Shogun610
Masterpiece
Debatable, but certainly can use a hybrid approach to be safeWhat have I learned from pitch pine so far... treating them like single flush pines is the way to go!!!
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What I Have Learned From Pitch Pine So Far
- Thread starter Tidal Bonsai
- Start date
Wires_Guy_wires
Imperial Masterpiece
Don't plant them in coco coir and perlite.
It's too wet.
Good roots though! But that's what wet does.
It's too wet.
Good roots though! But that's what wet does.
Tidal Bonsai
Omono
Very happy with the results I am seeing treating pitch pines like single flush pines! Getting ready to display one of my pitch pines at the NJ Bonsai Societies "Art of Bonsai" Show on Saturday. Come check it out if you are in the area!!!
Absolutely great trees these Pitch pines seem to be. If anyone has an idea as to where I could buy one, pls PM me.
Tidal Bonsai
Omono
That's the hardest thing about this species... they are tough to find! I believe Mark Comstock has a few, and Bob from Kifu Bonsai has at least one.
Just picked up 2 pitch pines pre bonsai at local bonsai nursery, I’ve had so much fun working this species that I went back and bought the rest of his stock (6 more) I have plans for 5 of them (not sure what do do with the other 3 yet) add to the fact they are native to my region, I don’t know why it’s not a more popular tree to work with. I always try and work with native trees so I work with oak and maple mostly. This will be my first pine and like I said it’s been a pleasure to work with.I decided to make this post a separate thread, so it will be easier to find in a search. This may be long, but I think it will help a lot of people with this species that I have developed a special relationship with.
I have been working with pitch pine here in coastal NJ (7A) for the past 4 seasons. Previously, I had advocated for treating them the way that Ryan Neil does, but over time I have seen some issues with this particular species. For those who do not know, Ryan Neil advocates fertilizing pines heavily with nitrogen in the early spring, and withholding nitrogen fertilizer a month before decandling to get small needles and small internodes. For three years, I saw vigorous spring growth at the tips followed by less than desired development in the fall. After decandling this way for three seasons, year after year I saw that there was increasingly less backbudding, and only one bud at the end of each tip come fall. Last year especially, the needles looked skinny, light in color, and frail. I decided to give my pitch pines a year off after seeing this. You can kind of see what I’m talking about here.
This past season, I changed my strategy because one tree was getting re-potted and the other was getting a massive overhaulI. I treated them similar to Japanese white pine where they cut extending candles to a similar size, cut out overly strong buds in whorls of 3+, and withheld fertilizer until the late summer/fall. I noticed a longer needle size, but a vastly increased vigor, darker green needle color, more back budding and multiple buds as the tips.
You can see the difference from the pictures below.
The first tree was before It was restyled, pictures will be posted after the apex develops more this season. It is a vast improvement, but it needs one more season before a closeup
I kind of ate my words on previous posts, but this is where I am at currently. I am probably going to experiment with decandling the way that some local hobbyists, and I believe Jonas D. follows where you lightly apply fertilizer after decandling since I feel like that will give me the results I am after. My continued learning will be posted in my pitch pine threads, this is an amazing native that I really like working with!
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