Pinus Contorta (Murrayana)

[somegeek]

I picked up this Pinus Contorta (Murrayana) this last weekend, re-potted and trimmed back the last few year's worth of needles to about 1/4-3/8". It's native location, above 4k ft is special to me as I spent a good portion of my summers up on Mt Hood. Most of the trunk curve is natural(this was a collected tree) and I want to keep that in the finished style. I applied some wire to it to bring the branches down and put just a little more curve in the upper third. I was curious however if folks had suggestions as to which candles up top I could remove, at this point, to avoid forming the bulbous trunks you see with some pines when branches build girth(Mugo)? I plan to let the lower branches on the left grow out. I liked this shot without the flash as it is easier to see it's shape vs having the flash hit the door in the back and create shadows.

Appreciate any input.

somegeek

 

[Bill S]

Are the top needles this years opened up candles????

If so I think this needs to rest for a while, like till next year at least, as you have repotted and pruned already.

If not I'd say again it needs to rest, because you didn't get new candles this year, and either last years were removed at the wrong time, or the trees health is suffering.

 

[Victrinia Ensor]

Bill... We've had such a warm mild winter that those needles are almost certainly from this year....

That being said... the tree still needs to be left alone for a significant period of time... pines are not incredibly happy with being root worked this late in the year... so I would keep it in a low stress enviornment and make sure it only gets a few hours of direct sun a day... perfereably morning.

Of course... with this crazy spring... that may not be a problem...lol Good luck geek..

Was it in it's native soil or some kind of nursery soil? Be prepared for your needles to explode in length if it handles the repot... they will often get very long after root work.

Kindest regards,

Victrinia

 

[somegeek]

The tree was in what appeared to be a mix of mostly sand and maybe ash? When this was potted when collected, there was roughly 3" of the aforementioned sand mix put above the base of the trunk. This sandy material is similar to what you see on the NW mountains(Hood, Adams, Helens, etc) in the upper elevations. Kinda wondered if this was done to hold more moisture for the tree. I kept the majority of the root ball and only trimmed a few low straggling roots. I filled just over 1/2 of the bottom of the container with a turface/bark mix to bring the tree up to the top of the pot.

Thanks for the replies. It will sit until next year then.

somegeek

 

[Victrinia Ensor]

In that case... it should be largely ok... It's more like a slip-potting than a repotting.

V

 

[somegeek]

Ah okay - noted - thanks!

somegeek