I picked up this 2 year old JBP in a long liner over the weekend. It’s a seedling cutting with lots of low buds, and the roots where growing out of the bottom of the liner. I cut the bottom of the line off and wired it into a growing pot with sakadama (essentially fired clay cat litter).
My question is – what next? The only conifers I have real experience with are Junipers and I’m guessing pines are quite different. Can i start slow release fertiliser right away? Should I be watering the top of the line or the bottom pot (or both)? Is my best option to let it grow freely this year to encourage root growth or should I be de-candling this year to make sure I get good low budding?
ThailurCorp
This looks so exciting!
Woodland-wanderer24
Let the roots thicken up for a few years , and grow some big sacrificial branches
beefngravy
This year has been the first time I’ve attempted this so I can only share what I’ve learnt so far.
My JBP is a bit bigger and thicker, perhaps a year or two older than yours. I’m in the northern hemisphere and created mine about 4 months ago. I’ve fed it like mad and I can see a few roots which have grown all the way to the bottom of the bottom colander. From what I’ve read, it’ll need at least 2 years without root disturbance to establish, you can then start to cut away the tall pot and remove soil to expose the roots. This is done in stages, so perhaps a 1/3 of the pot and roots go each year. It’s a fairly slow process but very rewarding.
I feed and water the bottom colander as well as the top pot, just in case there are roots starting to grow to the sides of the colander.
So in summary; let it grow for a few years before you do any work. Feed and water well.
I hope this helps.
badaboom888
looks good but your prob 5 years away from any real work on it tbh
5 Comments
I picked up this 2 year old JBP in a long liner over the weekend. It’s a seedling cutting with lots of low buds, and the roots where growing out of the bottom of the liner. I cut the bottom of the line off and wired it into a growing pot with sakadama (essentially fired clay cat litter).
My question is – what next? The only conifers I have real experience with are Junipers and I’m guessing pines are quite different. Can i start slow release fertiliser right away? Should I be watering the top of the line or the bottom pot (or both)? Is my best option to let it grow freely this year to encourage root growth or should I be de-candling this year to make sure I get good low budding?
This looks so exciting!
Let the roots thicken up for a few years , and grow some big sacrificial branches
This year has been the first time I’ve attempted this so I can only share what I’ve learnt so far.
My JBP is a bit bigger and thicker, perhaps a year or two older than yours. I’m in the northern hemisphere and created mine about 4 months ago. I’ve fed it like mad and I can see a few roots which have grown all the way to the bottom of the bottom colander. From what I’ve read, it’ll need at least 2 years without root disturbance to establish, you can then start to cut away the tall pot and remove soil to expose the roots. This is done in stages, so perhaps a 1/3 of the pot and roots go each year. It’s a fairly slow process but very rewarding.
I feed and water the bottom colander as well as the top pot, just in case there are roots starting to grow to the sides of the colander.
So in summary; let it grow for a few years before you do any work. Feed and water well.
I hope this helps.
looks good but your prob 5 years away from any real work on it tbh