pinus leucodermis bosnian pine--Compact Gem

[esteve59]

I found this at a local nursery,,,,,I love these kind of pines but I have heard they are difficult bonsai....
But I am always up for a challenge.
Actually I have killed several Bosnian pines as they are difficult to grow in this area.
As you can see by the sap I opened the middle up to see some trunk line.....and "cabled" (is that a word)some branches.
I would appreciate any ideas or opinions...

 

[Ang3lfir3]

what you call "cabled" we call "guy wired"

If the species is a challenge in your area why even bother with it.... spend time on species that are hardy in your area you will find less heartache this way... also you will find better faster success..... after that if you are looking for a challenge ... challenge yourself to material that is difficult to solve.... etc....


as for the pine... its pretty plain looking and if it were strong and hardy in your are you could make a nice informal upright out of it.....

good luck.... and best wishes...

 

[Victrinia Ensor]

Annapolis, Maryland is zone 7a... which is colder than where we live... but not even remotely cold enough to kill a Bosnian pine... as they are hardy to zone 4. So that being said, I would like to ask what techniques you were applying to the trees, and at what time of year, when you experianced these other losses.

There are some fundamental rules to success with pines than can rarely be ignorned. As a two needled pine similar to a JBP, they get pretty unhappy if you repot and style in the same growing season, and are full sun loving plants. Of course there is all the aftercare that goes around even doing one process on a pine let alone multipul. If you could describe your previous efforts in detail, we could likely help you track down the cause of your problem.

As with most nursery pines this one is grafted (and not a bad one really)... but it's likely on JBP root stock, so it can provide vigor to the sport that has been grafted to it. The problem with this is that there will always be a tendancy for the base to have an unusual transition point between the main tree and the graft stock... because the base is stronger by nature than the other. It's not a bad tree to learn pine care on, but do know that it may not provide a lot of long term satisfaction because of that problem.

First thing's first though... let's help you keep it alive.

Regards,

Victrinia