Pinyon Pines

in order to keep pinyons in pots you need to have a very free potting mix. Walter has some great articles on potting medium that can be applied to any tree. With the right potting medium it is impossible to over water a tree. I plan on doing some scouting for yamadori this weekend. If I find anything interesting I'll post some pics.

I heard this from guys who use 100% Turface, so I'm not so sure about that. It's a desert pine so it kinda makes sense. But I still would love to have one

I live in the Denver metro area and have been collecting Pinyon Pines from southern Colorado for two years now. I was taught how to find and collect these trees from Larry Jackel. I have several that I would sell but not until spring.

I have had great success with either 100% turface or 100% pea gravel. I water them at least twice a day in this climate.

I also have a few ponderosa pine and rocky mountain juniper...send me a message if you are interested...Ill take some pictures when a little more snow melts

Here are a few that I could easily get to...

It's hard to tell from these photos. Does pinyon pine make candles like normal pines, or does it grow more like Italian stone pine and Aleppo pine?
Actually, the desert pines have adult candles, but for bonsai, growers try to keep the juvenile foliage.
Iris

Just came across this. In Bonsai Today Issue #91 ( May/June 2004 ) is a good article about collecting , styling and maintaining a pinon pine

I just came across this thread. I have been collecting Pinons for two years now off property I own in northern Arizona. They are beutiful little trees for Bonsai and seem to take well to being collected. I have colected in the April time frame with great success so far. I start last year with a couple of younger trees and thing year went back to collect a larger tree with a three inch trunk base. I have been caring for this tree very carfully and misting the foliage morning and night to keep it from drying out. Thsi tree was collected three weeks ago and so far it is looking like it is going to make it. The tree has been left in native soil and has a ton of new buds getting ready to burst. In answer to an earlier question Pinon Pine does candle like most other pines. I will try to post a couple of pictures shortly.

Robert

Here are some photos of a couple of Pinons I've collected. The larger one was collected this last April. The smaller one was collected last year around the same time.

I just noticed this thread and thought I would add to the discussion, as I spent 31 years where they are evereywhere!! I tried collecting them from the wold, or even using those collected and sold in local nurseries (those were, without exception, straight and quire useless as bonsa!). Thos collected in the woild did indeed generally have roots running to nearly teh Texas or Colorado borders and did not do very well. In effect, I gave up on them. However, I was able to obtain reforestation pinyon from the NM forestry service -- these were to be used for planting on land needing reforestation -- they were 1 and 2 year seedlings, generally about 1/8 inch caliber. They were actually grown for rNM by teh forestry dept in Colorado, who had obatined/found/?? a fast growing variety of teh species. I put them in a pumice mixrtutrre in 1 gallon pots , let them grow for a year or two and them wired them into small cascade bonsai trainees. They did very well in Albuquerque -- I have since moved to the Portland Oregon area where they remain outdoors and are flourishing -- growing perhaps at twice the rate they did in NM. They are still in the 1 gallon pots and have a caliper of about 1/2 inch in about 4 or 5 yeatrs. A couple will be repotted laster this week into bonsai pots then the other willbe redone next spring.

For those who might wish to work on pinyon pines ina conventiuon workshop setting, Scott Elser of the Portland Bonsai Society willbe conducting a workshop with pinyon pine collected by Randy Knight (Oregon Bonsai) in Sept 14-16, in Vancouver Washington at the Pacific Northwest Bonsai Convention

http://www.portlandbonsai.org/bonsai-conference-overview/