collected Japanese Black Pine

Hey everyone, this is actually my first post so hello. I have been tyring to find as much bonsai material over the last few years as possible and have really wanted to collect some interesting trees from the wild. I came across some JBP. I know it is a little early to be doing it as I was told late march-april would be the best time, but i couldnt resist, and I didnt know if they would die/get taken out(or thats what i told myself to feel better about it). So they were all found at the beach, growing in sand. They were all fairly small and could be "gently" lifted out of the ground. I know this is not the proper way to things but i had no choice. I wrapped them up in wet cloth and into a plastic bag untill i got home. I figured their best chance of survival would be in the sand they were living in so i took some of that too. I potted them in the sand and put them next to my house because i figured its a little warmer by the beach so a little warmer next to my house, IDK....Im a noob at this so any advice would be appreciated. I can post pics once my camera battery charges.

BTW I am not 100% sure they are JBP, but i'm pretty sure they are.

I really need some help with this. There is about to be a lot of snow in my area...Should i bring them into a cold, protected from wind/snow room but has minimal light? should i try and put them in the ground(unlikely), should i just bring them inside?, I watered them and sprayed them, to help with shock maybe but now i am thinking it may have been a bad idea in general especially with the freezing coming...Please help!

reusername wrote:I really need some help with this. There is about to be a lot of snow in my area...Should i bring them into a cold, protected from wind/snow room but has minimal light? should i try and put them in the ground(unlikely), should i just bring them inside?, I watered them and sprayed them, to help with shock maybe but now i am thinking it may have been a bad idea in general especially with the freezing coming...Please help!

Hello reusername. They certainly look like JBP, even the buds. They should be ok in extreme weather but somewhere sheltered will do fine. Shed or garage.

Thanks Will, I see you live in Suffolk, I'm from Nassau. Do you happen to have JBP, if so what type of soil/medium are they in. Will the sand i took from the beach do? or will that not drain well enough?

I came across some JBP.

One doesn't often find Japanese black pine just growing haphazardly in New York -- or at least I don't think one does. They are, after all, NOT native to the area, and I have never heard of them naturalizing over here and escaping into the wild.

So, I assume these were growing on your property? Or, if not, that you had permissions to dig them up? If not, you have to assume that someone planted them there -- for a reason????

Well, these young ones were def not planted where i found them. They were on the side of a parking lot. Im not sure whether or not i was able to take them, but i made the decision. It was at a place where there were many other growing. Chances are I could have gotten in trouble. I know this is not the righ tthing to do, but in my defense they could have easily been killed easily by someone.

do you know a good place in the LI area I can go collect trees?

reusername wrote:Thanks Will, I see you live in Suffolk, I'm from Nassau. Do you happen to have JBP, if so what type of soil/medium are they in. Will the sand i took from the beach do? or will that not drain well enough?

You could put the seedlings in a soil thats a bit more open (larger particles). Air spaces are very important for the health of the roots.

thanks, I think I will try one in sand from the beach and one in soil

reusername wrote:Thanks Will, I see you live in Suffolk, I'm from Nassau. Do you happen to have JBP, if so what type of soil/medium are they in. Will the sand i took from the beach do? or will that not drain well enough?

That would be Suffolk, U.K. !

John Quinn wrote:

reusername wrote:Thanks Will, I see you live in Suffolk, I'm from Nassau. Do you happen to have JBP, if so what type of soil/medium are they in. Will the sand i took from the beach do? or will that not drain well enough?

That would be Suffolk, U.K. !

We don't need sunglasses in the UK John

Welcome.

reusername wrote:thanks, I think I will try one in sand from the beach and one in soil

I wouldn't suggest using beach sand. It is much too fine -- and probably muct too salty.

The pine you have is more likely to be Virginia pine, a native 2-needle pine. It resembles JPBs. Some nice bonsai have been created from them. It's biggest advantage is that it backbuds readily.

I am no pine expert, but I'm from NYC. I would guess that two-needle pine seedlings naturalized in a Nassau County parking lot are either Scots pine, P. sylvestris, or Austrian pine, P. nigra. Don't worry about getting permission, they are weeds. However, they have a long way to go to be bonsai. Plant them in the ground and feed them well for several years. Get some books out of the library. Join the Long Island Bonsai Society, and contact Marty Haber, the doyen of Long Island bonsai, haberm@optonline.net.
Iris

Hm, well thank you all, very interesting, im a bit confused now, only because i thuoght it was a JBP, oh well. I was thinking about putting them in the ground once it gets a bit warmer, and i guess i can figure out what they are as they grow. Thanks for the advice on LIBS. I think i may join with BSGNY because im going to school at farmingdale right now, where they meet. BUt i also live right near planting fields so maybe i will do both. As a local NYer, can you suggest any good places to collect, or any good nurseries around?

reusername wrote:As a local NYer, can you suggest any good places to collect, or any good nurseries around?

There are very few trees native to Long Island that are suitable bonsai material, and they have probably been picked over long ago. Keep an eye out for Japanese maple seedlings. They pop up in the suburbs and make good bonsai material in a relatively short time. I haven't been on Long Island in many years, so I don't know about nurseries. Ask Marty Haber or one of those bonsai clubs.
Iris

So a little update, i'm pretty sure they are JBP. Obviously they are not native to LI but they have seeded themselves throughout it, I did ask someone with a very impressive bonsai nursery on the island, so they would know. The more I look, the more I see them, many were planted, but you can usually tell the difference. They are all mostly windswept, very nice trees.