Several pines from seeds

[bonsai-max]

Hi there, two years ago I was in Corse and bring back some pine nuts, and put in some pots, they was growing well for the last two years and I want to move some on rocks and others in bigger pots and give some movement to the trunk.
But I never have had pines like this, they have a juvenile needles and not the usual 2 needle, but the plants where I took the seeds was 2 needles.
With the ones on the red pots I will try to do the exposed roots style (neagari ).
How is working this little boys ?

Thank you

 

[bonsai-max]

No ideas ?

 

[Shibui]

Some species retain juvenile needles for longer than others. I grew P. halipensis for a while and they still had juvenile growth for 3-4 years before growing 2 needle adult foliage. Any pruning would result in more juvenile growth.

I think you are on the right track putting bends in the trunk early. Straight trunk bonsai are not my idea of great bonsai.
You might consider putting some bends in the exposed root trees too. To my mind, exposed root trees are even more likely to have bent and twisted trunks than upright trees.

 

[bonsai-max]

Ok, thank you.
Should I remove the needle on the trunk ? It's almost impossible wiring the plants without crush the needles.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Should I remove the needle on the trunk ? It's almost impossible wiring the plants without crush the needles.

Just crush those needles. I do it all the time and they stay good for the whole season. Since you're working with juvenile needle type, that might be different but it's still not a problem for the plant to lose 10% of the needles.

 

[Shibui]

There are plenty who are adamant that we must never wire over needles but, like @Wires_Guy_wires , I regularly wire over needles when wiring young shoots and the sky still has not fallen on me. It does not look great but does not seem to do any harm to the tree and if I'm not showing then it does not matter to me how they look.

 

[Wulfskaar]

Looks a lot like Italian Stone Pine, Pinus pinea.

 

[bonsai-max]

I don't know if Italian Stona Pine make this juvenile foliage

 

[Shibui]

I don't know if Italian Stona Pine make this juvenile foliage

Both stone pine and P. halapensis retain juvenile foliage for several years. P. brutia is closely related to halapensis so may also retain juvenile foliage but I have not grown that species.
Italian stone pine has large seeds with a very hard shell - around 1cm long x 1/2 cm wide