When to repot Pinus Virginiana???

Hello all, title pretty much says it all. From the research I've done other people say they hear it should be treated similar to the mugo pine, but no specifics as to is this just trimming/training or the whole works. Looking for info from someone "whose been there and done that". I know it's not widely used (yet ) but it never hurts to ask. thanks- jacob

I'm far from an authority on pines, but I pot mine when I first see signs of candles forming.

Hey thanks for the info Jim. If i do recall correctly from a former post this is the only pine (virginiana or otherwise) to grace your benches??

Yup. It was a tiny one, and I lost it this winter from failure to protect it in its tiny pot.

Well...I have been trying different things over the last 5 years or so to answer this specific question... At this point I am still not convinced I have all the answers.

Here are some of things I have noted

They are very difficult to move from the ground to a container...I have tried this in the early and late Fall, late winter, early and late spring...with poor results. I going to try summer this year and that maybe the solution??

They are easier to repot from container to container...I have successfully done this in early and late spring... I also plan to try this in the summer this year.

John

oh no Jim, sorry to hear, it was a brutal long winter. Thanks for the info John. Do you mean "from ground" as in collecting, or after collecting and in the ground for recovery? Will under go the task this weekend.

I was mainly referring to ones that I had in a growing bed and tried to move to containers... Years ago I collected several 2-3' seedlings and none survived collection(straight into pots)...So I thought I would try some younger/smaller ones. I collected about 50 seedlings(placed in a growing bed to recover)...around 12" tall. 40 survived collection and remained in my growing beds for several years. They grew well and responded strongly to summer pruning. All the experience I am referring to comes from trying to move those into containers. I tried moving a few at a time over the course of a couple years...ultimately, out of 40 only 8 survived going into containers....20% very disappointing. Although they are very susceptible to tip moth in my area, they appear to be immune to needle cast. But, I still think it is material with potential.

Yes, very difficult to transplant from the ground. I was able to collect several small ones, maybe 2 - 3 years old in feb. larger ones, no luck.

Maybe we can collect them by cutting one side of the root ball and the other side the year later? I plan to try if I ever find something interesting.

I collected 2 February's ago.