[Pretty Sure] Pondarosa Pine Progression

SerSwanky

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For my birthday (goodbye 20s) I got some bonsai pots, hoorah! However upon arrival they were the 3 inch pots (rip). So I went out hiking in the pine forest behind my apartment to find some saplings. I found this little guy, but man did he not want leave.

He was dug in deep through sheer rock. I have no idea how he busted through it all to live. There weren’t many roots, maybe twoit was basically one long tap root. So honestly I don’t know if it’ll survive the transplant since it basically has no root structure.

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I didn’t get a good picture of the roots but here is one shot I found. 1649021144124.jpeg

After digging forever I got it home and potted in the Lava rock / calcined clay / pine bark / pumice mix I use, wired it down and put it in a humidity tray since the pot is so shallow. I saw Bonsaify on YouTube do that with his mame so they wouldn’t dry out as fast. So I thought it’d give it a shot. I took some of the rocks from where I dug it up and crushed them up with a hammer and towel for the tray.

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The waterline is lower now than what the picture shows, I poured some out so it wasn’t drowning the root(s). I am temporarily using guy wire to position the tree for a little while until it (hopefully) recovers/survives and then I’ll actually wire it.

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I need to plant it a little lower next time, it wasn’t behaving trying to get it all in the pot so it has a bit of inverse taper at the base but again, I’ll cross that bridge if it survives.

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All in all, it was my first time transplanting and also doing it with something so small. I wasn’t sure the best to time do it, it’s slowly starting to warm up here. It has some fun little movement in it already so I thought what the heck let’s see what happens. I’m trying not to be afraid of making mistakes and pushing through!
 

Potawatomi13

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Give some rooting stimulant to possibly aid recovery. Usually very wrong bad idea to plant tree from ground to shallow Bonsai pot. Happy roots happy tree. Unhappy roots dead tree🤨.
 

BrianBay9

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Your only concern with newly collected trees should be survival. It's lost a lot of roots that need to be replaced. Going straight into a bonsai pot may be a mistake. Use a larger training pot to start. If it survives leave it alone until the year after it starts showing strong growth. Nice beginner tree to learn on though. Hope it makes it.
 

SerSwanky

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Give some rooting stimulant to possibly aid recovery. Usually very wrong bad idea to plant tree from ground to shallow Bonsai pot. Happy roots happy tree. Unhappy roots dead tree🤨.
Okay good idea, I'll see if I can pick some up!

Your only concern with newly collected trees should be survival. It's lost a lot of roots that need to be replaced. Going straight into a bonsai pot may be a mistake. Use a larger training pot to start. If it survives leave it alone until the year after it starts showing strong growth. Nice beginner tree to learn on though. Hope it makes it.
I had assumed (and we know what that makes out of us) since it barely had any roots a small pot wouldn't be too big of an issue since I didn't have to cut anything off, it all fit. But I can get it repotted into a trainer tonight.
 
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