Collected P. virginiana aka Mugho Wannabe

mistermoyogi

You have seen this tree before on the forum...our club is very fortunate and privileged to soon welcome Vance Wood to West Virginia. He will be teaching a mugho workshop for us this coming summer. I am also looking forward to begin applying his mugho training techniques to this little pine under his watchful eye at that time.

At Vance's direction the plan is to leave the tree as is until mid-summer. The photo. is of the tree as it appears now (first of May here in WV).

Regards,
Tom S.

Attached Images

P. virginiana 2.jpg (60.3 KB, 189 views)

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Bonsai Barry

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Bonsai Barry

"Our talent lies in our choices."

Bonsaifreak

Mistermoyogi:

I like your mugo. It reminds me of my JBP I posted on a previous thread:

http://forum.bonsaitalk.com/showthr...ht=semi-cascade

You seem to have similar plans for your tree. Keep us posted of any future styling.

Jorge

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Mark Twain

mistermoyogi

Hi, Jorge: Thanks and good hearing from you...however, the tree is a Virginia Pine, Pinus virginiana...it is a species native to West Virginia and was collected about 12 years ago from a site had been previously strip mined for coal (we have lots of them here in WV).

Regards,
Tom

Bonsaifreak

Hi Tom:

Yes, I realize it is different sp., I was just referring to the style you are aiming for. Amazing you can find those as yamadori in WV, what's their survival rate after collection?

Regards,

Jorge

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"Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more."
Mark Twain

rockm

This species is very very common in its native range, which is SE Pa. west to West Va., south to N. Alabama and Ga. It grows around here Va. piedmont in thickets. It is not an easy species to collect from my experience, as it tends to grow in extremely poor soil. Old stunted specimens generally grow in the worst soil and have the most free ranging root systems. Trees I tried to collect had thirty to forty foot long root runs before significant feeder roots. Collecting enough roots with them is a problem for me. It might not be the same in other areas--Fred Lynch said he had no problems collecting them, but he was digging up saplings...

Tom has done well with this tree. It's an unnusual species for bonsai and not alot is known about it "in captivity."

mistermoyogi

Jorge: They seem to do very well if they survive the first year or two after collection, which they normally do if given reasonable after care.

Mark: You are spot on with the info. regarding this species...thanks for sharing it.

Don't mean to bore you but this tree does have an interesting story...I will try to be brief. When I first began work at my current job in 1991 I became good friends with a fellow chemist. He knew nothing about bonsai, and at the time I myself had only been into the art for about 6 years. I shared my bonsai experiences with him and he became hooked in a big way. He joined our club and proceeded to build a collection of fine collected species including Virginia pine, red maple, and others. We taught and learned from each other during the coming years. Unfortunately his bonsai road encountered a few road blocks and he has since sold/given away most of his collection. This tree he considered to be his best collected tree and I began caring for it three years ago. I have accompanied him on many collecting trips over the years (please refer to Rock's post - that is exactly the kind of terrain we encountered). I am sad that he is no longer practising bonsai, but I am honored to care for this little pine...end of story...sorry to ramble. If anyone is interested in greater detail regarding collection of Virginia Pine please let me know and I will be glad to forward his e-mail to you.

Tom S.

Bonsaifreak

Thanks Mark and Tom for fascinating information about this species and its yamadori aspects. Is it actually related to Mugo Pine?

Sorry to hear about your friend chemist, I have a hard time imagining what life would be without bonsai (even though I went for 39 years without practing it!). I'm glad this tree found a caring enthusiast!

Best regards,

Jorge

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"Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more."
Mark Twain

rockm

Tom, I think, is referring not to the species' relationship with Mugo, but to the cultivation techniques used on mugo. Two and five needle pines require different pruning regimens to get as much backbudding as possible. Mugo pine techniques (which are two needled, as is this species)that Vance has developed have shown promise for this species.