I have this ponderosa pine which was collected around April-May 2023. In comparison to some of my other ponderosa pines this one has pushed some really weak growth, and some buds never opened. Any pointers? Should I be fertilizing more aggressively? cut back on even more water? Wait until next year, get out of grow box, and see how it responds? Any feedback is appreciated. Haven’t ran into this before.
Edit: only scope of work has been wiring. No foliage was taken off, no heavy bends.
Nice looking ponderosa. If it was only collected in spring of 2023 you should not be doing anything to it yet, including wiring. Wiring will stress the tree, and if the buds are not opening it doesn’t need any additional stress. Collected trees should generally be left untouched to recover for at least two years, possibly longer, before doing any work or repotting. I assume this tree is still trying to recover it’s root system. It appears to have enough energy to sustain the existing foliage, but not enough to add new growth. I would continue to give a light dose of organic fertilizer, and watch your watering - don’t keep it too wet, let it get on the dry side between waterings.
agree with Roger. wait. it looks like you have it in pumice. takes a while for trees to acclimate after collection. very nice looking tree. just let it recover. they like a cooler climate. they also like some kind of winter. make sure you winter it as cold as you can. these trees handle freezing over the winter when healthy. probably wouldn’t go quite that cold with this one though. look at the buds. still pretty early. maybe just slow.
What Roger said, especially about the wiring. It is too soon to style it. Take off the wire, and give it some time (year or two) to recover and start putting out new growth.
