Pink buds - White Pine

GavSol

My little White Pine (Hagoromo) struggled a bit over summer, so I've let it grow freely this spring. After a decent flush of candles, it's now covered with little pink buds, which I assume are the early stages of cone development.

Can anyone confirm this? Do the cones effect the energy balance of the tree much? (ie should I leave 20 odd buds on the tree).

Attached Images

	pine bud 1.jpg (62.0 KB, 56 views)
	pine bud 2.jpg (65.6 KB, 43 views)

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anttal63

hey gav how are you, my jwp is doing the same thing. they are the male flowers if i remember correctly from a recent demo. cones will drain the tree of energy, i would tend to wait if any cones do form then pick off. if any one else out there has some knowledgable advice on this i would be most interested as well.

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Antonio . . .
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JayC

Yesterday i was at a bonsai nursery and found many white pines with identical pink buds. I also found a young cone besides one of these buds and it seemed to be the same shape....... just larger and it had turned green. I'm assuming they are young cones. I found a photo of an unknown pine with pink "baby pine cones".

JayC

Glider

Yes, they're male flowers. After a time, you'll notice a lot of yellow powder on and around the tree at these flowers release pollen. They seem to relase huge amounts of the stuff and it gets everywhere.

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anttal63

thanks glider yes of course and cones next after the pollination.

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Antonio . . .
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tachigi

Some advise as it was taught to me about flowers. ..... No sex before a fight.....it is best to remove these. Anything that a tree produces that is not geared towards its development as a bonsai is energy wasted.

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Tom

Shady Side Bonsai
Bonsai Vault
4MAAT

anttal63

thanks for reply tom. as simple as a tweezer?

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Antonio . . .
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GaryS

Japanese white pines usually do cone heavily most years. My garden trees
coned so heavily last fall I got over 500 viable seeds that I germinated this Spring.

They form at the tips of the branches as is illustrated in your photos.
Normally, the candles are pinched so they don't form.

They put alot of energy into making seed so I would just pick them off a bonsai.

Here's some pics I just snapped outside of some one year cones that will mature next Fall and some one year seedlings from Pinus parviflora "glauca brevifolia".

Attached Images

	ppar_gla_brevseedl01web.jpg (53.1 KB, 23 views)
	ppar_gla_brevseedl02web.jpg (53.0 KB, 15 views)
	conesbrevifoliaweb.jpg (33.3 KB, 21 views)

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GaryS

Vonsgardens

Gary,
Have you done this before? I am wondering how variable the seedlings were. John

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