Hakuro dwarf Japanese black pine

I just got this pine from Bill Valavanis and was wanting some advice on wiring and pruning. Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks





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Do you live near his garden. Did you go there and pick it out?

If I had this I would consider spending the time now to air layer/ground layering it into a twin or multi trunk/,clump style

No I don’t live close to him I ask him if he had any on bonsai auctions and this is what he sent me. Now I have to decide how to style it.

I’ve heard it’s difficult to air layer a black pine.

All pines are challenging to air layer. This would be a ground layer, not nearly as challenging. You could put it in a deeper container, cut a ring and mount up to it.

I can’t tell if that’s a graft or if something happened to the lower part of the bark?
If it’s grafted species and not a mutation I would not layer

It is grafted but Bill is saying that the cork bark will roll over the graft and hide it over time. Not sure how much time.

I’m thinking of this as the front. You can see both trunks, was thinking about a double apex from this view.


Bill knows much more than I do, so stock with his advice :wink:

I haven’t got to much advice from him yet, still looking for the best steps forward and not spoiling what the tree naturally has to offer me.

Ryan has taught that you can’t ground layer pines. You always need some foliage below the layer to feed the existing root system. It’s discussed in one of the stream I believe.

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Good call out, I do recall hearing this several times I don’t think I understood it at that time I heard it. Good reason not to take advice from strangers on the Internet :disappointed:

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Besides ground layering is there a way to get root to grow higher on the trunk of a black pine
Scaring trunk and applying rooting powder?

That sounds like the ground layering I had in mind…then mound up the soil? I don’t know the answer obviously but would be curious to know?