Some Guidance Welcome

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

I just picked this pine up from a nursery in town. It is a "Blue Shag White Pine".

Has a great trunk with nice taper and a whole bunch of short branches to exploit. I have put a pair of 8" limb cutters in the photos for scale and for orientation between photos. I put it where I think the front will end up. That view has the best branch display, widest nebari and what I think is going to end up as a good root display.

I have already cut two 1/2" dia. branches out because one stuck straight up and one crossed back over the main part of the tree.

On several of the photos I put a red line where I think a major branch needs to be removed and a green arrow to indicate a branch to be bent over and to become the apex forming branch.

If anyone has any questions please ask. If anyone has any input about what I have in mind as far as removing that big straight branch, it also has a large bulge at the top where all the smaller branches come off of it.

The tree has short needles for it's size, say about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2" long. Lots of candles starting to form.

The root ball is compact enough that I think I can do some minor root work in the spring and put it directly into a bonsai pot and start working on ramification and limb shaping.

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

More Photos

 

[Klytus]

It certainly has the wildman of the woods look with many promising features.

 

[Vance Wood]

You wouldn't happen to have the tag with the botanical name on it would you? I've never heard of this cultivar and would like to check out its genetic heritage.

 

[Bill S]

You will need the info to see what the characteristics of bud back etc are. I would consider that as lanky as most of the branching is to chop at the red line and develope the top at that point if the tree allows. Shorter, more taper, better scale overall.

 

[Dav4]

You wouldn't happen to have the tag with the botanical name on it would you? I've never heard of this cultivar and would like to check out its genetic heritage.

It's a dwarf variety of Eastern White Pine.

 

[rockm]

It looks pretty good--at first. How are you going to deal with those BIG knuckles where all the apex branches come from?

 

[Klytus]

I would keep the knuckle,it's not an integral part of a nascent design but with the special treatment it could be.

 

[Vance Wood]

It's a dwarf variety of Eastern White Pine.

That's what I thought. Thanks

 

[edprocoat]

As far as advice goes, if you need any help killing it, killing pines is my specialty. I have 3 to my credit so far and have gave up on the species. I stopped at a Bonsai nursery just today south of Melborne Fl. and told this to the guy who owned the place, he told me for the JBP the best time to do root work is the coldest weather. He also asked me if I disturbed much of the "organism" as he called it, that grew in the roots, I asked him if he meant the whitish fungus looking stuff and he said yes, and I explained I cleaned it away before potting, he told me that it is neccesary and my removing it was what killed the trees! So who knows I may try a fourth one as I always admire the look of pine Bonsai.

ed

 

[Ang3lfir3]

He also asked me if I disturbed much of the "organism" as he called it, that grew in the roots, I asked him if he meant the whitish fungus looking stuff and he said yes, and I explained I cleaned it away before potting, he told me that it is neccesary and my removing it was what killed the trees!

it called Mycorrhiza http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza and has a symbiotic relationship with the tree... matter of fact its a sign of a healthy plant... its good for all your trees...

 

[stacy allen muse]

Mac

I think the biggest issue you will be facing with this tree will be trying to chase back all that foilage in towards the trunk...
seeing that most of the foilage is way out on the end of alot of spindley branches.
Especially if you were planning on a very formal tree.

Another route would be to use this to your advantage, when styling the tree...
in either a windblown or a weeping type fashion ???

As far as cutting... I would wait untill you know what to cut.

 

[edprocoat]

it called Mycorrhiza http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza and has a symbiotic relationship with the tree... matter of fact its a sign of a healthy plant... its good for all your trees...

You know that may have been what he called it, he was hard to understand, speaking in broken/heavy accented english. He was a young asian guy, maybe 35-40 and he told me when I introduced myself, to " call me fong ".

By the way thanks for the link, I found it very informative, it said about 90% of plants have some form of this, mostly types that enter the plant cells, and I assume are not as visible as the type that exists between the roots and in the material in the soil, this group the article said was in about 10% of plant varieties including pine species , birch and rose plants, and it named a few others I can not recall. I have not seen this before, except in the pines, but I have not worked with the other mentioned species either.

ed

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

You wouldn't happen to have the tag with the botanical name on it would you? I've never heard of this cultivar and would like to check out its genetic heritage.

Pinus Strobus 'Blue Shag'

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

It looks pretty good--at first. How are you going to deal with those BIG knuckles where all the apex branches come from?

The one big obvious knuckle is on the large straight up branch that I am thinking of removing. There is a slight bulge on the branch that will be pulled over to become the leader. It can be camouflaged with foliage. It also may be able to be whittled down over time and let a callous heal over the whittling.

I may take an air layer off that branch right at the knuckle, it would make a great nibari on a clump style tree.

Don't think you can't air layer pines, you can and I have. Don't believe all the rumors out there, try it sometime.