New here, question re JWP 'goldilocks'

[harshadg]

Hello all,

It's my first time posting here. Having recently moved to New Haven (zone 6b/7a) from Sydney, I'm now in a position to take up the hobby (addiction?) all over again, and this time I've had the opportunity to work with new material that I couldn't grow very well in zone 10b. I recently acquired JWP nursery stock that is substantial, and being new to both the climate/growing season and species, I wanted to proceed with caution and seek advice on how to proceed keeping the health of the tree as a priority. I'm attaching pics alongside.

The tree (Pinus parviflora 'goldilocks') itself is grafted and has a twin trunk, currently in a 7 gallon container (I think?). I've counted at least 7 whorls, suggesting that its older than that. It seems to be quite healthy. I believe it is sold for landscape purposes, I don't have any strong opinions on styling this at the moment, and I want to hold off until the basics are in place. Regardless both trunks are pretty thick - 1" or so, and adding any movement will be fairly challenging.

My own inclination is:
1. feed the tree well this year
2. Work on a repot into an appropriate training pot with an appropriate conifer mix [akadama/pumice/pine bark?] this year if the timing allows for it. I'm not sure what the ideal time would be here, and appreciate any input here.
3. Next year work on candle pinching and styling

I don't have enough experience to know whether this make sense, or whether I could do more this year, or if a different order of operations is recommended.

How would you approach this tree with the objective of transforming this raw nursery stock into a bonsai pot? I look forward to any advice. In general, I'm having a hard time finding resources on handling and transforming 'accessible' starter nursery stock material. If I can have any leads, I would appreciate it.

Cheers,
Harshad

 

[harshadg]

Just an update on this progression thread. I repotted it this year in straight pumice and the roots were surprisingly not a mess. Regardless the motivation behind the repot was to start training the roots to be lateral and to start switching out the nursery soil.

I repotted in the middle of April anticipating that the candles would extend in the following week but instead it decided to flower and with the cold spell, it’s only now extending candles. It definitely showed signs of transplant shock given the early repot and the extreme cold weather immediately following the repot. When compared to last year I’m definitely seeing a delay of almost two weeks in flowering as well as candle extension.

I’m confident that going into the repot it was quite healthy so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

This is it’s one insult for this year. The only other work planned is to cut back to back buds once they are usable later in the fall.