I know these aren't commonly kept so I'm making this thread to post my experience. Mine is a Western white pine, Pinus monticola.
Backstory, my daughter dug this for me sometime last summer and delivered it in a plastic grocery bag full of dirt. I don't know when this was, I spent a good amount of last summer in a narcotic fog from two surgeries. I know it was after mid June.
Tree spent a few days sitting on the porch before I was able to get out and stick it in a pot. Planted it in the original forest dirt with a top dressing of DE. All I did after that was water it. Came through winter fine, color was good and seemed well.
Sometime this spring it showed signs of needle cast, sprayed with copper fungicide. Secretly wished it would die, not a good bonsai candidate. Browning needles got worse, chopped the top out about two months ago in a bid to kill it. Needles stopped browning but looked like hell. A couple weeks ago I decided to toss it, went to rip it from the pot only to discover backbuds. That was a surprise so I let the poor thing be.
Now its greened up really nicely, its pushing new candles and a decent amount of buds. Its really a horribly ugly thing, with straight trunk but I'll keep it alive and try to keep better notes on when I do things to it. I'm hoping if it backbuds well, I'll eventually be able to shorten the branches and maybe make it at least look presentable.
It needs a repot, not sure if I should try this fall or next spring. I'll have to do some research on pines. I'd kinda like to do it this fall so I can cut the long limbs next spring. Part of me is ok if I kill but part of me want to keep it alive at this point.
I'm thinking about cutting the brown tips off too, it just looks terrible. It also has wooly aphids so it needs sprayed. Pics in next post
Backstory, my daughter dug this for me sometime last summer and delivered it in a plastic grocery bag full of dirt. I don't know when this was, I spent a good amount of last summer in a narcotic fog from two surgeries. I know it was after mid June.
Tree spent a few days sitting on the porch before I was able to get out and stick it in a pot. Planted it in the original forest dirt with a top dressing of DE. All I did after that was water it. Came through winter fine, color was good and seemed well.
Sometime this spring it showed signs of needle cast, sprayed with copper fungicide. Secretly wished it would die, not a good bonsai candidate. Browning needles got worse, chopped the top out about two months ago in a bid to kill it. Needles stopped browning but looked like hell. A couple weeks ago I decided to toss it, went to rip it from the pot only to discover backbuds. That was a surprise so I let the poor thing be.
Now its greened up really nicely, its pushing new candles and a decent amount of buds. Its really a horribly ugly thing, with straight trunk but I'll keep it alive and try to keep better notes on when I do things to it. I'm hoping if it backbuds well, I'll eventually be able to shorten the branches and maybe make it at least look presentable.
It needs a repot, not sure if I should try this fall or next spring. I'll have to do some research on pines. I'd kinda like to do it this fall so I can cut the long limbs next spring. Part of me is ok if I kill but part of me want to keep it alive at this point.
I'm thinking about cutting the brown tips off too, it just looks terrible. It also has wooly aphids so it needs sprayed. Pics in next post
. Would not harm to remove brown needle ends but keep all that is green. Very sharp trimmer
