Am I on the right track? asks Tim.

Yes, I believe you are. JBP candle tip borer is decimating the species all
over the country. I've been growing them on Long Island for 50 years.
Because I've been giving them good treatment, I haven't lost any. My
garden abuts a park in which JBP were planted 30 years ago.
ALL of them are now gone from the park, but mine continue to flourish.
Reason? you guessed it - weakened trees are much more suceptible to the
borer than healthy ones. Keep them in the sun, feed them once in awhile,
keep them well pruned, water them during droughts, and you'll do fine. One
more thing. If you see white fuzzy or bubbly material on your branch tips,
spray them repeatedly with soapy water. That will suffocate the little
devils.
Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Ahlen"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 1:29 PM
Subject: [IBC] Black Pine about 700 mile north of the true Tropics


Greetings All,

Thanks to Khaimraj for his encouraging note on black pines in the true
tropics.

I started a thread on the gallery awhile ago that reflected my frustration
as well as my tenacity at trying to keep JBP bonsais alive in the Dallas,
TX
area (Zone 8b). Several tried to encourage me to keep trying. Ernie Kuo,
based on his knowledge of the area and the experience of other Dallas
enthusiasts with JBP, encouraged me to try other species. That kind of
encouragement should be (and is!) taken very seriously.

Still, I look around the landscape in Dallas and I see JBP's thriving in
Dallas' heavy, alkaline black clay soil and everything else that goes
along
with the environment here. Could one of the primary factors that lead
enthusiasts in tropical or other warm climates to despair over JBP's be
that
summer temperatures cook the roots in unshaded/unprotected pots?

For the last two years I have buried two black pines in the ground in
their
growing pots during the spring and summer. One of them is an older tree,
about 3 inches in diameter; the other is one purchased in a 1 gallon
nursery
container and is about 1 inch in diameter. The holes were no wider than
the
containers, but dug deep enough that I could put gravel in the bottom to
insure drainage. It seems that these two trees are my healthiest pines.
In
fact they are the ones I've had the longest.

The most common result I have with JBP's is that they get a kind of worm
infestation in the new shoots in July and August and die-- from pine tip
moths or borers or something. Because there are healthy trees around,
planted in the ground or buried like the two mentioned above, I'm guessing
that my dead trees succumbed because of stress. Am I on the right track?


Blessings,

Tim Ahlen
Dallas, TX
Zone 8b


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