Getting some pines

Hello

I'm thinking of buying a few small pines mail order from a specialist conifer nursery. I'm going to wait until the autumn as don't fancy plants being transported in this heat.

Thinking of a couple of JWP (Adcock's dwarf, kokonoe) for short needles and possibly a P.densiflora 'low glow' because it looks nice, but may not.

What are your thoughts on using miniature cultivars for bonsai? I've always avoided them in the past; my thoughts were that they would be less resistant to heavy pruning due to slow growth rate. But then thats the way with a lot of pines anyway...

Don't really want to plant them out, thinking of keeping them potted to slow growth so they develop better bark. What are your thoughts on this?

Cheers

Miniature and dwarf pine cultivars are very tempting, but very touchy. I have killed my share of them.
I would caution you to avoid them until you have experience growing the standard forms. (Not doing so is an expensive way to learn.)
That said, if you are willing to gamble, go for it.
I am not familiar with other varieties of Japanese white pine, but 'Zuisho' hasn't given me any trouble. I don't think it is available over there. The only miniature mugo pine I would recommend is 'Short Needle,' but you have to be careful. It is so easy to kill these tiny ones.
Iris

You might find they have poor grafts at the base and a lot of these varieties that have different coloured foliage are usually poor dooers. if its the nursery im thinking about they are expensive for small trees , i would be looking to pay only £3 -£4 for such a size .

bonsaisr wrote:Miniature and dwarf pine cultivars are very tempting, but very touchy. I have killed my share of them.
I would caution you to avoid them until you have experience growing the standard forms. (Not doing so is an expensive way to learn.)
That said, if you are willing to gamble, go for it.
I am not familiar with other varieties of Japanese white pine, but 'Zuisho' hasn't given me any trouble. I don't think it is available over there. The only miniature mugo pine I would recommend is 'Short Needle,' but you have to be careful. It is so easy to kill these tiny ones.
Iris

Hi Iris, yes they do stock zuisho somtimes but don't have any at the moment. May leave it in that case or look for natural, robust forms

tim stubbs wrote:You might find they have poor grafts at the base and a lot of these varieties that have different coloured foliage are usually poor dooers. if its the nursery im thinking about they are expensive for small trees , i would be looking to pay only £3 -£4 for such a size .

I did think about the grafts being a problem, and they were in the range of £15-18 which is probably a bit steep. Can you recommend a place to get small, c5 year old white pines?

cheers