Three new 'Mikawa' Black Pines from Muranaka's

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I went down to Muranaka's down south in Nipomo CA the other day on the recommendation by Al and I must say I am very impressed. I usually drive up to Evergreen Garden Works once a year but this time I decided to try this place out. Each vendor has it's pluses and minuses but both are very well worth the drive. Muranaka really has it going on in the pine department although most of his stuff is in the ground. If you want it you have to time your visit in the early spring. He has a bunch of these 'Mikawa' BP's that he dug out this year and last in containers and top leaders cut off. I would say there were maybe 50-60 of them and VERY well priced between 50 and 80 bucks. So I went ballistic and bought 4 of them. The last one being very small so I did not take a picture of it.

I have a large collection of stuff in it's early stage of growing out and I really wanted some tree's that were close so I could get practice with refinement techniques on Black Pine. I figure #3 will be grown out to a larger tree. #2 is a informal upright with an interesting style of being kind of tall. This one will be refined as is although it looked a little on the week side to candle this year so I will pump it up and do it next summer. #3 looked healthy enough so I decided to attempt a full candle and needle pluck for my first time on an entire tree. The picture shows the final product. I re read a whole bunch on this and then went to it candling all but branch extension (one per branch on the end and the apex) and the weakest candles. I left more needles than most people do due to fear, but I am sure I will get over that someday. I did try to balance out the energy in the branches though.

With the 3rd tree I could not decide weather to remove branch 1 or branch 2 for the second branch I am leaning toward cutting 2 because of it's position and naked stalk. What does everyone think about that? The lower front branch will be removed in the winter (the one that says 'remove').

The nebari's on all of them are going to be spectacular and as the main selling point for me on these ones that I picked. However #2 nebari will need some work because it only looks good from 60 degrees of view. There is a big root that will need to be cut and new roots hopefully grown radially.

Also I have noticed over the last few years that when I cut the needles very close to the fascicle I get a bud every time. But when I pluck them I do not get a bud every time. Even though I am very careful to pluck one at a time strait out so as to not pull the fascicle. So where I thought would be a good place for an inside bud I cut and where I did not want new buds I plucked. Critiques are welcome on that one.

Thanks
 

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pwk5017

Shohin
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Nice looking material for a nice price. Looks like the first two require another section of the trunk to be chopped and grown out. They both suffer from a relatively uniform taper. Question for you concerning the needle cutting technique you alluded to. About how much needle do you leave behind when you cut them, and at what time of the year do you perform this? I have never needle plucked to force additional budding(most likely because i rip both needles off at the same time), so im interested in your discovery! Thanks.
 

ml_work

Chumono
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I like all 3, wish I live close enough to make the trip. I look at Muranaka's site a couple times a week to see what he has. But nothing is like being there hands on.

Hope You Enjoy them,
Michael
 

Just Duane

Shohin
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Nice stock, I bought some stock from George Muranaka too. George gave me excellent customer service & some great stock to boot:)
Thanks for sharing
 
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The needles are cut just above the fascicle or sheath, little wrap that holds the 2 needles together about 1/8th inch long. This stimulates the dormant bud hidden inside. If you rip the needle off the bud will be ripped of with it and you will never get a bud there. Most people seem to all pluck strait out so as to not damage the bud but I have less success with that. Perhaps either because I accidentally destroy the bud in the process or because the little bit of photosynthesis from the small needle piece helps to allow the bud to grow while being to little left to keep it dormant. In some places I do not want buds I pluck them, If one grows there anyway I can always remove it later. If that makes any sense.

And yes George is probably one of the nicest guys on the planet. I was there for 2 hours and all he wanted to do was talk about pine techniques. There is a semi lack of taper in the first 2 but it does not bother me to much. The first one will be grown out to a larger tree so that will be fixed over time. The second one has it's own charm for me depending on the viewing angle. The best angle has the worst angle on the nebari but I believe I can fix this problem in the next few years. My vision for this tree seemed to make the few faults worth it.

He has so many of these things I was overwhelmed in finding the fewest faults and then as he read my mind he said "All trees have a few faults if you look hard enough". I am sure someone can find something wrong with any tree and selection sometimes becomes a combination of a bit of compromise and pro's vs. con's game.
 

Bill S

Masterpiece
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Ok smoke, now I can see why you think our stock on this coast sucks for the price.

Dude you might have walked out with one of those on this coast.

ROAD TRIP!
 
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I've been searching for a nice JBP or JWP in the $100-200 range, and have been coming up short. Here, you come up with THREE nice ones, for less. If only I lived on the other side of the country . . .
 

jquast

Chumono
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I've been searching for a nice JBP or JWP in the $100-200 range, and have been coming up short. Here, you come up with THREE nice ones, for less. If only I lived on the other side of the country . . .

George sells on Ebay as well, he does not have any pines listed now but I bet if you e-mailed him he may be able to scratch your itch for a pine.

http://stores.ebay.com/Muranaka-Bonsai-Nursery-1978?_trksid=p4340.l2563
 
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