Field-grown Scot's Pine, free to pick up in NL,

[Glaucus]

I've field grown a bunch of Pinus sylvestris seedlings that were collected from the local forest. Started in 2012 or so.

I have one left. I tried to grow taper on the trunk.
I could grow this one out for 2 or 3 more years. But I don't think I will put it in a bonsai pot myself.
I believe the trunk is about 20 cm in diameter.











I grew some ok taper. But there is no movement in the main trunk and I partially botched getting design branches. They got very leggy and long. Some have some weak internal buds closer to the trunk, though. This year, I tried to do the Telperion farms trick to needle pluck without pruning out the leaders, but reducing whirls to just 1. In mid August. This gave me no backbudding at all. The years before, I tried to prune back new shoots to 8 pairs of needles ealry August to get backbudding, and that didn't work either. There are some weak internal buds on some of the branches. I wonder if I should prune back to those weak buds next year on most of the branches. But I also need to nurture the new leader. It currently has 1 new sacrificial leader which potentially can be grown to be 2 meters tall in the next 5 years, to make the trunk fatter. The old leader used to be about 2 meters or so, but was removed.
The scars of the sacrificial branches have not always been properly carved out to be concave. Some are stubs that should still be carved out concave. Others I just left how i pruned them off.
Some of the bark also seems like it wants to flake off.

Another issue is that I never used a grow bag. It was replanted at a different spot at least 2 or 3 times. But without a grow bag, it just grows long roots. So no good for nebari.

Since this is my only pine, I wonder if I should dig it up and put it in a grow back, and spend a few more years on it to develop the branches and the new leader. But if someone has a very good plan for it you are free to come and pick it up.
Otherwise, I guess I will try the grow bag thing this and see if I can sell it for a few bucks when it looks a bit better.

I learned a few things and could potentially field grow pines a lot better now. But I don't feel like putting 20 more in the grown. Focusing on azaleas only, tbh. And sadly, I killed the better looking trunks I had. LIkely because I dug them up too violently and they only had long roots, because again no grow bag. If you are growing pines, 100% use grow bags like Telperion farms and don't be a noob like me.

I have some old pictures of this pine somewhere. But it is very hard to match individual and find this specific one.

I can take better pictures for those who might be interested. And sorry I don't want to give it away to a beginner. No offence.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Where are you located Glaucus?

 

[Glaucus]

Achterhoek, I almost tagged you and Leatherback. There's some more local people on here, but as you know not too many. If you think you can use this one, you can have it.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Achterhoek is quite far from me, but if I'm ever close to that area again anytime soon, I'll let you know.

I want to get better at pine grafting and this specimen would be a nice project to learn on.

 

[leatherback]

Achterhoek is backyard for me. Not sure where you are, but Twente and Achterhoek are geographic neighbours.

I want to get better at pine grafting and this specimen would be a nice project to learn on.

Approach grafting pine is now near certainty on my end, so would have no problem getting foliage closer to the trunk. But getting it transferred into a pot would be the challenge on my end . En then wait at least a year before grafting starts of course.

Maybe we should look into a meeting some day.

 

[Glaucus]

People here get mad if you think Twente is also de Achterhoek (which you didn't do) .

Yes, this is a big boy. You one were to dig this up, you'd probably need a trailer to drive it to your place, which also stresses plants, dries them out because of the draft on a highway. And then put it in a grow box and hope it catches on and recovers. Before you get to work on it.
Therefore, I am thinking about digging it up and putting it in a grow bag next spring. So whoever ends up making it into a bonsai has an easier time with a better root system.
That, and pruning back all the long branches would make transport way easier.

Grafting makes sense. I thought about it but since I have only one tree and I am not planning to get more new pines, it didn't make sense for me to try it for the first and only time.
There are also still too many branches. Which gives you options to worth with.

I feel the new apex and the new leader both need a grow season, though. The new leader has to even out the taper. And the new apex needs to be pruned for backbudding, and it has very immature bark when compared to the trunk.