New addition, thoughts

[maroun.c]

picked up this small tree today. Thisnis thw first time I see a pine in a nursery here (except large ones for gardens) so that gives u an idea on the lack of choice i had.
Basically it's small, branches aint bad so far I guess, it's wrongly placed on pot (pot is oval so front is towards the oval) and is in the typical peat moss and soil mix we get and it's lareadynin a bonsai pot.
Do u suggest moving to a growing pot or just placing in a smaller pot and trying to shape as this size?
Soil swap on one go.or gradually change to bonsai soil?
When to rotate to the good side on pot and what pot shape and color would u go for?
Future shape whst do u suggest to go for on this tree and should I wait till next year or start now?
Is this a Scott's pine? Are those brown big buds normally that big?
Thanks for any info or suggestions

 

[Shibui]

Way too early to start a design for this little tree. Things will change as it grows. You can start to work toward a general concept at this stage - large/small, windswept/cascade/literati/etc. because each will need certain characteristics.

Large candles (pine buds) are normal for healthy pines, even small ones and these look very healthy. You will need to become familiar with pine growing and budding habit to manage the growth effectively. Pines are very different from broad leaf trees in management and growth.

Need to be aware of pine tendency to have groups of branches growing from the same place (whorls). Trunks and branches tend to thicken at those spots so it is usually best to reduce whorls to only 2 or 3 to reduce thickening. Some branches and leaders can be left to grow as sacrifice branches to encourage trunk thickening but you must have other low healthy growth to cut back to later.
There's so much to pines that it is difficult to fit into a single post. Please research Scots pines to gather good intel. You will need to weed out plenty of conflicting info though so good luck.