Moke’s 6 Year J.B.P. Contest Oddesy

[moke]

I ordered from three different seedsmen my orders were placed in early Nov. 2017.
I am hoping there are some voluminous trees hidden within some of these hundreds of seeds.
I plan on starting my cold stratification on Feb. 14, that’s right Valentine’s Day!!! I figure I can sell this on my wife as lovey stuff and will instantly have her buy in....?
I can’t wait to see where this goes not only with the trees I hope to grow but, watching everyone else’s evolve as well.

“The right vision to a wrong person is like the right seed to the wrong soil”

 

[Bonsai Nut]

If you have any trees you don't like/want, simply sow them in the wild. I hope 100 years from now people will say "well... all these black pines... they come from a bonsai contest way back in 2018... and all the contest wannabes were planted in the wild..."

 

[moke]

If you have any trees you don't like/want, simply sow them in the wild. I hope 100 years from now people will say "well... all these black pines... they come from a bonsai contest way back in 2018... and all the contest wannabes were planted in the wild..."

Cool Idea, definitely going to do that!!! There’s an area me and my family camps at a few times every year, how cool would that be to know you planted some of the trees in the forest you enjoy so much.

@Bonsai Nut, I would also like to personally thank you for all the work and compassion you put into keeping this great site rolling.
Since stumbling upon it a year ago I have visited daily since, And have learned or laughed every visit.
Thanks again YOU ROCK!!!,

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

@Bonsai Nut, YOU ROCK!!!,

Echo that!

 

[sorce]

the trees in the forest

Just be careful cuz usually puttin trees in is just as illegal as taking em out!

One year? Seems longer!

Sorce

 

[moke]

Started soaking my seeds Feb. 2, 2018 to determine how many witches are in my brood of seeds, I believe the witches should be floating after a 24 hour swim?



For the soak solution I used 1 Tbsp. of peroxide : 1 pint of distilled water, to rid of bad Juju's, Gremlins & "pathogens".


I had 3 different seed suppliers,

#1 J.L. Hudson nearly half of the 45 seeds sent were still afloat after 24 hrs.

#2 TreeSeeds.com I soak 100 seeds and only 7 were witches.

#3 F.W. Schumacher 100 seeds soaked 10 floaters.

I did keep all the witches, I'll try and germinate them who knows maybe they are good witches?
I plan on allowing them to stratify for 60 days in the fridge.

 

[moke]

I ended up letting my seeds stratify for around 90 days in the fridge within sphagnum moss inside of a bag and planted them on 4/28/18


They were placed under grow lights and on heat mats, I started seeing sprouts on 5/10/18 from 150 seeds planted I had 137 sprouted.
Germination rate was 91.3%


I let the sprouts grow until 6/3/18 just under a month, before making seedling cuttings with majority of them 75 to be exact. The remainder I will just let grow without cutting. The seedling cuttings were dipped in a gel rooting hormone then dipped in the powder rooting hormone and placed directly into the planting media, no water holding bath I was trying to lessen the absorption of water to hopefully draw more hormone as well as lessen the likelihood of pathogens being introduced.



For media I used a mixture of Lava, Pumice, coarse D.E. purchased from @milehigh_7, akadama, and a little pine bark all sifted to 1/8”-1/4”
I call it Mokes Mutt Blend!!! I made a 1”X 1/2" deep depression then filled it with semi-fine agricultural sand. I then moistened the sand and made a small hole for the cutting to be placed directly into the sand after cutting and hormone dipping.



I used the Rootmaker Propagation Trays 18 cells per tray, I planted 4 trays with cuttings a total of 72 cuttings.

 

[moke]

They were then placed in a green house and have been misted daily for a couple of weeks now, they all are still looking healthy no casulties as of yet.

 

[TyroTinker]

If you have any trees you don't like/want, simply sow them in the wild. I hope 100 years from now people will say "well... all these black pines... they come from a bonsai contest way back in 2018... and all the contest wannabes were planted in the wild..."

My wife and I already planned to graffiti the parks and trails with my wannabes I love this idea

 

[moke]

Here’s a few sneak peek pics, I’ll get some better pics soon. Many are covered in numerous branches and nice chubby trunks developing.
I have roughly 75 seedling cuttings and 30-40 that we’re not cut. The pup in the forth pic down had 8 branches.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Monsters....

 

[moke]

Monsters....

Monsters indeed!!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

 

[moke]

Guess it’s about time to update the pine horde progress. They are growing like mad this spring. I’ve been fertilizing with Grow More and organic mixture in tea bags. We have had a super wet spring this year which for Utah is great since we need all the water we can get, but definitely slowed the pines growth down. Now the weathers getting warmer and dryer, I’m now seeing explosive growth.




My wife calls these guys below the dick pines, check them out and you’ll see why. The balls are spent grinding medium from the ore mills where I work. They help stabilize the pines in the wind and since they are rusty I figure the will provide a little iron?



Most all of them have numerous branches.

 

[moke]

2019 Summertime update:
They have been growing like crazy, I found one that had 10 branches down low, it was a seedling cutting that has been growing very well this summer.




Here's a herd of contest JBP, I have several herds strewn about my yard in different micro climates and they all seem to be growing with different characteristics.

 

[Ryceman3]

These look great. This is the kind of growth I’m hoping to generate when Spring comes around down here. Looks like your fert regime and the weather are a great combo. Very nice!
PS: how are the dick pines doing? Same growth?

 

[moke]

These look great. This is the kind of growth I’m hoping to generate when Spring comes around down here. Looks like your fert regime and the weather are a great combo. Very nice!
PS: how are the dick pines doing? Same growth?

I have been fertilizing with home made cakes and Grow More 20.20.20 and supplementing with Protekt. I also adjust my water pH with Sulfuric acid and keep it around 5.5 - 6.5 pH due to the very hard water in my location.
LOL, The dick pines are located in a windy area of my yard and are growing well also except they get blown about quite a bit and are growing more horizontal.
It does seem to be making some interesting trunks down at the base on them though.

 

[Jzack605]

What’s the purpose of doing cuttings from seedlings?

Also, I assume you do all the growing in a controlled space, your green house?

 

[moke]

These look great. This is the kind of growth I’m hoping to generate when Spring comes around down here. Looks like your fert regime and the weather are a great combo. Very nice!
PS: how are the dick pines doing? Same

What’s the purpose of doing cuttings from seedlings?

Also, I assume you do all the growing in a controlled space, your green house?

Pine seedlings typically produce a single tap root that reaches downward and grows vigorously to provide a good anchor for the tree. Although they are good for forest trees, tap roots are not as good for young bonsai.
A couple of generations ago, bonsai enthusiasts figured out that cutting the tap root produced a number of lateral roots. As these lateral roots developed, the young trees grew faster, denser, and produced a flared trunk base that is often desired in pine bonsai. It also shortens the distance from the lowest branch to the nebari.
I do not grow them in a greenhouse they all have been grown outside in full sun, I do move them into a shed in the winter and keep it around 35 F since the temperatures in my location can dip down to -20F on occasion during the winter.

 

[moke]

I’m overdue for an update, so here’s a quick one. Overall all my trees have about doubled in size this growing season my tallest standing around 28 inches and 3/4 inch thick. I haven’t fertilized as much as I would have liked. I think I have somewhere around 70 trees still alive. 12 of which were put into pond baskets and bends applied with wire. The others are still in 4inch root builder grow trays and 10 in grow bags buried in a raised bed.


This is three trees planted together for a fusion.


This tree will be and exposed root eventually.

Here’s my “Dick” pines they are not so dickish anymore?

 

[hemmy]

Here’s my “Dick” pines they are not so dickish anymore?

Speak for yourself!