Pinus contorta - spaans dwarf

[ohiogrown]

Coastal Alaska is a fairly mild climate. Anchorage, is no colder than Chicago in winter. As long as you stay between the mountains and the sea, the weather is moderated by the Pacific. Go inland, towards Fairbanks, and that is a whole different story, unbelievably cold.

So no reason to not be able to grow shore or lodgepole pines in Ohio.

That makes my day! Now if I can get seeds to sprout!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I might add, the subspecies of shore pine that comes from coastal Pacific Northwest, California through to Vancouver, the one from low elevations, this subspecies might not be fully winter hardy, on the other hand "Spaan's Dwarf" has been planted all over the Midwest and I haven't heard anyone complain it is not hardy. So I imagine shore pine seedlings will be hardy in Ohio.

 

[ghues]

I might add, the subspecies of shore pine that comes from coastal Pacific Northwest, California through to Vancouver, the one from low elevations, this subspecies might not be fully winter hardy, on the other hand "Spaan's Dwarf" has been planted all over the Midwest and I haven't heard anyone complain it is not hardy. So I imagine shore pine seedlings will be hardy in Ohio.

Up hear on the 50th we collect Shore Pine at its upper elevation limit 600-800m. Our winters are mild in comparison to many of you but the ones I have do get a spell (10-15 days duration) of cold weather in the low 20’f. However with long periods I might have a tendency to provide more protection.

 

[robert gardner]

I have just recently acquired a Spanns Pygmy pine. What I would like to know, should these trees be wired or just pruned for great shape. My tree has a very
curvy S shaped trunk and tremendous vertical growth which I want to keep. I is displaying the coral habit very well. Please let me know.
thanks,
Robert Gardner

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I have just recently acquired a Spanns Pygmy pine. What I would like to know, should these trees be wired or just pruned for great shape. My tree has a very
curvy S shaped trunk and tremendous vertical growth which I want to keep. I is displaying the coral habit very well. Please let me know.
thanks,
Robert Gardner

'Spann's Pygmy' I have never heard of. I do know 'Spaan's Dwarf'. The answer is YES, both pruning and wire can be used, and are regularly used to shape 'Spaan's Dwarf'.

Key is it is a slower grower, so you prune sparingly, and wire only where you need to do it.

Photos would help if you need more specific advise.

 

[robert gardner]

Leo here are my pictures of my dwarfs.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@robert gardner
Here is the image unzipped. The video clip was short and pretty much the same as the picture.


Nice
It has a lot of potential.

 

[robert gardner]

Leo,
Awesome looking tree it looks to be about the same size as mine almost the same shape I think maybe mine has a few more bends in the trunk got great plans for it. Thanks for sharing your Pictures of your great tree

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@robert gardner

I would take it slow with this tree. You want to continue to thicken up your trunk. Right now the trunk is fairly slender. The middle portion of the tree seems very dense. I would take 2 or 3 years to think it out. Go through, and at each node where you have multiple branches, the first pass through reduce the number of branches at each node to only 3 branches. Keep one long one, and 2 smaller ones. By keeping only three, that is few enough that you won't cause knots to form, that is enough to leave you design possibilities in the future.

Especially at points where you have 5 or more branches you need to bring it down to only 3 branches. With the long branches you keep, try to have a left-right-back-front arrangement.

Once the tree is thinned out, take another series of photos. Camera lens should be on the same level, or plane as the rim of the pot. Photos looking down at the tree, from above the rim of the pot are useless, they distort perspective. Get a photo of all sides.

Only then can you begin to contemplate a design.

Do not take off more than 25% of the foliage at any given time, then wait a year and take another 25%. You want to keep this tree growing. You want the trunk to keep increasing in diameter.

If you bring it down to just one branch and the trunk at each node, the diameter of the trunk will pretty much stop growing.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Leo,
Awesome looking tree it looks to be about the same size as mine almost the same shape I think maybe mine has a few more bends in the trunk got great plans for it. Thanks for sharing your Pictures of your great tree

You misunderstand, the photo IS YOUR PHOTO, it was displaying as a zip file, I simply extracted it and displayed it as a JPG file.

 

[robert gardner]

Leo,
Thanks for posting a picture of my tree. It will make it easier for me to trim branches with the advice that you gave me I really appreciate your input not sure how the trees are pictured but I’m glad I did thanks for your input.
Robert Gardner