Does anyone have experience collecting pitch pine or deciduous material (american beech and silver birch) in the fall? I saw from other postings that Nick Lenz’s books states pitch pines can be collected in the fall.
If so, do you leave them out for the winter in the ground or do you shelter them from frost?
I live in New England and have a cool attic that doesn’t freeze and has windows where I have previously successfully wintered my bonsai that cannot tolerate winter.
I have and right now is a good time with all the rain we have had. They have seasonal roots and put out more feeder roots near the surface during the rainy periods.
You going to want to find them growing on rock pockets don’t be fooled into thinking about trying to get one out of the sandy dune like areas they cover in large quantities.
If you end up making a heat bed that aids in the recovery of you don’t but have a yard ( assuming you got 15% or more of the rootmass and it’s the white fleshy roots that matter not structural stuff) I have had luck putting them in a grow bag ( don’t over size it as small as possible, roots at the bottom of the bag 50% pumice 1/4 inch, 25% wood chip ( course saw dust method of Randy) and 25% nursery ( sandy gritty side vs. Peat heavy).
Stick it in the ground in full sun immediately this time of year and basically forget it as long as you can. You don’t even want to water them this time of year in the northeast. The grow bag in the ground absorbs and holds enough moisture for them to not need additional watering after the first “watering in”.
Fertilize immediately with a liquid and I add med dose of bio gold ( basically I use this as the gauge of how things are going. The faster it is breaking down the better!
All this stuff is so nuanced, so I apologize for the wordiness I try to give the most broad answer based on my experience and research.
Good luck
I figured I’d throw in this raft style one I came across the other day to reward anyone who dealt with that Wall of text
Anyone know where to get pitch pine seedlings, saplings or seeds online perhaps? or is anyone from NYS and knows good spots with Pitch Pines in Western NY?
