In loose sandy soil they tend to develop very long roots that make them
more difficult to collect successfully. If you can get one with fair
roots close to the trunk, then they can go into an oversized pot. Roots
that aren't too thick can be coiled around inside for a year or two.

I tend to let mine get going for a minimum of two usually four years
before I do any major work. They are slow to regain vigour after major
collecting shock. A very coarse mix, as for most pines, with the
addition of a bit of myccorhyzae from the lower needle litter beneath
the parents works very well for my collects.

They are among the best of trees for bending even when very thick. It's
best to protect the bark with raffia or tape of some sort prior to
bending. Budding on the trunk is very rare, but on certain specimens it
does occur spontaneously in localised areas. It's as if there are
concentrations of hormone in one spot. Thread grafting is possible with
these whippy specimens and bud grafts can be tried, though I have had no
success with this method yet.

'Fraid to say it but full sun is definitely best for these trees here in
the UK.

Cheers

Kev Bailey
Vale Of Clwyd, North Wales

There is a large vacant area near me with an army and a half of P.
sylvestris
seedlings of assorted sizes, but before I dig any up, I need to know a
little
more. These are the standard variety of whatever was planted all over
the
Northeastern US some years ago. The soil is loose & sandy, so they
should be
easy to dig.
Being in part shade (of the adults) they are kind of stringy. Will they
bud
back on the trunk if they are given the right conditions?
Can the trunks be wired into curves if they are, say, about an inch
thick?
How much of a root ball do we need to take?
Can these go directly into a nursery pot with coarse bonsai soil, or do
they
have to go into the ground for a year to recover? I know many years ago
I dug
up similar P. sylvestris for a windbreak & had no trouble with them at
all.
How much sun does P. sylvestris need? One of my buddies would like a
pine tree
but he doesn't have a lot of sun.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the
oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

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