A few pines for Auntie

Apologies, these are just Black pines I grew from seed, and they are just healthy, not spectacular.
Khaimraj


Born around 86 or 87 Around 40 cm / 16 inches


Born around 94 or so Around 30 cm / 12 inches


around 23 cm / 9 inches


just growing, no training


around 15 cm / 6 inches


about 2 years old


Latest batch and last year's child in training [ plastic cactus point is 2/5 cm / 1 inch ]

As one who has never grown a tree from seed, very impressive.

Dear Nephew

Your trees look very nice healthy I am sure they will become nice bonsaitrees in the future....

Have you thought about sacrificebranches to make the trunks fat?, it could be a good idea.

I do this to my pines at home...I have a small shohin in the buttom, and from about the half hight of the finished trunk, do I on the backside of the tree have a looong sacrificetop....it is standing like an umbrella high ower the tree, it looks like it works. This summer will I try to find a sacrificebranch on the lowest branch, very close to the trunk, to speed up the trunksice even further.

Kind regards Yvonne

Khaimraj,
Coming along very nicely.
Jerry

Hello to All,

Carolee, thank you.

Auntie, the first tree, if you look carefully has had quite a few sacrificial branches, over the years. However, sometime in I think 2010, there was a discussion about Bonsai trunk proportions, and those of old trees in nature.
The idea being that Bonsai trunk proportions might be too extreme as width goes. So I have stepped back a bit on trunk fattening, and am presently looking into slimmer trunks, and if the illusion might still work.
Might just be a wasted thought and wasted time, but I do wonder about how much is tradition and how much is natural.

Jerry, coming from you, a big thank you.
Later.
Khaimraj

very nice result sir
pine tree bonsai are very new items here, in thailand. I'm also try on them now.

Dear Nephew

There are so many styles, and types...also does it depend on the owners taste....I have a small fat japanese acer shohin...and a slim elegant tall clumpstyle dito.

The pines I grow for small shohin will become fairly fat,this is my taste....I have a very old norwegian pinus sylvestris kifu, who was found slim with old bark...I did not try to chance this, I just do my best to keep the crown and needles small.

You have decided to let your tree first tree grow up to be a slim kifu...I am sure you will in time, have a nice elegant tree....The next tree is smaller and fatter...maybe our taste look a little the same, I just like more fat.

Really fat trees are not that natural. To me, is this a matter of bonsaitaste....some trees are being grown very fat the younger years This way will they have startet up a better nebari from the beginning....We all know trees want to grow from the top, and leave the lower part behind, and even drop the lowest branches...
Starting a bonsai up, with growing it strong on the lowest part, will it take much longer before the top takes ower, and maybe even create a wrong taper...and if you do a good job, will the top never take ower, but be kept in ballance with the lower part of the tree.....And then again, are there other styles, who need other decisions from the owner.

Kind regards Yvonne

My dear friend Khaimraj, I am happy to see you again!
These pines are one more new chance for me to admire your dedication and patience, as I have done so in the past with some other trees of yours, as well as with your advice out of your personal wisdom and experience.





P.S.: Perhaps, it will be a satisfaction for you to know that I have also started some plants from seed. The wrightias are growing happily. However, the japanese larch has not yet sprout seedlings, but I still hope the seeds are alive and even belated they will come out of the soil...

Hello to All,

Auntie,

growing pines in the Tropics, alters some of the normal responses seen in Japan and possibly Denmark, I never get candling, and growth slows for November to December's end, but never stops. So if we both look at the notes from Bonsai Today, you should see that I can practice needle thinning, but have to make up the rest of the practice.

A was explained to me, Japanese black pines, grow all the way down to the seashore and are able to thrive in zone 10. I however suspect that this pine might have started of life some where in Southern China as well, for they grow easily in the West Indies [ Caribbean ] as do many, many Chinese imported plants.
I am very grateful for this, as the Pinus honduras/caribbean, is not so easily trained, though they do grow well, and I will have to find a source of multi-branching specimens as this is a pine for lumber. Which means, one long trunk and very, very few branches, but back to Japanese black pines.

If you look carefully at the 2nd and the 3rd trees, you will note that the trunks are both around 4 cm [ 1 1/2 inches ], I follow the rule of thumb or 2.5 cm to 13 or 15.5 cms [ 1 inch to 5 or 6 inches ] of height.
So I should in under 5 years hit trunk proportion and if I am lucky in 2 years with the 3rd tree.
I found by accident that copper wire wound around a branch or trunk will cause the tree to expand the bark around the wire. Before any real harm is done, the wire is removed and the tree very quickly refills the empty area. This also like the sacrificial branch, will thicken a trunk.
See the little pine in the plastic cactus pot.[ last image ]

I need to spend more time, on back budding, as the branches tend to get very thick as time goes by, and keep extending. I will have to do as the Bonsai Today notes show, cut back to a bud and restart branches.

To Alexandra -
This year makes it 32 to 33 years, I have been growing Bonsai. Alexandra, you tend to get very laid back with regards to growing trees. I turned 50 in February, and started off some pine seed to note the half a century.
A friend from the US, in New Jersey, sent me some Fukien tea seeds, the smallest leaf, so I have even more 'children' to look after.
Additionally, the Sageretia t. are always dropping seed, and now I have my own stock to keep harvesting.
I never really went away, just very busy and a friend does digital images for me, and he has been very, very, occupied.

Pongsatorn.k

Should I address you as K, would your name follow the Chinese practice of family name first, then name?
I encourage to get some seed and try your hand. Try sifted crushed sifted sharp sand [ builders sand ] and 10 cm deep earthenware pots as the germinating medium and container.
Just Khaimraj, no sir please.
Until later all.
Stay Well.
Khaimraj

Hi Khaimraj

It is nice you let us know your future plans for the trees. I am happy you understand the danger of too fat branches compared to the trunk, wich is so hard to avoid.

Good luck with your trees, and please keep us updated.

Kind regards Yvonne