Slash Pine Help

madwhitehat

This is a Slash Pine that my friend and I collected in SW Florida. We see alot of potential in the structure of the tree, and we would like to know how you all think we should proceed in training it. Also, what kind of pot would be best? Any help and/or virtuals would be appreciated. Thanks.

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FredL

Here in Arkasas, I'm making a major investment in time and effort on our native Short Leaf Pines, which are another of the Southern Yellow Pines, though, as the name suggests, possessed of much shorter needles. I'm getting to like these pines tremendously and I feel they show great promice as Bonsai. I must admit, however, to reservations about Slash Pine and I'd be reluctant to start on one because of the length of the needle. With that said, it is true that Ponderosa Pines, which also have long needles, are being used to produce some excellent Bonsai, both where they are native anfd outside their native range.

I guess it would be fair to say, I have mixed feelings about Slash Pine.

Fred

madwhitehat

Let me worry about the long needles. I'm looking for help with the trunk and branches. Thanks anyway.

dbz12fan

Slash pines are an interesting bonsai subject in Florida. I have never tried one myself, but I have heard good things about them. We had one displayed at the BSF convention that had the needles cut. Usually the needles will brown in a couple of hours if cut, but the owner used some chemical that prevented it. I wish I knew what the chemical was, but I was never told the name.

What part of Florida are you from?

__________________
"Success demands understanding"-Andy Rutledge

Charles Bevan
Vero Beach, Fl

madwhitehat

We are in Charlotte County.

bnsaijim

One should approach this pine much as you would a Japanese Black Pine. My two observations from flirting with this species:

Slash is not as prolific a back budder. Do not be overly aggressive in your application of techniqe. The bark however appears to develop very desirable characteristics at a relatively young age. More than a few of those buds you now have may decide to die back in favor of top-dominant growth.

As for virtuals and all that, you are putting the cart before the horse with your requests. I'm sure someone can put a mop of pine foliage somewhere beyond your first bend, maybe a statutory sub-mop here and there to right or left, in some sort of soft-triangle profile, however this will be of little use beyond some sort of private self gratification for you and perhaps the composer.

All of which you ar eperfectly capable of yourself with the basic packaged software on any pc. I'll send you a mop jpeg if you like.

Point is, you have a tree that does not really say anything at this point- no "go this way or that way". You have one branch of any significance at the first crook that may or may not be useful.

Overall, this is good because you can make the decisions...

I.e., it's less important that WE decide where to stick branches that don;t exist yet and more for YOU to.

Since you seem to profess to know something of pine technique I'll limit my comments to general styling guidance...

I would say an upright style is certainly still possible given what is already there- the visible base, low branches and the start of decent taper- just some straightening effort.

The easiest route, of course is an informal upright. I would say a very masculine image because of the taper and the bark features. You could also still probably introduce bends...

Regardless of style I think it will need to be as tall as possible because of the needle issue, else you end up with a "big hairy ball". This will possibly also require you to have a more open structure - i.e., no "xmas" pine or tight canopy- more open and literati-like.

My immediate styling recommendations- decide on the final height and rough image- i.e., formal or informal upright. Establish your leader based on that.

Keep all lower branches for later use or as sacrifice, focus on diverting strength to them rather than the tree's top (balance). You may need to remove the weakest ones at the first bend as to minimize the resultant "knob". Until it's final try and keep a spare branch at all points. You are really 3-5 years from a defined image and probably 7-10 from a true presentable bonsai.

Your ultimate pot choice will be driven by the tree's final image. If you must have something, I'd say Mica, brown and large.

Sincerely,

Jim Stone
Galveston, TX

Attila

A very important decision that you have to make before you start shaping this tree is to decide what will be the final height of the finished tree. This will influence all the decisions you make afterwards, including the diameter of the lower trunk, the selection of branches for the future design and the selection of sacrifice branches.

The second choice you would make at this stage is whether or not you are planning for a straight, upright tree, or for a trunk with lots of movement. Your tree would lend itself to both, so it's up to you to decide.

I like this tree because it has lots of low branches, so there are lots of options open.

Thaining young pines is a very complex process since you are growing sacrifice braranches side by side with the branches you will keep (unlike with deciduous trees, where you work on the trunk first and develop the branches later). The pruning of these two types of branches is very different. The sacrifice ones you let grow straight out, as far as possible from the body of the tree, with most of the foliage toward the end of the branch (so it doensn't block the light from the 'good' branches). As to the branches you will keep, you will do quite the opposite: candle-prune them and also pull the needles where necessary, to redirect the energy and develop lots of ramification close to the trunk.

Thinking about what kind of bonsai pot you will be using is way too early.

Regards,
Attila