Multitrunk of pinus flexilis (from seed)

[clem]

Hello here is another long term project of pine forest, with several pines (pinus flexilis = 5 needles pines) very closed together. Sometimes some of those pines very close together die because the don't recieve enough sunlight or space inside the rootball to grow their roots (competition) so i'm not sure all of them will survive in the future.
I bought them in my favorite nursery (pépinières botaniques armoricaines). The first time i asked the owner if i could buy this forest (cépée), he answered "no" because he wanted to sell the trees separately. The year after, i asked again to buy this forest and he said "yes" ... Dunno why he changed his mind but i was surprised and happy. He sold it 25€.

here is the "cépée" in september 2018 just arrived at my home; It must be 7 or 8 years old->


Next spring, in march 2020 i repoted this forest in a flat pot (a Reiho pot)->


I put pure keto around the pot to build a kind of wall. I have no experience with "pinus flexilis" but the 5 needles pines are said to be fragile with their roots, so i prefered to not break the rootball ->


the forest in the round and flat Reiho (or Reihou) pot with its characteristic yellow spot/stain->

Unfortunatly, the pines didn't like this flat pot (maybe because of a lack of draining) and some of them started to have yellow needles, so i decided to repot them in a far deeper pot (far better draining to cultivate pines easily) ->



I also put this pot in the ground with draining particle (pumice and pouzzolane).

A few months later, you can see that the pines don't suffer anymore (the brown needles fall down and only green needles stay on the trees) and developp big roots ->

 

[clem]

the year after, in september 2020 you can see a lot of roots emerging from the pot and the pines are healthy ->



In march of this year (2021) i decided to try to cultivate those pines in this very nice Jan Culek slab ->





The forest in the slab ->


I put this forest+slab in the soil with pumice to enable better growth of the roots ->


here are the trees in may (after removing the slab from the soil to take the pic ->

 

[clem]

my goal is to keep those pines healthy in this slab (never cultivate in a slab before) and to get this style (in 20 years) ->

 

[clem]

I wired most of the trees, to give little curves ->


The juvenile bark of the main trunk with new buds emerging ->


The bark at the base of the trunks just starts to crack a little ->

 

[clem]

hello, i removed some old needles _>
before removing ->


after removal ->

Another possible "front" ->

A virtual (the goal) : hope gives life ->



The tree back in the soil (with draining particles) ->

 

[Shogun610]

I like this nice work so far.. great use of Jan Culek slab

 

[Hartinez]

Lookin tight @clem. Great work.

 

[Colorado]

Beautiful composition and virtual! I love to see that you are working with flexilis. I have a few seedling clumps of flexilis myself and I will be using this thread as inspiration!

 

[clem]

I like this nice work so far.. great use of Jan Culek slab

Thank you, Jan Culek slabs are very natural looking, very light and very charismatic.. When you have one slab of Jan in your hands, you can see the great work & character much more than on pics.

 

[clem]

Lookin tight @clem. Great work.

thank you, you mean the trees are too tight ?

 

[Shogun610]

Thank you, Jan Culek slabs are very natural looking, very light and very charismatic.. When you have one slab of Jan in your hands, you can see the great work & character much more than on pics.

Got one myself actually , deciding what to put in it coming spring .

 

[clem]

Beautiful composition and virtual! I love to see that you are working with flexilis. I have a few seedling clumps of flexilis myself and I will be using this thread as inspiration!

Thanks, yes i know you have pinus flexilis from seeds too Hope you'll show your multitrunks too

 

[Hartinez]

thank you, you mean the trees are too tight ?

Ha ha. No I mean it’s looking awesome, dope, fresh.

 

[clem]

Got one myself actually , deciding what to put in it coming spring .

I have 3 slabs from him, i don't know yet what tree i will put on them, but his work is so nice, it is so difficult to find light and natural looking slabs, that i wanted to have a little stock & choice

 

[clem]

Ha ha. No I mean it’s looking awesome, dope, fresh.

lol ok, i learnt something ^^

 

[Shogun610]

lol ok, i learnt something ^^

Just slang us American youngsters use

 

[clem]

Hello, some news. I repotted it on a convex slab from Jan Culek in March (1 month ago) ->


i removed the soil at the base of the rootball but i didn't cut any roots to be safe ->







the group after repotting ->


A virtual of the project ->


the group in the ground with draining soil to grow again ->



The group today with candles growing