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Of red pines and black pines

July 22, 2014 by Jonas Dupuich

I’ve found that mature red and black pines can sometimes be hard to tell apart. Leaf character and bark can vary wildly from specimen to specimen and many trees exhibit qualities associated with both varieties. Younger trees, however, are generally easy to distinguish. The black pines I’ve grown typically have straight, sturdy needles while the red pines frequently have needles that are less sturdy and less straight.

1-1/2 year-old pines

 1-1/2 year old black pine and red pine

The young black pines in my garden typically have darker green foliage than the young red pines, though I often see the opposite in older specimens.

2-1/2 year-old pines

2-1/2 year old black pine and red pine

Needle growth often appears more compact in black pines than in red pines.

3-1/2 year-old pines

3-1/2 year-old black pine and red pine

Much of this difference disappears when the trees are decandled, but when left alone, the varieties can often be distinguished by silhouette alone.

3-1/2 year-old pines

Black and red pines

One of the best ways to distinguish the varieties is to check bud color. Red pine buds are typically red.

Red pine buds

Red pine buds

Black pine buds are, counterintuitively, white.

Black pine buds

Black pine buds

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Filed Under: Bonsai Care Tagged With: Black Pine, Red Pine

Previous Post: « Developing black pine – setting the first curves
Next Post: Summer buds »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tony says

    July 22, 2014 at 5:34 am

    Colour denomination is not a reflection of bud hue but rather some other characteristic, perhaps that of the bark.

  2. Mac says

    July 22, 2014 at 6:24 am

    Cool!

  3. mirko says

    July 22, 2014 at 9:16 am

    What needs have red pines unlike those blacks?

  4. Jonas Dupuich says

    July 22, 2014 at 11:10 am

    Good question about red pine care vs black pine care. One difference that comes to mind – Daisaku Nomoto recommended adding charcoal to black pine soil mix but not red pine soil mix because he said red pines didn’t like water as much as black pines.

  5. bonsaibible says

    July 22, 2014 at 5:35 pm

    Nice post, I enjoyed the part about distinguishing between the two varieties through the denser needle growth, quite clever.

  6. Patricia Tatich says

    July 23, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    What fertilizers do you place in the bags?

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