Pinus Stobus

[KillerButts]

I just couldn't resist this beautiful shaped strobus. Someone else had left it out of the pack and must have seen it's shape but decided to leave it. I was thinking of continuing the apex with the branch I am holding. Thoughts, comments, suggestions I am all ears. Really would love some tips on reduction.

 

[Nybonsai12]

EWP are tough to make into bonsai and it will be an uphill battle.

@0soyoung has good info on them if you search his posts/threads.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

First pic looks good as a front but bear in mind that that bark will be as smooth as a baby's backside for about 50 years.
Make me proud.....trun this into something @0soyoung hoe gaat het? Dieze strobus bent leuk maar ook mogelijk

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

First pic looks good as a front but bear in mind that that bark will be as smooth as a baby's backside for about 50 years.
Make me proud.....trun this into something @0soyoung hoe gaat het? Dieze strobus bent leuk maar ook mogelijk

I have seen potted strobus less that 10 years old with some serious bark. It's just that most bonsai people give up before that time. I have a strobus, two years in a pot now, and it's not looking barky anytime soon.
It's not looking like anything at all to be honest!
I threw my pine protocols out of the window with this one: knocked all the buds off in winter, and just before the end of summer it rewarded me with multiple terminal shoots.

 

[KillerButts]

First pic looks good as a front but bear in mind that that bark will be as smooth as a baby's backside for about 50 years.
Make me proud.....trun this into something @0soyoung hoe gaat het? Dieze strobus bent leuk maar ook mogelijk

Should I remove the apex and continue its trunk shape with the branch I was holding? Does this look like I am running out of final trunk shape length? No sure how to continue this form now that it's already there. Does this red line seem to be the right move? Have you had any experience with kiki paste? I was able to get my 62 year old jade to backbud with it in 2/3 locations. Not sure if anyone has tried it on conifers here?

 

[KillerButts]

Planning on getting in the ground by next week.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

you have smooth bends in the tree so keeping smooth flowing branches suits the trunk better than lots of twists and turns like in a jbp.
Use its natural growth pattern and don't rush it.
Not sure about kiki but white pines don't back bud very well and bear in mimd you might need to leave wires on for a long time as they can be quite supple.
In this trees case you want something feminine and not masculine

 

[KillerButts]

View attachment 261133View attachment 261134you have smooth bends in the tree so keeping smooth flowing branches suits the trunk better than lots of twists and turns like in a jbp.
Use its natural growth pattern and don't rush it.
Not sure about kiki but white pines don't back bud very well and bear in mimd you might need to leave wires on for a long time as they can be quite supple.
In this trees case you want something feminine and not masculine

Much thanks I will send a pick when it's done. Is it reasonable to assume I can dig it up next fall and do some root work? I was planning 2 years in the ground and then potting it in a training pot. Is that reasonable or should I start training it's roots next year. I figure it's best to leave the roots alone for 2 years to encourage a denser growth but if 1 year is enough I would jump on it. Totally looks like a lady and love your second alteration. Just concerned what will happen to that taller apex. I am assuming pulling the top half of the trunk forward a bit while doing this but what will become of that apex? Should it fall away from the face while keeping the lower halfs shape or should it come back to the face along the same plane as the bottom? Thanks for taking that time.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

Much thanks I will send a pick when it's done. Is it reasonable to assume I can dig it up next fall and do some root work? I was planning 2 years in the ground and then potting it in a training pot. Is that reasonable or should I start training it's roots next year. I figure it's best to leave the roots alone for 2 years to encourage a denser growth but if 1 year is enough I would jump on it. Totally looks like a lady and love your second alteration. Just concerned what will happen to that taller apex. I am assuming pulling the top half of the trunk forward a bit while doing this but what will become of that apex? Should it fall away from the face while keeping the lower halfs shape or should it come back to the face along the same plane as the bottom? Thanks for taking that time.

You want to be doing your root work late winter early spring.
Yes, pulling it forward a bit should to the trick (which may be easier said than done)
Your second picture looks alright but my concern is that you may lose a lot of the natural shape there and it could end up as a generic s shaped 'malsai'.
Growing in the ground probably won't help at this stage. Just keep training in pots. Strobus is a looooooong term project. Don't push the tree and it might just reward you.
Ps this tree seems to weep a lot so making a slightly weeping style will probably not only be easiwr but also more realistic

 

[KillerButts]

Will try and shoot for something along these lines. I will try to look at as many examples as possible but the web doesn't give good results on bonsai form searches. Plenty of time to look though. Much thanks

 

[BunjaeKorea]

Will try and shoot for something along these lines. I will try to look at as many examples as possible but the web doesn't give good results on bonsai form searches. Plenty of time to look though. Much thanks

Your most recent design has 'handle bars' which is two branches coming out of the trunk on opposite sides which causes not only reverse taper but also a huge bulge. It's a very serious design flaw and you really dont want to do it because it will ruin your tree.

 

[KillerButts]

Your most recent design has 'handle bars' which is two branches coming out of the trunk on opposite sides which causes not only reverse taper but also a huge bulge. It's a very serious design flaw and you really dont want to do it because it will ruin your tree.

Sorry bad drawing I didn't mean to make a whirly bulge. I'd be keeping the one on the left and that right one would be what I keep on the node before that one.

 

[M. Frary]

decided to leave it.

For good reasons.
They're horrible as bonsai.

 

[A. Gorilla]

Out in the wild, they can have quite charming little tufts of needles. Done right, they look ok sometimes being sparse and lanky.

By time they get into any sort of pot, and featured here, they all have sloppy, long, anemic looking needles and it never seems to improves as long as people have a JBP agenda.

 

[KillerButts]

Should I just leave these stubs and come back to them after calluses? Or is it ok to make a proper cut and paste into the whirls. The was a decent bubble of sap from the few removed. So I figured I should ask before getting into cambium on the trunk.

 

[KillerButts]

I noticed this today and wondered if there is like a kinda tectonic movement to the branch cambium, like the hardwood, that's caused early mature bark formation? Or it's just mated and more a bulging pressure?

 

[KillerButts]

If it is rolling over itself, wouldn't that mean a chance to speed bark maturity with favoring vertical movement at the branch to trunk location on a young tree?

 

[0soyoung]

Should I just leave these stubs and come back to them after calluses? Or is it ok to make a proper cut and paste into the whirls. The was a decent bubble of sap from the few removed. So I figured I should ask before getting into cambium on the trunk.

Cut them flush, to the collar (that wrinkly ring around them) . It's natural resin will do the rest (i.e., built in cut paste).