Telperion Pinus sylvestris progression

parhamr

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I thought I had a thread for this tree, but I guess I’ve only put it into the Tree Thread. Here we go!

I scored a Telperion Scots Pine in 2017 for a song. It was in their bargain section, having been almost fully infected by needlecast (causing massive loss of interior buds and branches). This was part of a Mirai excursion and Ryan assigned me this tree as a challenge. I don’t have pics from the first year, but it was in a sad state. This was one of their classic trees in a grow bag burrowed into the field, having been grown to about 15–20 feet tall about twice and then chopped by chainsaw. The woody trunk and fused roots had nearly deprived the tree of any feeder tissue.

I repotted it March 2018 with the assistance of a mentor, picking the widest base, most interesting line (leaning to the right and forward), and a good enough set of branches to compliment that as the front. This pot was chosen for horticultural reasons and not necessarily for aesthetics. This was a leap of faith that, by using fundamental principles of design we would eventually get somewhere close to a pleasing appearance …eventually.
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After this repotting a massive section of die back on the trunk decided to show itself — flaking off the bark that was hiding it. That probably explains a bit of its weaknesses and may have been from slightly sub-par positioning of the first major chainsaw cut. There is fortunately still enough of a live, bulging line of tissue around that section. It may be covered over in 5 more years.

By September 2018 it was pretty clearly focused on rebuilding good roots, but the meager foliage response was healthy enough to feel secure about its recovery.
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By September 2019 it was starting to show great color and strength on the new foliage and buds. It was also quite a good growing season, weather wise.
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In February 2020 I showed it off to my peers for the first at BSOP mentorship. A couple elders had interesting ideas about rotating it about 135 degrees counterclockwise to de-emphasize the upright, leaning trunk. I agreed it would have been interesting but was still committed to this front. This was my first application of wire and the main goal here was to get some movement into the branches, compact a bit of the long branching, and to start just enough of its design language.

Wired:
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Styled:
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By October 2020 the tree was still fully a “go” on all horticultural signals. I had to remove some wire where it had started to bite in.
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Having seen a successful regeneration of roots and positive foliage response, in late Februrary 2021 I decided to give the tree more space to support a period of bulking up:
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The mycorrhizae looked a treat
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Continued…
 

parhamr

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In the current bit of work I discovered 13 or 14 growth rings on the central part of the trunk and then 12 or 13 growth rings on the leaning part of the trunk, meaning this tree is from about the class of 2006 or 2007.

Last night at BSOP, Scott Elser provided a gracious bit of direct feedback. I told him I was looking for a push on the big picture of the design and he delivered…
  1. Sawed off a competing, chunky leader on the back of the tree that had done its part for recovery but was unusable in the design
  2. Removed a frontal branch that just hid the trunk and was no longer needed for recovery
  3. Told me to remove the useless deadwood on the main trunk, as it just obscured the direction change in the trunk line that builds the apex
  4. Encouraged me to plan for compaction on the right side and to continue just enough competing and contrasting extension on the left side
Today, after items 1 and 2
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Item 3
IMG_1876.jpeg IMG_1884.jpeg

The tree in its final state for 2021
IMG_1886.jpeg

I’ll baby it over the winter and then continue a moderately aggressive bulking routine in the next couple of years. The leader that remains is to continue sap flow and to provide grafting stock if I can’t get enough backbudding on existing branches. I’m optimistic that heavy organic fertilizer and full sun will work their magic.

More to come. Thanks for reading! 😎
 

mwar15

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I think I would throw some grafts in close especially on the right side this year. You are timing it right to graft. If they take fantastic, if they don’t it won’t hurt, as you should get some back budding.

it will just speed the development up
 

River's Edge

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In the current bit of work I discovered 13 or 14 growth rings on the central part of the trunk and then 12 or 13 growth rings on the leaning part of the trunk, meaning this tree is from about the class of 2006 or 2007.

Last night at BSOP, Scott Elser provided a gracious bit of direct feedback. I told him I was looking for a push on the big picture of the design and he delivered…
  1. Sawed off a competing, chunky leader on the back of the tree that had done its part for recovery but was unusable in the design
  2. Removed a frontal branch that just hid the trunk and was no longer needed for recovery
  3. Told me to remove the useless deadwood on the main trunk, as it just obscured the direction change in the trunk line that builds the apex
  4. Encouraged me to plan for compaction on the right side and to continue just enough competing and contrasting extension on the left side
Today, after items 1 and 2
View attachment 409783

Item 3
View attachment 409784 View attachment 409785

The tree in its final state for 2021
View attachment 409786

I’ll baby it over the winter and then continue a moderately aggressive bulking routine in the next couple of years. The leader that remains is to continue sap flow and to provide grafting stock if I can’t get enough backbudding on existing branches. I’m optimistic that heavy organic fertilizer and full sun will work their magic.

More to come. Thanks for reading! 😎
Love the slow steady and deliberate progression, none of this chop everything at once and expect the tree to do well. Great advice from Scott, he is very talented and accomplished. I have admired his work and commitment to teaching and helping others. Well done Reid. Look forward to the progress report. All those lower branches keep your options open and also lend to thickening the lower portion while maintaining a higher level of health for development.
 

parhamr

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I think I would throw some grafts in close especially on the right side this year. You are timing it right to graft. If they take fantastic, if they don’t it won’t hurt, as you should get some back budding.

it will just speed the development up
Agreed! There’s plenty of scions available for the choosing, too.

Whoops, I forgot this was needle rust, not cast: https://pnwhandbooks.org/node/3284/print

Here’s about half the foliage that was removed this week:
86738477-1974-4069-B328-14ED3EB6B3F8.jpeg
 
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