Found Pinus Sylvestris dwarf

[Fjordland]

Hi. My first post on Bonsai Nut. I mainly dabble with maples so please forgive my many questions.

I found this Pinus Sylvestris dwarf in my garden some years ago. It has very small and short needles. It was growing in some mulch on top of a weed cloth. It’s been in this pot for about three years now.

Is it the growing conditions that has made it be this way? Will it revert to being a regular Pinus Sylvestris given better conditions? Does this look like a good start for a bonsai? Should I put it in granular bonsai soil now? Should I pinch the new shoots now to promote better ramification? I was planning to split the trunk and give it some movement, but I guess that ship has sailed already.

Also it seem to sprout a new tree from the roots. Is this normal?

 

[shohin_branches]

Before doing any styling the best thing would be to scrape the surface soil away until you find the root flare of your tree. Pines don't sucker from the base so I'm guessing it's planted too deep. Find the start of your tree first.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I'm always hoping people found a small needle cultivar but if I stop giving mine any nutrients and limit the root space, it tends to make 1cm needles.

Would yours change if you change the conditions? Maybe! Give it a try!

 

[rockm]

FWIW. dwarf cultivars are not really great bonsai subject. It’s counterintuitive.

Those varieties tend to grow slower and less vigorously than the “main” species. It can take a very long time to get meaningful results. Kingsville boxwood is a case in point. It can take triple the time to develop into bonsai than a regular boxwood variety

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I have one variety that was sold to me with the note "It's not a scots pine, but it is pinus sylvestris, it just never produces large needles like scots pines do".
And that one is growing as fast as all of my other scots pines.

They exist, but I don't know where it's from nor what caused the needles to stay this small.

Anyhow, interesting to watch! If you know where it was found in nature, I'd go back and see if you can find the mother tree and see if the seedlings around it show the same traits. Could be fun to set up a shop with them.

 

[Fjordland]

Replanted it. The root flare made me plant it this way. A really big bend on it. I think that might be interesting to work with.

Seems to be vigorous enough. It was much smaller when I put in this pot.

I will put in the ground (if my root pruning just now didn’t already) eventually to see what happens. If the needles stays like this and have decent growth, I will air layer it. Really interesting that you bought one with small needles and normal growth W_G_w.

I have a small pine forest right next to my garden, so there is a lot of pines sprouting here. I always let them grow a bit to see if they might do something interesting.