Tropical ----------Japanese Black Pine

Morning to All, [ to encourage ]

These are not even close to pre-bonsai.
Only putting them here so others who grow [ hopefully better ] J.B.Pines will respond and to show that it can be done or others will try.

Very little or no training, just learning to grow them. Ages from a few months to about 16 plus years.
Soil is sifted silica based construction grade sand and a little compost [ 10 to 20 %] and a few tests with crushed sifted porous red earthenware hollow clay block for building.

Every year I try something different take notes and observe. Slow process, but I don't kill them. Presently testing the Japanese ideas seen in Bonsai Today, for surface roots and faster trunk expansion.

Every year I purchase two or 3 seed packs [ Dallas Bonsai - on-line ] has two offerings of Black Pines, and leave the new pack in the crisper / refrigerator door, for the next year. Fulfills the 3 month requirement of cold treatment, germination in a sand based sterile medium is after 10 days. Placement is full sun.

*** DO NOT USE CLAY AND MANURE MIX IT WILL KILL THEM !!! ***

we have one guy who did this, he got rapid growth in 4 or 5 years to 2 feet [ 61 cm ], his pines are all dead. Clay is not akadama, it will suffocate the roots of almost any tree or shrub in a pot.

1 year seedlings and onwards - placement -- full tropical sun.
Khaimraj [ as usual feel free to say yay or nay ]


A few months and maybe 2 years old



2 or 3 years



2 or 3 years



You have seen this before



My largest and oldest

very thank you for this very good example for pine lover in tropic!. I must follow you... now I have JBP seed in hand... previous try are all die ... must try again with the rest of 10 seeds

best regards,
Pongsatorn.K

I live in a tropical region too, Malaysia, I love pine tree. Bought a few pine seedling during he 90ties, kill all of them, do know anything about them. With the hot and wet weather here it is very challenging to grow japanese black pine here.

Year 2009 make try again with some seedling, but this time with a lot of reading. From my experience from then, they need very good draining potting mix. They do not do well if expose to hot afternoon tropical sun and the rain that can last for days in Malaysia. Water them only when the potting mix is about to dry, they do not like wet soil everyday.

Hello to all of you,
I live in the Dallas Tx area and the summer time here is awful with temps at or above 100deg everyday for many weeks, and sometimes months.
My JBPs are in full sun all the time which is something they need. I of course wrap the pot with a towel so it doesn't get too hot and damage the root system. I use very coarse akadama, lava, and pumice in my bonsai mix, and because of this I will need to water sometimes 3 times a day. I'm sure you could do the same, and if too much rain is happening for a period of time, I'm sure an overhead protection of some sort would work. Here are a few of my JBPs in various stages.

Khaimraj,,IS there anything you can,t grow??? Those pines are looking good.. i really like the one with the tie down wire on it!! i tried a couple,,there is a lot of work with the needles ect. good work with them take care john

You probably won't believe this but I was there.
This spring we had some strong wind and one of my JBP seedlings were blown away and fell out of the pot. The root ball was basically loose. So my Mom planted it in pure cow manure we got from Lowe's and she didn't tell me. Just last month I noticed that was the biggest one in all of my 30+ seedlings......The trunk is about half an inch think already. It's only a little over two years old.

Still not showing photos? Here is the link....
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1422688234624864&set=a.1422688181291536.1073741830.100006511042014&type=3&theater

roberthu526 wrote:You probably won't believe this but I was there.
This spring we had some strong wind and one of my JBP seedlings were blown away and fell out of the pot. The root ball was basically loose. So my Mom planted it in pure cow manure we got from Lowe's and she didn't tell me. Just last month I noticed that was the biggest one in all of my 30+ seedlings......The trunk is about half an inch think already. It's only a little over two years old.

Robert.

please try again.
Thank you.
Khaimraj

Thank you Dorothy!

dorothy7774 wrote:

roberthu526 wrote:You probably won't believe this but I was there.
This spring we had some strong wind and one of my JBP seedlings were blown away and fell out of the pot. The root ball was basically loose. So my Mom planted it in pure cow manure we got from Lowe's and she didn't tell me. Just last month I noticed that was the biggest one in all of my 30+ seedlings......The trunk is about half an inch think already. It's only a little over two years old.

Great idea for the tropicals.
Could u tell me where to buy seeds of jbp
I would try this in my tropical area
I read in joyti and nikuj parekh book titled wonder world of tropocal bonsai that pinus roxburghii can be grown in whole of indian subcontinent .i.e. from kashmir to bombay
Subject to keeping in cool shady area and watering whenthe top soil drys

Aman,

for the first few years of their life JBP's should be grown in earthenware pots. Starting with 7.5 to 10 cm pots after the first year. Soil should be 4 to 5mm sand with something like compost, cured manure or cocopeat.
70% inorganic soil mix.
Placement is full sun.

I get my seeds from Bonsaiboy off Amazon.com.
So if you have a friend or family in the U.S or Canada, they can ferry them across to you. You can also buy in bulk from the U.S. or Canada.
You may also be able to get them from the U.K. [ Morgan seeds I believe. or Chiltern seeds [ on-line ] ]

If you go to AUSbonsai, look in the Pine section, someone figured out a way to make cuttings off of the seedlings, so you might only need to purchase seeds once, and the just go to cuttings indefinitely.
Later.
Khaimraj [ lowest Winter temperature 15 deg.C Average 20 to 19 deg.C at night for possibly 12 hrs. ]

Thanks