Italian Stone Pine

[Intriguedbybonsai]

So I found that these are usually sold during christmas time. I bought one and have begun styling it for bonsai. Has anyone else ever worked with stone pines?

[TomM]

OK - I'll bite. Held back to see if anyone else has had this tree to play around with. Italian Stone Pine.

Yeah the mass marketers are at it again. Flooding the big box stores with this exotic "Medeteranean marvel" touting it as an "indoor Christmas Tree". Good luck with it.

Interesting structure. Knobby 'aged' looking trunk.

When our local club was brand new a few years back some of us tried these trees as a fun experiment. They do very well in their native land - but not so in our region. None of our members could keep them alive for more than the second year - much less healthy and vigorous. The key to success might be a cool greenhouse. But of course it all depends on where you are. A true match to the native climate is not easy to achieve regardless of what the sales promotion materials say.

If you have success with yours you might want to share the secret with us.
As far as the knobbiness goes - well - that's another story.

PS - just noticed that you are in San Diego. That would make a BIG difference. Hope you can keep us informed about your experience with ISP's.

[Intriguedbybonsai]

For a minute there I thought I was talking to myself... lol

I noticed the pine was on sale at a local plant nursery, complete with decorative christmas wrapping paper around the pot, and a snowflake attached at the apex. All of which have been removed lol. So supposedly it makes a nice center piece on a table around the holidays. I had no intentions of doing that. The cashier who rang me out said that they produce edible pine nuts, but not until they are mature trees of course.

It looked as if this tree had potential. Further reading online, and I've found that it does indeed do well in my climate zone. They say they do well indoors, but as a conifer, I highly doubt this is true. When I first got the tree it looked similar to this, https://pinerytree.com/product_detail.aspx?p=1&pid=43 but I have repotted it, pruned it, and pinched out many needles. And yes, the trunk is very knobby. After I get it wired, I'll post some pictures on here.

[tomc]

I think a quick google of pinus pinea, will suggest why I'm not going to bother training this tree.

[gbhunter77]

Try this tree anyway It can't hurt. I was told that p.strobis(might be spelled wrong) is a waste of time unit a person showed me their tree and the progression phots of the tree. So I kept mine and love it, others enjoy it as well. So why not try growing your tree worst that happens is you lose a few bucks,but at the same time get a more bonsai friendly tree to work on as well.

[lucenda]

Me; too, bought every year new plants before Christmas. And every year those poor plants died within 3 months. It is really not funny to see your plants die every year.
I stopped bying them and now I am enjoying my tropicals who are going to be indoors for a couple of weeks, Escambron and Fukien Tea have lots of white flowers; my Singapore Holly has a lot of new grow. This is so much better to see than a dying "Holidayplant".
A conifer indoors? I don't think that that will work!

[gbhunter77]

I have learned this lesson fairly quickly. Read about the plant before you get it. Then look around for a plant that has bonsai potential(trunk size,taper,branching,etc...)
Or if a plant catches your eye and you see what you would like to do with it just for fun. Right now My bougenvellia has exploded with flowers. I worked on that plant relentlesly after I made a mistake and really hurt the plant, I thought it was dead and Many told me it was dead too, so I feel pretty good that it flowers so perfusely. From the little reading on stone pine that I did it seems to be a pine that likes warm weather
So perhaps it can be grown indors, just guessing here I just glanced over the info.

[Intriguedbybonsai]

A few pictures of that Italian Stone Pine.

[img]https://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/Skeletor619/1219111458.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/Skeletor619/1219111458a.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/Skeletor619/1219111456a.jpg[/img]

[applestar]

I came across this website when researching various edible pine nut species. Scroll down to the inoculant and see what you think.
https://www.nuttrees.com/edible.htm

[Intriguedbybonsai]

Nice website. I don't remember ever trying pine nuts before. What do they taste like?

[tomc]

Mature stone pine is a vase shape. There are other deciduous trees that I wanna evoke that shape out of.

It just isn't talking to me.

I think the candles of the pine in that photo need substantial pinching back. At least it looks so to me.

Pine nuts are part of pesto, tho USian often other nut meats are used instead of (or fresher than).

[Lela love bonsai]

I know this is an old post, but I'm wondering how your pine worked out and how long it lasted

[imafan26]

I bought a few of those at Christmas time and I kept them for years as living Christmas trees. I did not bonsai them because I sheared them to keep the pyrimidal shape. I lost the last one a few years ago and have been using rosemary instead, but I might start another one some day.

[Shirley Pinchev]

An Italian Stone Pine is a Mediterranean tree and it wants a Mediterranean climate. I had a huge one at the back of my Northern CA garden. It was at the top of the property on a steep hill and never got water, fertilizer or any care - just sun! You see them with the branches near the top - and bare trunks from the ground up. This is not done by human pruning. It is done my nature and as the tree gets larger and larger, this pruning or shedding (as the arborists call it) can be a serious hazard in your garden. One of the huge falling branches from our 40 - 50 ft tree fell about 5 minutes after I left the area of the garden when it fell. I thought my beautiful specimen was doomed but the company I called was rather unimpressed and said 'oh, it is just shedding!' My dog and cat shed! - but my tree? yes, it occasionally dropped a huge branch, breaking off right at the trunk and wham, crushing everything below. We lost parts of fences, plants and bushes. But, the tree was magnificent and we left it when we moved. I mentioned the issue to the new owner - but I don't think she believed me. Most of the nuts were gathered as soon as the pine cones fell by all kinds of critters but if we were diligent we would get a few nuts.

[imafan26]

I kept my tree in a pot. The tree branches are too far apart for me to get a nice shape out of it and it does get bare on the bottom. That is why I ended up shearing it and just kept it as a potted Christmas tree. I would rather use mugo or black pine for bonsai, the needles are longer and not so soft so they hold up better. It is a less brittle tree. Pines grow but are not really happy plants here. The stone pine lasts about 5 years in a pot, then I would have to start a new one.
The mugo and black pine starters are relatively easy to find here and while they are not the easiest to style, I do keep them on an outside bench. They would not like being indoors at all. The easiest bonsai to make because it shapes itself is the geometry tree, but it requires 360 degrees of light. so it need to be on a bench with nothing over it or crowding it.

For indoors, jade, ficus, schefflera are better choices since they can get used to lower light levels. I have seen people making bonsai from fruiting trees like pomegranate, apple, plum, cherry, citrus but I would only try them as outdoor trees. I did have a dwarf pomegranite but it it took careful pruning because the branches are not that flexible for wiring.