parhamr

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Today I bought a 3" trunk diameter Dwarf Blue Scots Pine nursery tree. This will be a long term project and it is my first Scots.
IMG_0353.JPG

I suspect this is grafted but I have yet to see an obvious union mark. I did a tiny bit of digging around the trunk and found field soil with some fine feeder roots. During the next repotting (likely this July) I will be doing some heavy root work and digging down to check for basal flare.

Before I thinned the canopy of dead, weak, and crossing growths:
IMG_0352.JPG

After: (some bark flakes were lost while removing dead needles from crotches)
IMG_0357.JPG

I think the above photo will be the backside of the tree. The trunk is leaning away from the camera in this position. About 10" above the soil the tree forks into two trunks. I think that will be a workable design.

The newly thinned canopy, ready for vigorous growth so I get back buds:
IMG_0358.JPG

I'm expecting to need to regrow most of the foliage except for the canopy. The lower primary branches have good starts but they're far too leggy before reaching foliage.

Updates to come when relevant.
 

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Guy Vitale

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IMG_0804.JPG These are extremely slow growing in Bonsai culture, I have had mine for 15 years and never pinch back the candles so branch development is darn slow. Prune back carefully. below is mine and is my favourite tree in my collection. I no longer have the tag, but I recall it saying gloubosa.
 

J. Adrian

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I personally like it man it is huge, I am thinking about buying a 4 ft tall one at one of my local nurseries that has been left behind looks like a great trunk and a lot of branching , it would also be a long term project. I was not able to go see the trunk, Roots (still too cold here to dig through the surface on most nursery trees) I might be able to go and look at it further this Thursday and decide though. it is also, supposedly a Nana species. stay tuned..
 

Guy Vitale

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I personally like it man it is huge, I am thinking about buying a 4 ft tall one at one of my local nurseries that has been left behind looks like a great trunk and a lot of branching , it would also be a long term project. I was not able to go see the trunk, Roots (still too cold here to dig through the surface on most nursery trees) I might be able to go and look at it further this Thursday and decide though. it is also, supposedly a Nana species. stay tuned..
Go for it, bigger is better with these since they don't grow fast. Better to reduce in this case than to grow out. My neighbor has two old mature ones 4-5' tall/round. He was going to tear them out, I talked him into letting me collect if I could do it in early spring. We were all set to go until his wife told him not to dig them out, oh well, perhaps down the road.
 

J. Adrian

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I am hopeful it is a good find. I have been keeping an eye on it it since last year, it would be my first Scots too.
 

J. Adrian

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So here it is so far, I did some clean up of some lower branches and repotted it, it was root ound badly.any idea what pine stock these get grafted to?
 

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parhamr

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Yesterday I did some investigation into the roots and found 100 percent clay field soil. This was confirmed to be a problem when I heavily watered and the pool remained on top of the soil for about 20 minutes.

This morning I cut it free from the nursery can and then performed a half bare root. I potted it up at Andrew Robson's advice: 80 percent unsifted pumice to 20 percent composted bark and animal poo.

IMG_0869.JPG IMG_0871.JPG

I also started an approach graft on a lower branch. We shall see if I've got the process figured out.
 
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Vance Wood

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This tree has probably been around the block a couple of times and probably started out it's nursery life as a balled in burlap nursery tree as suggested by the clay core. B&B trees are planted in clay to make the soil ball adhere together. The concept of bonsai was not the intention of its culture. It is going to take a few years to establish a decent root system.
 

0soyoung

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Yesterday I did some investigation into the roots and found 100 percent clay field soil. This was confirmed to be a problem when I heavily watered and the pool remained on top of the soil for about 20 minutes.

This morning I cut it free from the nursery can and then performed a half bare root.
That was a good move. You can finish it up this August. IMHO, this (Aug) is the best time for repotting most conifers, but especially mugo and scots pines.
 

Paradox

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That was a good move. You can finish it up this August. IMHO, this (Aug) is the best time for repotting most conifers, but especially mugo and scots pines.

Since you just did a half bare root, do not do the other half until next spring IF it is vigorous and healthy this year into next.

No offense to Vance and Osoyoung but my experience with scots where I am differs.
Vance has been working with them a long time and for him after Father's day works best. I do not doubt his experience at all.

However, I've done it in spring as well as summer and I've had scots recover much better and with more vigor when repotting in March compared to August.

I sincerely believe the difference is due to differences in the climate in Michigan vs southern NY during the spring.

You're in Oregon so August might be just fine with the milder climate BUT you've already done one insult to this tree this year. Don't do another one in the same growing season.
 

MichaelS

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So here it is so far, I did some clean up of some lower branches and repotted it, it was root ound badly.any idea what pine stock these get grafted to?
They are often grafted to Black pines. It's hard to tell. The miniatures have slower developing bark than the seedlings. It does look like Scots root stock though.
 

0soyoung

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They are often grafted to Black pines. It's hard to tell.
I recently bought two p. thunbergii corkers (from DragonFly) - they are grafted onto p. sylvestris roots.
I have a JWP that on p. sylvestris roots (from Iseli).

Gary Wood told me a while back that p. sylvestris roots are the 'modern way' for OR/WA growers. I suppose older trees like @parhamr and @J. Adrian have might have been put on thunbergii, but it seems so perverse to have a p. sylvestris cultivar on something other than a p. sylvestris roots. Scots pines are so common as to be indigenous to Canada and the northern US.
 
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MichaelS

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I recently bought two p. thunbergii corkers (from DragonFly) - they are grafted onto p. sylvestris roots.
I have a JWP that on p. sylvestris roots (from Iseli).

Gary Wood told me a while back that p. sylvestris roots are the 'modern way' for OR/WA growers. I suppose older trees like @parhamr and @J. Adrian have might have been put on thunbergii, but it seems so perverse to have a p. sylvestris cultivar on something other than a p. sylvestris roots. Scots pines are so common as to be indigenous to Canada and the northern US.
I agree. I always graft on to the same species or I don't graft. I do have a weeping Red pine on Black pine which cannot really be seen. Here (commercially) JWP are put on strobus or wallichiana, red pine cultivars on Black and most other 2 needle pines onto black as well. I try to do better than that...
 

Paradox

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..... but it seems so perverse to have a p. sylvestris cultivar on something other than a p. sylvestris roots. Scots pines are so common as to be indigenous to Canada and the northern US.


I also agree. It's bizarre that they are grafted at all IMO. They grow just fine on their own roots.
 

Vance Wood

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A graft is not always done to promote healthy growth but to perpetuate the traits of a partiular cultivar. Varieties like Kokone, Zuishio, and a litany of varieties also known as cultivars cannot be reproduced any other way except by way of cuttings shch as Zuishio,. That is the reason for the graft. None of these varieties can be reproduced by seed culture accurately. That is where the term cultivar comes from. It means cultivated by the activities of man.
 

J. Adrian

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They are often grafted to Black pines. It's hard to tell. The miniatures have slower developing bark than the seedlings. It does look like Scots root stock though.

it is a bit odd, assuming they would be hardy here on their own roots but I will share more pics later.
 

MichaelS

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it is a bit odd, assuming they would be hardy here on their own roots but I will share more pics later.
As Vance said these witches brooms and dwarfs must be grafted to propagate them. Even if they are grafted to the same species, the different bark textures is often apparent for a long time. Sometimes forever. Also, the stock often grows at twice the speed of the scion and although the bark might be the same there can be a massive swelling below the union. Sometimes you are lucky and the union disappears, sometimes not so much...
 
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