Found this pinus sylvestris growing on a property.
All that packed foliage is coming from a branch out of the trunk. How is this possible?
All that packed foliage is coming from a branch out of the trunk. How is this possible?
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That is crazy (but cool)! I tried to zoom in and see if I could find damage caused by deer, etc., but I didnât see anything. That definitely isnât normal. Maybe someone is doing some interesting pruning lolâŠ
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Thatâs called a âwitchâs broom.â It can be caused by a variety of pathogens, including viruses. If they are grafted onto rootstock, they can provide new cultivars.
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A witchâs broom, awesome. Donât know where I would get that info besides the mirai forum.
Cheers!
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amazing. Whereâs that tree?
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Yeah. Iâd like to go and ⊠study it.
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The tree stands to the west of Stockholm in a town called Enköping in Sweden. Airlayer a sylvestris⊠ye I donât know 
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The view of the whole tree looks great. When I expanded the image, the witchâs broom just blows my mind.
You need specific advice on how to start these on root stock. Perhaps you even graft branches onto a different pine, slowly removing the trunks own branches and creating a unique tree.
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I was thinking more on the lines that we need to identify these pathogens and test them in different species. Need more density in your yamadori? sure, sprinkle some of this⊠hereâs the wikipedia entry on witches brooms.
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Iâd love to have a pecan tree as a bonsai. The problem is the leaf size. Pecan trees have compound leaves. <== The photo at the top of that page shows someone holding one leaf with 15 leaflets. Bonsai artists have thrown pecan trees into the âwonât bonsaiâ category.
However, if I were to collect a specimen suffering from Bunch Disease, well wouldnât that be great? I could be cultivating healthy pecan trees to create nice trunks and grafting Bunch Disease branches on to them. That much cultivation creates a real risk that the pecan tree in my backyard might develop it (and my neighborâs yard, and her neighbor and âŠ). Even so, I could start selling pecan bonsai to all my friends from Shreveport to Lake Charles, to Gulfport, Mississippi.
Youâve heard of Typhoid Mary? I think the USDA investigators would end up calling me Billy Bunch Disease.
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or on Wikipedia⊠Witch's broom - Wikipedia
Either graft it or air layer??
If you know the name of it sure⊠but ye a couple of searches on Google would have led me to it. Fair enough, just shooting some praise for the mirai team for setting this forum up.
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@Alex I would definitely suggest you do some research on propagating pines through rooting cuttings and/or grafting cuttings to rootstock. That Witchâs Broom is basically a new dwarf/compact Sylvestrus cultivar. Propagating it could lead to some real financial opportunities (selling to nurseries interested in new and interesting cultivars) and at the very least could make a fantastic subject for bonsai for you and you local club etc. Very cool! Iâm jealous I havenât spotted something like that!
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V. Cool! I always keep my eyes looking up for a broom. @Alex - if you cultivate it, you get to name it!
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Oh cool, a witches broom thread. This tree is down the street from my house in Portland.
The broom is about 30 feet in the air I think?
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Doug Wilson over at the Oregon Gardens told me a story about a guy who saw a witches broom up high like that. He got a shotgun and blew some hunks out and cultivated them. Legend? You decide. 
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Donât know if my neighbors would appreciate that 
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Some brooms are a virus (or other infection) and others are genetic mutations. The mutations are the ones that are successfully graftable. It is rare to see much money made from oneâŠ