Club Auction Pitch Pine

[Mike132327]

I recently got this Pitch pine from my clubs auction. I fell in love with the twisted look and the start of its craggy bark and had to get it. It reminded me of trees I’ve seen growing out of rocks on a cliff reaching for sun.

I am torn with what to do with it this spring. I’m between planting it in the ground to try to get a little more diameter on the trunk; or go into a smaller container, and begin working on ramification and reduction.

I like the curvy flow the trunk has currently, but it will look much more powerful with another two inches on the base.

I have also been toying with the idea of working it into a more upright position and creating something closer to literati style. This would be more representative of how I see them growing around me.

If I keep the planting angle I would try to bring the the curve back towards the base more and bring the foliage out to the right to create some tension in the design. (I have included a pic I found on google as an example).

Luckily I still have about 2 months to make some decisions. I am trying to get better at keeping up with taking pics as trees progress for my own records, so I am hoping starting this thread keeps me on track. I welcome any input from some more seasoned practitioners that would like to chime in.

 

[Paradox]

This was grown as a cascade, Id keep it a cascade. Trying to bend that size trunk more upright at this stage would be difficult

 

[BrianBay9]

This was grown as a cascade, Id keep it a cascade. Trying to bend that size trunk more upright at this stage would be difficult

Maybe OP can change the planting angle to achieve his literati vision? Roots could prevent that but who knows?

 

[Paradox]

Maybe OP can change the planting angle to achieve his literati vision? Roots could prevent that but who knows?

I dont think you can get a convincing angle on that trunk for that honestly. Imo, it would be kinda weird, reverse "S"

 

[Mike132327]

I dont think you can get a convincing angle on that trunk for that honestly. Imo, it would be kinda weird, reverse "S"

Yeah probably not the route I was going, just something that crossed my mind. I like the cascade I got the tree with that as the plan.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Wow. Great tree. Your first focus should be getting it super strong and robust. When I see yellow needles on a pine (at any time of year) I get nervous.

Regardless, once you get it strong and green, I think the challenge will be to address the rather lazy loopy trunk line. For a pine cascade you want it to look like it has been on a craggy cliff, struggling for survival, with foliage weeping down the cliffside. As such, soft bends will not work as well as abrupt changes in direction of the trunk and branches,

 

[Nybonsai12]

I recently got this Pitch pine from my clubs auction.

Cool tree. LIBS?

I agree with keeping it as a cascade. I haven’t worked with pitch pine but would skip trying to thicken it and instead spend the next season getting it strong and then likely work on refining. Besides, if you want something larger and upright you could always try to seek out a way to collect one yourself.

 

[Mike132327]

Wow. Great tree. Your first focus should be getting it super strong and robust. When I see yellow needles on a pine (at any time of year) I get nervous.

Regardless, once you get it strong and green, I think the challenge will be to address the rather lazy loopy trunk line. For a pine cascade you want it to look like it has been on a craggy cliff, struggling for survival, with foliage weeping down the cliffside. As such, soft bends will not work as well as abrupt changes in direction of the trunk and branches,

Definitely priority 1, pitch pines do tend to have a yellower needle so it isn’t something I was super concerned about. It’s in some kind of bonsai soil/potting mix so I would like to get it into an akadama pumice mix to help drainage. I’m hoping the better soil and a solid fertilizer regime will green it up.

I do agree about the trunk movement. This is the first thing I am planning to tackle style wise. I’m going to try to get that bend to be more dramatic and see if I can work some movement into the upper trunk. I think a sharper angle would compliment the curve lower. Luckily they’re pretty flexible.

 

[Mike132327]

Cool tree. LIBS?

I agree with keeping it as a cascade. I haven’t worked with pitch pine but would skip trying to thicken it and instead spend the next season getting it strong and then likely work on refining. Besides, if you want something larger and upright you could always try to seek out a way to collect one yourself.

Yeah LIBS.

That’s kind of what I was thinking. I have another that’s just raw stock that was collected in Rhode Island that I was already planning to get in the ground for 8-10 years. Gonna try to grow a monster.

I think if I can get the trunk moving more dynamically on this one, the slimmer trunk would look good. That will give me something to work on while the other grows out lol.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Wow. Great tree. Your first focus should be getting it super strong and robust. When I see yellow needles on a pine (at any time of year) I get nervous.

Regardless, once you get it strong and green, I think the challenge will be to address the rather lazy loopy trunk line. For a pine cascade you want it to look like it has been on a craggy cliff, struggling for survival, with foliage weeping down the cliffside. As such, soft bends will not work as well as abrupt changes in direction of the trunk and branches,

Much agreement here. The stove pipe trunk with a looooooong boring even curve needs changed. Drastic suggestion for when tree is stronger is to trunk chop back to strong first upright branch growing from top of lower trunk to eliminate most of that bend and develop lower trunk movement
or cut even lower to the first branch. Another option might be to notch and bend trunk at several places over time so as to not create split bark and death on uncut side of the bends, bends could be increased over time. This would be for a Literati because of the stove pipe trunk with no taper. If not made Literati trunk definitely needs a lot of shortening. None the less you did get a great tree with natural possibilities.