Pine Rooting Question

Whimsical

OK, time for my next question. I live in zone 9 central Florida along the east coast. This severely limits my ability to work with true pines as bonsai(atleast to my knowledge). Some say that jap black pines will grow here, but Gary Fu of the Penjing Gardens says he has tried numerous times without success. The heat just cooks the roots in the summer.

I know of a short leafed pine named sand pine that grows here natively. Its very finicky to collect cause they grow almost completely in pure sand. But, I have managed to do a few from some smaller trees(something Gary hasn't even been able to do). They are a 2 needle pine and they are kind of sparse, but still within the realms of bonsai. I happen to know where a couple witch's brooms are located at. Can anyone tell me a sure-fire detailed approach to rooting pines?
Like what mediums to use, moisture level, estimated time, time of year to collect, largest size of branch to use. I have never had much luck rooting narrow-leaf evergreens, due to lack of proper information.

Thanks for any insights.

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TreeBay

You want to air layer them, not try and root cuttings, particularly in your climate. Pine cuttings would require perfect timing, bottom heat, fungicide, mist, etc.

Some conifers could take awhile to layer. 1 to even two seasons, so you are probably best off collecting the mother plant and establishing it first, so you can tend and protect the layer in your own environment.

Regards,

Matt

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Whimsical

Yikes Matt,
I don't think I have a grow bed big enough for a 40 foot tree
Witch's brooms typically grow about 25 feet up in these trees. And, there not easy trees to climb to begin with. Do you think going out to the site and placing an airlayer to collect in a year or so would work? I have never found a witch's broom on a tree small enough to collect.

As for the cuttings, I do actually have a hydroponic background, but I don't have a mister rooting chamber. Do you think it could be done using very oxidized water in a bubbler system? Or, would that be overkill on the moisture for a pine. I could probably even throw a mister system together pretty cheap in a small hand bucket, providing I can get a hold of the misters. But, I would probably rather go with the onsite airlayering if you think it would work more reliablely.

TreeBay

I think an on-site layer would work best. You can take some cuttings at the same time if you like and try to root them in sand with periodic mist.

I have never seen a hydroponic pine (Growing in bubbling 02 water with media blocks) but there is always a first.

Regards,

Matt.

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Whimsical

Oh I thought you were speaking of a net suspended bottom mister system. If I were to try rooting cuttings I would probably want to do this in my coldest month, right? Do you know about what humidity range I should keep it at? And, the airlayer I would probably start right now?

I see you also live a zone 9. Can you name any pines or possiblely spruce(highly unlikely) that will grow in this climate that do well for bonsai that I may be able to mail order?