need watering advise for a newly collected scots pine seedling

[lonely cloud]

Hello
This is my first post. I live in Netherlands and I have several bonsai's for a couple of years, but I don't have much experience with pine. At August 3th, I collected this little scots pine seedling from a sandy horse trail. I try to collected as much roots and original soil as possible (it is almost pure fine sand). and put it in a pot. Only the top half cm and the bottom is the pumice, the rest are all the original sand. I wire it a little bit which I shouldn't. It sits outdoor where can receive morning and later afternoon sun. Now,the watering issue comes. I found that the fine sand holds too much water, I need to wait at least 2 weeks before I can water it again. so any advice I can make the soil dry faster?or can I keep like this if the pine can survival? the pics are made by the day it was collected and today. Thanks.

 

[sorce]

I don't know how well this will translate to Netherlandish, but here goes....

Welcome to Crazy!

Have you ever played Super Mario Brothers on NES, or any other game where completing it to perfection is rather easy, as the movements can be programmed to motor skills and muscle memory?

If you make a mistake, you just restart the game, attempting to get beyond that point without making the same mistake. Simply learning from mistakes.

This tree is at that point, where simply allowing it to be, will teach you something you can apply in the future.....

Where, trying to Repot it into appropriate soil, with a thought that it is the last tree on earth, is akin to smashing the game console in anger, never being able to complete the mission again.

Sorce

 

[Japonicus]

Tilt the pot, ween into more Sunlight.

Sand alone should not be holding water 2 weeks, so I'm guessing there's more to the
composition of the soil than fine sand and pumice.
Heat from the Sun, and eventually demands of the foliage will dry the soil daily.
Right now the foliage is not growing actively or the soil would be reflective of that.

A bit late now, (but a couple years past being a seedling I think) the younger yamadori
can tolerate being placed in new soil better than aged trees. As @sorce mentioned
too late to start the game over now, so next Spring is the 1st next window to repot
if tree is capable or alive enough to withstand the rigors of being potted again, but
do scope out more to lift from the ground next Spring as well.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Sand over here can do that. Sand also is problematic because most pines here in the Duinen and Heide tend to send out deeeeeep tap roots.
Just water it when it's dry. It'll probably be either one of these two things: 1. Already dying because sand and pines make it super difficult to dig them up (go for forest floors next time, they don't root deep there), there's nothing you can do to improve its chances. OR 2. It's strong enough to survive until spring, as long as the water can drain out of the bottom.

Most young pines can be bare rooted, as long as you provide good aftercare and repot in early spring (around April or May, depending on the temperatures).

Where did you get your pumice? I find the stuff very hard to find.

 

[lonely cloud]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will do my best to keep the ground dry and repot it next spring. If I collecting young pine ( less than 10 years) in the future, can I bare foot it? I got the pumice from a bonsai exhibition about 3,4 years ago.(bonsai van west)

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will do my best to keep the ground dry and repot it next spring. If I collecting young pine ( less than 10 years) in the future, can I bare foot it? I got the pumice from a bonsai exhibition about 3,4 years ago.(bonsai van west)

Less than 3 years is fine. But the older they get, the harder it is for them to restore their roots.
I collect mine from forest soils, and take out a pretty decent chunk of soil. Then put them in a pot for a year, filled with bonsai soil. After a year of good growth, I do a half bare root or an entire bare root to get the forest soil out.

I'm a bit careful to say 'yes you can' or 'no you can't' because it depends a whole lot on the health of the plant, the season, how much care you can provide, and the skillset and knowledge you have.
Some people can bare root everything. Some people can even repot in summer! I can't. And that's not an issue for me. I don't always bare root, I don't repot in summer unless I really need to.

 

[leatherback]

Where did you get your pumice?

bonsai werkstatt, dusseldorf has pallets full

 

[Rivian]

I got my first pines recently, I would say dug up, but even though it had ~6cm trunk I just had to pull on it with both hands and it came right out of the gravel/sand, bare-rooted. We'll see if it survives

If its really just fine sand, submerge the pot in water and you can de-pot it without killing much root, underwater
Repot with a dry/light/fine mix that doesnt crush the roots in the process

 

[Frozentreehugger]

I don't know how well this will translate to Netherlandish, but here goes....

Welcome to Crazy!

Have you ever played Super Mario Brothers on NES, or any other game where completing it to perfection is rather easy, as the movements can be programmed to motor skills and muscle memory?

If you make a mistake, you just restart the game, attempting to get beyond that point without making the same mistake. Simply learning from mistakes.

This tree is at that point, where simply allowing it to be, will teach you something you can apply in the future.....

Where, trying to Repot it into appropriate soil, with a thought that it is the last tree on earth, is akin to smashing the game console in anger, never being able to complete the mission again.

Sorce

A day always improves when I read one of your answers life is to short to not have a sense of humour and a smile on your face