The Italian Stone Pine Thread
- Thread starter Ruddigger
- Start date
ZombieNick
Shohin
I have been working on this one for two years now, it is in the Christmas tree contest:
I picked up 9 of them on sale this year, I'm going to try a forest.
I picked up 9 of them on sale this year, I'm going to try a forest.
Ruddigger
Omono
Right on. Looking good Nick!
Vergil
Seedling
To all those who have bought half off Christmasy trees in big box stores in years past, how long did the trees last? I feel like they either get put indoors and break their dormancy or otherwise get neglected because all the store folks care about is for them to keep their needles long enough for someone to buy it before the 25th.
Box stores normally have tons of DAS stock and they sell plants all year. No reason to mark them down unless these are the least healthy of their stock and they know these will die.
Clearly, @Ruddigger, yours not only survived but thrived. I love your work on it, by the way!! But curious as to what the survival rate is for your typical marked down Christmas tree.
Box stores normally have tons of DAS stock and they sell plants all year. No reason to mark them down unless these are the least healthy of their stock and they know these will die.
Clearly, @Ruddigger, yours not only survived but thrived. I love your work on it, by the way!! But curious as to what the survival rate is for your typical marked down Christmas tree.
Ruddigger
Omono
Thanks. Dwarf Alberta Spruce are notorious for being difficult to manage and keep alive. Stone pines are much easier.
ZombieNick
Shohin
Stone Pines prefer Mediterranean climate so they do well in Socal. If you have to overwinter it, your mileage is going to vary. For the same reasons, I avoid the Spruce that go on sale at the same time. My trees were sold in outdoor garden centers and did not spend any time indoors.
Housguy
Chumono
Sorry for the sideways pic, sold it at the last show I was at.
Wulfskaar
Masterpiece
I've kept my DAS alive for a little over a year, and I did A LOT of pruning to it. The real test will be over the next several years to see if I can keep it going.
I've had an Italian Stone Pine for about 4 years, and it's still going, even after the extensive abuse. But... I live where they grow well. Not sure how well they'd do in New England.
Funny, I just did the opposite and got myself a couple trees that don't do great in my climate...
Another small DAS for $4 and a small Colorado Blue Spruce for $8. They were both 75% off, so I said "what the heck." The "Colorado Blue Spruce" is tagged as "Baby Blue Colorado Spruce", which is supposedly a dwarf CBS. We'll see how well they do.
jerrymc
Seedling
I too, could not resist the price tag on this Italian Stone Pine (I call him "Stoner") & brought one home. I am really in the dark about pines..I've managed to kill a couple, but have kept a couple of saplings alive for the past few months so maybe I'm learning. But I still don't understand the physiology of these trees, something I want to correct..meanwhile, here's a link to his progress: https://www.jerryspatio.com/p/italian-stone-pine-pinus-pinea.html
Wulfskaar
Masterpiece
Cool blog! You have a lot of trees!
The branches will keep elongating as they are now. 3 (or 2?) year old needles will naturally die off, so there's not much need to pull any needles off until they die. Once they die, have at it!
I read that you can pinch the growing tips off to encourage back-budding the following spring. I think I did it in late summer when they were really growing strong. Not sure of the best time to do that though.
Once it puts out candles, I found that cutting the candles can have the same effect. I also found that if you shorten a candle, it will push out new branches from the spot of the cut. Your tree still doesn't have any candles, so don't worry about that yet.
If that were my tree, I'd repot in spring into a well-draining soil and I'd pinch the growing tips at some point to try to get some back-budding. Then, just let it grow a couple years.
