Pine, but which?

Is it too early too tell what Pine this is?
I live in the Western Cape, South Africa.

I've noticed that the top needles are drooping a bit, lately.

Looks like a Black Pine Seedling to me...

That would be great, but there were quite a few long needled pines and one or two with much shorter needles in the area where this seedling was found. (on my mothers property). Is it safe to say that this is NOT a long needled pine?

They all look the same at this point in my experience.

Is it safe to say that this is NOT a long needled pine?

A bit early...

Thanks owl, I thought so too. But as I have no experience with pines as of yet, I thought it was worth a try to ask.

LARCH perhaps.

It's definitely a Pine as to which one is almost impossible to tell at this point.  From the picture it has as yet not developed any true needles and without that rudimentary sign all you can really say is that it is a Pine.  Is the pine accidental and it just showed up one day?  If so you should check out if there are any Pines near you that have cones on them.   Odds are it is nothing exotic to your area.  As to the drooping needles.  It is possible you are starting to suffer from photophytora (Sp?) a fungus disease that goes after young Pines.  Dust it with a little Captan a mild fungicide.

Yes Vance, there are various pines in the surroundings. More long needled than short, though. Will look into the mild fungicide, thank you.

LARCH perhaps

Highly doubt a Larix to be popping up in South Africa, but that does bring up a good point, Bolas, the more accurate statement I suppose would be it is something in the Pinaceae family in general. As Vance mentioned, keep us posted when you get some true needles, or by then you might be able to ID your own self . -Jacob

Shayn wrote:Yes Vance, there are various pines in the surroundings. More long needled than short, though. Will look into the mild fungicide, thank you.

The only short needled Pine you MIGHT find in your area would be Scots Pine. They are self seeding to a point in some places they are considered an invasive species. Everything els is going to be what you commonly see near you and I have not idea what those might be. As to Larch???? You would have a better chance finding them growing on the Moon.

You will be able to narrow it down when it develops a bit more. Until then it is entirely pointless to try. Give it three months. Then go here:

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/152.html

Wow guys thanks so much for the replies. Never expected it to be honest.
Yeah I will definitely keep this thread updated. Regarding the fungus, would it be wise to re-pot this into a more suitable soil-mix?
Its currently in what I would assume to be 100% sand.

Planning on using  60% potting soil, 30% coarse river sand, 10% peat.
I'm not able to get hold of akadama and cat litter is not an option here.

What you see ontop of the soil in the image is just potting soil I have thrown over the top so that there is some nutrients of sorts flowing to the roots.

Shayn wrote:Wow guys thanks so much for the replies. Never expected it to be honest.
Yeah I will definitely keep this thread updated. Regarding the fungus, would it be wise to re-pot this into a more suitable soil-mix?
Its currently in what I would assume to be 100% sand.

Planning on using  60% potting soil, 30% coarse river sand, 10% peat.
I'm not able to get hold of akadama and cat litter is not an option here.

What you see ontop of the soil in the image is just potting soil I have thrown over the top so that there is some nutrients of sorts flowing to the roots.

No because the Phytofatora fungus is endemic in all soils. This disease just happens to go after seedlings. Sometimes it is called stem rot.

A 2 needle pine commonly used in South Africa, and much of the the sub-tropics and tropics for timber production is Pinus radiata. Also there are are number of hybrid pines with P. radiata as a parent frequently used for timber and pulp production. So keep P. radiata on the candidate list for your seedlings. P. radiata has been used for bonsai - works almost as well as Japanese Black pine, techniques to use would be the same as for Japanese Black Pine.

Best cure for Phytophthora infections is to change the growing conditions. More light and more air movement will keep Phytophthora (water molds) down. Move your seedlings to full sun if they are not in full sun already. If they are indoors add a fan to the growing area. To prevent Phytophthora, foliage must be dry in less than 4 hours after watering. It takes roughly 4 hours for a spore to germinate and penetrate the epidermis of a pine needle. Fungicides will help, but modifying the environment will help avoid the problem all together.

This is what the needles are currently looking like on this seedling. Just snapped a quick picture earlier today.

Shayn wrote:This is what the needles are currently looking like on this seedling. Just snapped a quick picture earlier today.

It is a two needle pine near as I can tell so it probably is a Monterey Pine Pinus Radeata. .

That's great, thanks guys! I just hope I have moved it to better conditions to fix the hanging needles.