Ponderosa Pine from the wild

[Harry Bushwhacker]

Hey guys, I found this guy today on the girlfriend’s parents land and was trying to figure out the best way to style it when spring rolls around. I’m open to any suggestions. I think I may have to eventually do some carving on him as he has a fairly bad taper near the base of the trunk.

 

[bwaynef]

If you just collected it, don't worry about styling it in the spring. MAYBE next fall you can approach it for some work, but its got the long road of recovery to trudge right now. Also, get the whole tree in the picture and you might get more ideas ...when it IS time to consider styling.

 

[Harry Bushwhacker]

If you just collected it, don't worry about styling it in the spring. MAYBE next fall you can approach it for some work, but its got the long road of recovery to trudge right now. Also, get the whole tree in the picture and you might get more ideas ...when it IS time to consider styling.

Sounds good, super new to the whole bonsai thing, so I’m trying to spread my attention out to multiple things so that I don’t over love the very few trees I do have and kill them in doing so.

 

[bonsaichile]

wait two years on any collected conifer, at least. You want to see at least 2 years of good growth before streasing the tree, or it may die on you. Even after one good grow season, a collected tree can still die on you if you work on it before its ready.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Two beginning mistakes:
Collected during dormancy/no chance for roots to grow and recover.
Should have checked and seen reverse taper before digging.

Will this tree recover? Only Spring will tell.
If it does survive needs at least 2 years BEFORE doing anything but keeping alive. My good wishes for its survival.

 

[Harry Bushwhacker]

wait two years on any collected conifer, at least. You want to see at least 2 years of good growth before streasing the tree, or it may die on you. Even after one good grow season, a collected tree can still die on you if you work on it before its ready.

Alrighty, glad I asked this question. I would have most likely murdered my tree this coming spring as I was unaware of this. Thank you

 

[Harry Bushwhacker]

Two beginning mistakes:
Collected during dormancy/no chance for roots to grow and recover.
Should have checked and seen reverse taper before digging.

Will this tree recover? Only Spring will tell.
If it does survive needs at least 2 years BEFORE doing anything but keeping alive. My good wishes for its survival.

Fair enough. I had cabin fever being as the snowstorm that rolled through this weekend knocked out our power for a lot of the weekend as well as closed the roads. Thanks for the well wishes, hopefully I can slow down on the rookie errors. I’ve got a lot to learn.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Sounds good, super new to the whole bonsai thing, so I’m trying to spread my attention out to multiple things so that I don’t over love the very few trees I do have and kill them in doing so.

Do personal horticultural skills already exist to care for these trees?
Second needed skill is PATIENCE. Bonsai is not/cannot be a race but is an ultra marathon.

 

[Harry Bushwhacker]

Do personal horticultural skills already exist to care for these trees?
Second needed skill is PATIENCE. Bonsai is not/cannot be a race but is an ultra marathon.

I’m really good at growing grass, I’m an assistant superintendent at a golf course, however I’m not sure how much translates to trees. The course I work at has no trees on it, minus the occasional eastern red cedar that the birds are kind enough to plant for us.

 

[Harry Bushwhacker]

Do personal horticultural skills already exist to care for these trees?
Second needed skill is PATIENCE. Bonsai is not/cannot be a race but is an ultra marathon.

I like to think I’m really good at growing grass, I’m an assistant superintendent at a golf course, however I’m not sure how much translates to trees. The course I work at has no trees on it, minus the occasional eastern red cedar that the birds are kind enough to plant for us.

 

[sorce]

Further....

Like them giant Adenium bonsai with great root spreads on 2ft wide trunks and mad flowers is the reason they are bonsai'd,
Ponderosas are bonsai'd because of their giant twisty old growth trunks with deadwood, blah blah blah.....

There aren't many other qualities of Ponderosa that makes em worth owning as a bonsai.

But, you're not likely to keep one of them old good ones alive without practice, so OBSERVE, even if it dies, watch it closely, feel it.

Brasky!

Sorce

 

[BrianBay9]

Should have checked and seen reverse taper before digging.

I wouldn't worry too much about the reverse taper. Most collected trees have some flaw(s) that can be overlooked because of their attributes. If the reverse taper doesn't bother you too much then don't worry about it. You may find ways to disguise it in your design.

 

[rockm]

Fair enough. I had cabin fever being as the snowstorm that rolled through this weekend knocked out our power for a lot of the weekend as well as closed the roads. Thanks for the well wishes, hopefully I can slow down on the rookie errors. I’ve got a lot to learn.

You won't know if this tree survived your collection effort until the spring AFTER this coming one. that's a rule of thumb for collecting any tree. Some trees can limp along on reserves for a year or two, then completely collapse.

FWIW, collecting trees is a SEPARATE SKILL from bonsai. It requires a different set of care and development practices. In talking about carving, etc. you are talking bonsai. At this point, you should ONLY be concerned with insuring the tree get what it requires to stay alive, not with styling issues.

 

[bonsaichile]

I wouldn't worry too much about the reverse taper. Most collected trees have some flaw(s) that can be overlooked because of their attributes. If the reverse taper doesn't bother you too much then don't worry about it. You may find ways to disguise it in your design.

For that statement to be true, the tree would have to have other interesting attributes, which this tree does not really have. I am with source; if this tree lives (big if), OP can use it to learn a thing or two about collection aftercare and Ponderosas more generally. But probably not more than that.

 

[BrianBay9]

For that statement to be true, the tree would have to have other interesting attributes, which this tree does not really have.

I'll leave that judgement to the OP

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@Harry Bushwhacker - So far, so good. You have past the initial hurdle. True, it will be 2 years before you can be 100% sure your tree survived collection.

If I were you, I would continue to work on my collecting skills, and to learn, you need to collect more. This tree is probably 25 to 35 or more years old, you have some mature bark. I would continue to scout for more. Look for even older trees (not necessarily larger, just older). Try to find more growing on rock, and preferably without reverse taper. Reverse taper is not important IF you find really old looking, gnarly trunk. Most sought after are those with spiral deadwood scars on the main trunk (shari is the Japanese term for deadwood in the main trunk). A shari like a striped barber pole is one goal in searching for collectible trees.

So scout areas, as soon as the ground thaws is spring is the beginning of the ideal time for tree collection. This runs until buds begin expanding. Then take a break from collecting. Another window of opportunity for collecting begins about 2 to 4 weeks after the summer solstice (middle or late July) and runs through to about the autumnal equinox (about September 21). The late summer period is not universally agreed on to be a good period. I found it okay for conifers, and 50:50 for deciduous.

Key is, you need to practice the unique skills required for collecting trees. First, timing in your local climate. Second the aftercare. So get out there and scout out some more. This first tree was good enough that it suggests to me there are better candidates somewhere near where you found that first one. Have fun.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Oh, and take notes, just for yourself. You need to be able to remember what worked, and what didn't. Once you have more than 6 trees, you will find yourself forgetting what you did to which one. So notes are key to figuring out what works in your climate.

 

[Harry Bushwhacker]

I'll leave that judgement to the OP

I’m picking up what you are putting down. From what I have gathered. I may have killed this tree by harvesting it this past weekend, however if it does work out, I’ll probably, whether I want to or not, end up using it as a learning tree. However when I do start working on it in a couple years, I might be able to experiment and figure out a way to make it a Badass tree.

 

[Harry Bushwhacker]

Oh, and take notes, just for yourself. You need to be able to remember what worked, and what didn't. Once you have more than 6 trees, you will find yourself forgetting what you did to which one. So notes are key to figuring out what works in your climate.

Sounds good, I’ve got a couple thousand acres of land to work with. Come Christmas I may have to do some scouting and Mark some land maps for contenders to get come spring. Just gotta make sure one of the native kitties doesn’t make a meal of me

 

[Adair M]

A lot of the pros use straight pumice as the growing medium for their collected trees. After they dig them, and carry them out of the mountains, they carefully measure the size and shape of the rootball they were able to get, and build a custom box that is shaped like the rootball, giving 1 inch between the edge of the rootball and the box on all directions.

So, BEFORE you go collecting, have a supply of pumice, and a supply of building materials to build a box so you can custom build a box for whatever you might find.