Pine for bonsai

emorrin · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 2:11 am Post subject: Pine for bonsai

I just was at my local Lowes store near my house and they have a pretty big garden center. I was looking at some of the pines and am thinking of getting one. The two pines I saw were the Scots pine and the Mugo pine. Up until right now, I never really looked into pines but am wondering which one of the two would be the best for someone who never owned a pine before. They are both rather small starter plants so I probably wouldn't do much with them this year other than a re pot or sticking it in the ground. I have always skipped the sections on pines in my books since I never owned one before. I briefly looked on he Internet and have so far found out a little info on the Mugo pine. Vance Wood seems to be the authoritative figure on them. Haven't found much on the Scots pine though.

Just looking for an opinion or two from someone who has experience on pines. Looks like I have some reading to do.

Stymie · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:32 am Post subject: Re: Pine for bonsai

Although my favourite pines are the five needle varieties, I also have a regard for Mugo. Here's a bit of helpful reading for you -
http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATMugo%20Pines%20Indepth.htm - Other varieties are covered on the same site so you'll be able to make comparisons.

imholte · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:29 pm Post subject: Re: Pine for bonsai

I usually pick up a few pine from home depot every year. Always looking for diamonds, but never have found one. The mugo make good shohin and are very easy to care for.

In my mind pines rank up there as my favorite tree.

If you want to learn more about them then check out stonelanterns book on pines. It is very good and covers JBP and JWP in detail.

emorrin · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 2:27 pm Post subject: Re: Pine for bonsai

Don,

Thanks for the link. Good info. I have found bits and pieces of info spread across several sites but this one seems to summarize rather well.

Ed,

I have the Juniper series book and it looks like I will be picking this one up too. Question: How different is the care for a Mugo versus a JWP or JBP? I have seen some conflicting info that care is different. Vance Wood seems to go against the grain with the care of Mugo pines with what other people recommend. From what I have seen on various forums, he seems to really know what he is talking about. I am wondering if he has a book (or anyone else for that matter) that specifically deal with Mugo pines. I haven't found one yet but then again, I just started looking last night.

Looks like I have allot of reading to do.

Barwick Bonsai · Yellow Belt Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 121 Location: Leeds

Mugo and Scot's pine are cared for in the same way as Japanese black pine. The inner needles need removing in spring to allow light and air into the tree, candles are allowed to form and new needles extended before being pruned back to encourage back budding.
The Scot's pine responds to this treatment better than the black pine. Given time you can make a very nice tree from Scots pine and at half the cost than black pine.
hope this helps
Andy

emorrin · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:56 pm Post subject: Re: Pine for bonsai

I ended up buying a mugo pine and have done a little additional reading. I still have allot of reading to go. I will wait to re pot until summer time. I am still not sure though if I am going to put it in the ground or re pot into a smaller pot. I know not to bare root re pot so that will be a little different than I am used to. I usually clean all the soil off the roots with water before I root prune and re pot into my usual coarse soil mix. From what I have read, I will use more than the 10% pine bark I usually mix in my mainly inorganic mix.

In the mean time I am wondering if I should thin out and cut some branches now or wait until I re pot in summer? Almost every branch has 3 candles on them. Should I remove any when they get larger? I will trim the larger ones and keep the weaker ones like I have read.

I am curious to what the more experienced people would do if they were me.

Side view:

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii208/emorrin/BonsaiRomeo161.jpg

Top view:

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii208/emorrin/BonsaiRomeo162.jpg

Stymie · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:25 pm Post subject: Re: Pine for bonsai

There are obviously many more branches than you will need on a bonsai tree Ed. The unwanted ones can be removed during the growing season with impunity. The scars should heal better when there's active growth occuring. If you haven't got any impunity, use concave cutters. Laughing

Waiting until summer for the re-potting might be early. I would suggest more into autumn.
You'll find the branches much easier to bend to shape than most. I would only leave candles unpinched where extension of branch length is wanted. Take the strongest ones out and reduce the length of the kept ones. Keep reading and don't be too impetuous.

emorrin · Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:15 am Post subject: Re: Pine for bonsai

Don,

I did some pruning today. I ended up cutting off about 3 large branches and about 5 small branches. Being on the conservative side for now. I will wait to re pot until the August/September time frame. With this prune, more light and air will now get in. It was way too congested before. I also plucked some needles on a couple of bottom branches. I guess I have 2 questions before I leave it be until re pot time in late summer. 1. Is it safe to pluck most of the needles in the middle of the plant? 2. Should I wait until re pot time to remove any more branches?

I am playing it safe at the moment since I am still in the learning stages here with the mugo pine.

As you can see in this picture, there is now a little more defined look:

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii208/emorrin/BonsaiRomeo163.jpg

It is kind of hard to see but now you kind kind of see some branch structure since a few branches have now been removed. I would like to clean up the entire center to have a more