The pine needle scale can be tricky to spot. Small, white spots are the giveaway. Uh-oh, white spots If it’s fall or early spring where I live, it’s always what I think it is – pine needle scale. Here’s why they can be tricky to spot. When they grow on the inside surface of a […]
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White pine clean-up
Fall is a good time to work on white pine. The spring growth has hardened off, and the old needles are beginning to turn brown. White pine in need of clean up As the specimen pictured above was in need of a clean-up, I removed the old needles and lightly thinned branches in the strongest […]
Exposed root pines in progress
Last year I made reference to a process for developing exposed root pines (see “Repotting 1 year old black pine seedlings“). I started two last year, one black, one red. Here’s the black pine at 1 year. 1-year-old black pine The tree has done well – here it is a year and a half later. […]
Of red pines and black pines
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 […]
Developing black pine – setting the first curves
When developing bonsai from scratch – from seed or from very young stock – the first order of business is creating the trunk. This is easier said than done. Some of the very first curves are set when the tree is still young. For black and red pine, I’ve been applying the first wires at around […]