bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - Japanese Black Pine (nursery stock)

In my opinion, based on bitter and disappointing experience, these trees will waste five or more years of your time and end up on the compost pile anyway. In five years' time you will have learned enough about good bonsai that you will give up in your desire to work with them. Their roots will be hopelessly tangled and impossible to improve. You will perform a trunk chop or two and have a collection of chopped nursery stock, not bonsai. Please understand that I am not putting you down or these trees. Either of these would make good landscape trees.

If you wish to learn how to keep Japanese black pines alive and growing, and how to train them, I suggest something much smaller. If they die, it's less of an investment. If they live, you have more possibilities to train them.

30-Mar-2006	#16
bonsaikc Registered FedEx Sender Join Date: Jan-2004 Location: Ottawa, KS Country: USA USDA Zone: 5-6 AHS Heat Zone: 7 Posts: 1,752	In my opinion, based on bitter and disappointing experience, these trees will waste five or more years of your time and end up on the compost pile anyway. In five years' time you will have learned enough about good bonsai that you will give up in your desire to work with them. Their roots will be hopelessly tangled and impossible to improve. You will perform a trunk chop or two and have a collection of chopped nursery stock, not bonsai. Please understand that I am not putting you down or these trees. Either of these would make good landscape trees. If you wish to learn how to keep Japanese black pines alive and growing, and how to train them, I suggest something much smaller. If they die, it's less of an investment. If they live, you have more possibilities to train them. __________________ Sashi-no-eda.blogspot.com