I can't get better from the "wild".

Sorce

 

[We're all Mad Here...🎩]

So you have your "sources?"

There is a huge Japanese red pine, low glow, at box store. With older trees like this having a vertical trunk, are they worth the effort over a long period of time? The trunk is quite large and who knows what's below.