This is my first post on the forum. I have been watching the Mirai Live videos and streams for about a year now and am excited to see if this knowledgeable community has some information about a species of pine that I have been collecting over the last year. The species is Pinus echinata or commonly called the Short Leaf Pine here in Missouri where I live. In my region this species tends to be very straight with most of the foliar mass occupying the upper 1/3 – 2/3 of the tree. But the tree also grows on sandstone cliff bands and takes on a completely different behavior. They become very stunted, with lots of movement in the trunk and branches.
I have a few questions for the community and the Mirai Team:
1.) Does anyone have any experience with this species as Bonsai material? And If so, would you mind sharing photos and your experience handing them?
2.) Does anyone know if these are single or multi-flush?
I’m sure as this conversation evolves, I will have more questions, but I wanted to start simple. Here is a picture of a Pinus echinate I collected last fall off of a sandstone cliff band (I had to repel down to this tree as it was anchored into a crack about 90 feet off the deck. I blocked the tree into about the position it was growing on the cliff face. I’d love to hear everyone’s opinion of this specimen (especially Ryan and the Mirai Team’s).
Great tree! I would think being a more southern tree they would be similar to Virginia pine which are multi flush. Whether they respond the same as JBP is hard to say. I have recently acquired one and will be experimenting with decandling. Any updates?
The Pinus echinata has been doing great and is going to undergo its first repot. I will be moving it from the original grow-box (in pure pumice) to a ceramic container this repotting season (soon now).
The work that has been done on this tree thus far:
1. 11-2019 | Collected.
2. 2020 Growing Season | Fertilized heavily and allowed to grow unencumbered.
3. 11-2020 | Underwent first styling/ major bone-setting.
4. 2021 Growing Season | Fertilized heavily and allowed to grow (treated as a single-flush).
5. 11-2022 | Rewired, mild pruning, needle plucking & bud selection.
The tree has been treated as a single-flush pine since I collected it in fall of 2019 (to be on the safe side). I have since collected many more specimens including some saplings. The saplings will be treated as double-flush this upcoming season (2022) to ensure the techniques are valid for the species. I figured it would be better to experiment on young material rather than the old specimens. After doing a bunch of research and talking to a handful specialists the general consensus is still unknown. The Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) is fairly well vetted as a solid/reliable double-flush pine. The Loblolly Pine and the Shortleaf Pine grow in overlapping regions of the country and hybrids of the two have been found in stands containing both species (about 4% rate of hybridization in mixed stands). I have personally found such hybrids while collecting, which leads me to believe that there is a high chance that the Shortleaf Pine could be another double-flush pine. Again, I am not 100% certain as of yet, but I will be conducting multiple experiments on several subjects to ensure there is better data on this subject (update when I know more after 2 more seasons).
Below are some pictures of the tree as it progressed across the last few seasons.
SLP’s are definitely multi-flush pines. I have collected over 20 older specimens across the last few seasons and they all respond very well to the decandeling. They are very strong growing trees with a lot of back-budding, even on on old bark. In fact, Bjorn Bjornholm has one of my trees and has decandled twice this season. Below is a link to a video he just did with one of the SLPs I sold him last year.
Here are some photos of the original pine showing its current point in development. I repotted the tree into a Maruhei square pot this spring and it has spent the growing season filling out.
Here are some progression photos of another SLP that I collected back in December of 2019. The tree has been worked into a Bunjin style and lives in a Yamaaki Gen 1 Worm-Eaten oval.
KevinNGa, thank you for sharing that photo. Yes, that is one of my trees. I collected that in March of 2022. So it really evolved rather fast. I will be collecting more material across this season (as I am sold out) and hoping to see more national adoption of this wonderful multi-flush pine. Again, thank you for sharing the photo.
Hey man! Thanks for sharing. Just thought I’d share my collected SLP… Found and collected 2023 growing stunted on a bank in Virginia. Very sterile soil. Took extra care with the root ball, as I had to dig it from the ground.
Second pic is now. 1.5 years post recovery. The needles on this tree are remarkably short.
