My first Japanese Black Pine. Need advice.

[memehongkong]

Hello,

Found this Japanese Black Pine at our local nursery. They cost $50 (not $500 I see all the time for larger JBP).

Have a few questions & I'm looking for advice.

--Estimate age of this pine?
--I also bought a very small JBP & JRP online, they cost $10 + shipping. How long will it take for these little seedlings to be as big as the bigger pine in the picture?
--Any style/training advice for the big pine?

Thanks All.

 

[Shibui]

You can usually get a good estimate of pine age by counting growth sections from the top as pines tend to grow once each year. Each 'whorl' of branches indicates the start of a new season's growth. My estimate is 3 years for that one but I may be missing a node in amongst all those lower needles.
There's no real way of predicting growth of any tree without knowing the grower's conditions and skills. If they grow well the smaller ones could overtake the bigger one in a year but poor growth conditions could take 2-3 years or more to reach the same size. Red pine should grow as tall but tends to thicken slower.

I would not even think about style for a pine at that stage. Needs lots more growing to even suggest what shape to make. The most I'd be doing would be to wire and get some bends in the lower trunk while it is still flexible enough to get good bends.

 

[memehongkong]

You can usually get a good estimate of pine age by counting growth sections from the top as pines tend to grow once each year. Each 'whorl' of branches indicates the start of a new season's growth. My estimate is 3 years for that one but I may be missing a node in amongst all those lower needles.
There's no real way of predicting growth of any tree without knowing the grower's conditions and skills. If they grow well the smaller ones could overtake the bigger one in a year but poor growth conditions could take 2-3 years or more to reach the same size. Red pine should grow as tall but tends to thicken slower.

I would not even think about style for a pine at that stage. Needs lots more growing to even suggest what shape to make. The most I'd be doing would be to wire and get some bends in the lower trunk while it is still flexible enough to get good bends.

Thanks for the advice. Any best practice or advice to make the young seedlings to grow faster? I did plant them to the ground over the weekend. We get lots of sun and heat in Southern California.

 

[Shibui]

SoCal sounds similar to my local climate, maybe slightly warmer.
Pines take a while to get going, even in the ground and red pines are even slower than black pines. I can't give anything to speed progress apart from plenty of water and fertilizer.
I leave pines in the grow beds for 5-7 years to gain enough thickness.
Remember that pines will not bud from bare wood easily so we definitely need to manage growth to maintain at least one shoot low down that can grow after the trunk is chopped. Most pines are managed with one or more larger sacrifice shoots to thicken the trunk while another section is pruned to maintain more compact growth that will become your future bonsai.
Pines in general are not as easy to grow for bonsai as most deciduous trees because of the pruning issues but it is difficult to include all strategies in a short post.

Good luck with your growing.

 

[memehongkong]

Quick 30 days update. I have been feeding it with 20-20-20 and the candles are 4-5 inches longer compared to the picture from Feb. Should I leave all the top candles alone? Or trim some of them so the leader can get taller?