Buddhist Pine

Hi everyone, I bought this lovely Buddhist pine from a home improvement store. I would like to separate out some of the individual trunks and i was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on it, should i wait for spring or can i just go ahead now? Anything else you can add is a bonus, as I've never worked with this species before.

Wait for spring. That plant is VERY young. In the spring repot into bonsai soil, and . . .

Unless you would plan this as a clump style bonsai, you will have to select one, two, or three of those stems as the future trunk(s) and get rid of the others. They're not tremendously fast growers, so it will be several years before the trunk lignifies (gets woody) and you can start doing some bonsai training.

And LATE spring is best.

Thanks Jim, No rush so spring it is. I will probably select the largest trunk and put it out in a shady spot over the summer. Or if i get around to making a shade enclosure, it will go in that.

One more thing, when you say get rid of do you mean just cut them down to the soil line or, when i re-pot, should I separate them at the root level

They probably won't separate.  I'd cut them off flush.  They WILL sprout roots as cuttings, though, but up where you are nurturing them to bonsaihood may be difficult.  

As far as putting them outside goes, they are remarkably hardy (one of mine has survived 4 degrees F so far this year), but put them in FULL sun.  They demand light.

Note that I do not recommend such low temperatures for Podocarpus. It's just that I can no longer lift this one. My other tree is inside.

Never hurts to try with the cuttings. I have a grow light and a humidity dome and was looking into getting a heating mat. Any recommendations other than that? And the reason i say in part shade is because they will be inside for about 6-7 months every year, didn't want them getting to used to full sun and be overly deprived when they come back in.

didn't want them getting to used to full sun and be overly deprived when they come back in.

Don't think it works that way.

I was always curious. I have an experiment with a crassula that i started the summer past to see if there was any merit to this advice