lol. I quoted and highlighted the word climate, and wanted to quote from my post where I wrote exactly that. Until I realized.. I did not actually specifically write about JWP earlier!
But yes, local climate is particularly for white pine important, as I understood it.
Then again, bonsai is full of myth and believes. It could be a matter of a few little specific things in the care that make all the difference
Happy to hear you can grow them on their own roots without issues. Maybe I should give them a second chance.
Maybe, once I am down to 60 trees.
Yes, climate is very important.
Back in the day, I lived inn Atlanta. I couldn’t keep JWP. I did great with JBP. So, I gave up on JWP, and concentrated on JBP. Then, later, I moved north to the foothills of the North Georgia mountains. It’s cooler here. Summer days are a bit cooler, and the winters are colder, too. We get a little more snow than in Atlanta, but even still, we don’t get really harsh winters. Also, I started taking classes with Boon, he stressed using inorganic soil for all pines. Back in the day, I had used a mix of turface, pine bark, and granite grit. Now, I use Boon Mix (akadama, pumice, and lava all sieved to a uniform size.). Previously, I had never sieved my soil.
And, I became even more successful with JBP. One day, I was at the local bonsai shop, and they had acquired a nice JWP grafted on JBP. I took a chance on it. Well, wouldn’t you know, it thrived. This gave me hope that maybe I could grow JWP after all. Then, I got the chance to acquire a really nice Kokonoe. It was at Boon’s place in Hayward, CA, which is in the Bay Area of California near San Francisco. The weather there is very mild, and the nights are cool if not cold in summer. The Kokonoe had never been styled, and Boon’s Senior gave it the first styling. It stayed at Boon’s place.
Well, it lived, but it didn’t thrive. It stayed yellow, and just wouldn’t grow. No matter how much fertilizer was applied. It would put out only enough new needles to replace the old ones. It was obviously sulking. Even after 3 years! So, in desperation, we shipped it to my house in NE Georgia. Within two months, it was obvious it was happier here! New buds appeared. The color improved. The new shoots were strong. It began back budding!
That was 4 years ago, and the same has been true for every JWP I’ve aquired. Apparently, they love my climate. And, oh yes, they all get Boon Mix soil.