My first JWP

[PA_Penjing]

Went to a nursery on a whim and found this aoi JWP. It was grafted locally but not by the nursery that sold it to me. The guy couldn’t remember exactly what the grafter used but said it was a dwarf white pine understock. He kept fumbling around with the word “shaggy”. I don’t know if he meant Pinus strobus blue shag? But that is a grafted tree also. Possibly seed from blue shag? I hope so, as EWP is native. Regardless, I have never spent any time really researching JWP so I’m hoping to crowd source a short term plan until I can really read a lot. I know the absolute care basics but that is all. My summers are hot and humid, spring and fall can be wet some years and my winters are wet. Not ideal conditions probably, but they seem more disease free than any two or three needle pine in the valley. As landscape trees they seem to thrive or die suddenly.

I’m a little anxious to start reducing the sacrifice leader, if only because it’s making the pot a little top heavy. I know in pines this isn’t usually done in one cut. Especially considering my “sacrifice branch” has many lateral branches. The future tree will be built off of the first whorl of branches. Fortunately they are on different planes. So I’m picturing a kifu sized tree to start. It could grow out beyond that but it’s my starting point since the second whorl is way too far up the trunk. I didn’t include photos up close because the initial styling will be straight forward when the leader is removed, and also that’s at least two years away. Right now I’m trying to figure out how to begin removing top growth and any helpful tips in health. Are these sprayed preventatively, like a JBP? So far I’ve removed old brown needles and tried to expose a nebari but I’m tearing through a lot of feeder roots on the surface, so I stopped. It didn’t feel like a very August thing to do. Thanks

 

[WinstonWolfe]

I don't have the knowledge about the JWP from a care perspective, but as for a design, I think jining the top would look great.
Cut just below the second whorl down, and jin down to the next set... when you are ready to sacrifice the leader anyway.

 

[shohin_branches]

Do you have a photo of the graft point? You may want to let it grow out until the graft looks good then start reducing.

 

[PA_Penjing]

Do you have a photo of the graft point? You may want to let it grow out until the graft looks good then start reducing.

it’s hard to get a pic if it, bark is still damp from all the crud tat was in the pot. But there’s a slight bottle neck. If the graft stuck with that transition as it grew I’d be pretty ok with it. I just hope it doesn’t go in the other direction. I’ve never worked with a grafted conifer before. And it’s not necessarily that I want to remove the leader already, it’s more so I want to reduce the branching so it doesn’t get to a point where my sacrifice branch has 96% of the needles on it. Right now it’s not really shading out the lower branches but it’s only going to get wider

 

[PA_Penjing]

I should add that I would probably save any larger cuts til after I get a look at the real surface roots. Because if they are crazy looking this will be a land scape tree

 

[shohin_branches]

it’s hard to get a pic if it, bark is still damp from all the crud tat was in the pot. But there’s a slight bottle neck. If the graft stuck with that transition as it grew I’d be pretty ok with it. I just hope it doesn’t go in the other direction. I’ve never worked with a grafted conifer before. And it’s not necessarily that I want to remove the leader already, it’s more so I want to reduce the branching so it doesn’t get to a point where my sacrifice branch has 96% of the needles on it. Right now it’s not really shading out the lower branches but it’s only going to get wider

The graft looks really good!

I should add that I would probably save any larger cuts til after I get a look at the real surface roots. Because if they are crazy looking this will be a land scape tree

Many of the landscape material I've been working with has some pretty bad roots so that will be your first big hurdle getting it reduced. My white pines are all in pond baskets and that seems to keep them happier than plastic containers while helping to develop better root systems.

The tree looks healthy though. Has some good potential. I'll be interested to see what your roots look like in spring.

 

[PA_Penjing]

The graft looks really good!

Thank you, it's a big part of the reason I took it with me. there's even a little bit of movement to it. My fingers are crossed for good roots. So far this tree has been nothing but happy surprises. From the nice graft, to the subtle movement, and then the surprise discount I got at check out. So maybe it's my lucky pine? The tree is very very secure in the pot, so definitely root bound but I'm hoping it's also a sign of radial roots. I've learned that when trees teeter back and forth in the pot the roots will be a hideous mess. I will consider a pond basket if I can find one the correct size

 

[Potawatomi13]

I’m a little anxious to start reducing the sacrifice leader,

Bad idea. Patience, patience. Trunk can never be big enough and once sacrifice is removed becomes stagnant at present size. More growth, quicker bark roughens.

 

[NashsMan]

Thank you, it's a big part of the reason I took it with me. there's even a little bit of movement to it. My fingers are crossed for good roots. So far this tree has been nothing but happy surprises. From the nice graft, to the subtle movement, and then the surprise discount I got at check out. So maybe it's my lucky pine? The tree is very very secure in the pot, so definitely root bound but I'm hoping it's also a sign of radial roots. I've learned that when trees teeter back and forth in the pot the roots will be a hideous mess. I will consider a pond basket if I can find one the correct size

When the time is right (late winter/early spring),you might consider a large colander or building a wood grow box or an Anderson flat if you can't find a large enough pond basket.
A good source for pond baskets are aqua culture suppliers---these days they are largely catering to cannabis growers and often have a nice selection.

 

[PA_Penjing]

you might consider a large colander

I found some sturdy looking 10" pond baskets this morning I think they would be perfect. Really noticing how incredibly root bound the tree is, slow percolation. Fortunately the soil is mostly perlite so I'm not too conerned about it in the meantime.

Trunk can never be big enough

I agree that it could use some time with the leader yet, I simply want to begin reducing the lateral shoots so all of the engry isn't above the future tree, these things seem wildly apex dominant. And I know it's probably breaking a commandment on this website but I'm not a fan of super large trunk on most trees. I get that we have to exaggerate the proportions to give the tree stability and play with perception, but I'm not looking for any kind of monstrous base or super sharp taper. perhaps if the roots are more than 1.5/2" below the soil line I will aim for a larger over all tree and really let it rip