Bonsai Plant Care – How to Care for White Pine Bonsai Trees

Pine is one of the easier tree species to choose when you want to start your bonsai experience. These trees are more tolerant to being dry, yet they also adapt well to a pot and only require minimal trimming and re-potting.

Pine trees grow up to 50 feet tall in the wild and their trunks can be a foot in diameter and larger. The white pines make exquisite bonsai trees and look wonderful in their miniature environments. With their naturally straight trunks and symmetrical branches, you are sure to find the upright, chokkan style works well here.

With the chokkan style, the trunk needs to be straight and rise vertical from the base. To compare, the kengai style will be curved and grow horizontally. For a beginner, budding bonsai artists, the white pine is a great species to start with.

After all, a bonsai tree is not a dwarf version of the “real” tree, but is a full-sized tree that has been trained to imitate realistic situations on a much smaller scale. White pine bonsais, therefore, look exactly like they would in the wild – only on a much smaller, miniature scale.

You will notice that the white pine has blue-green needles that grow in bunches of five. The branches grow in a circular pattern with a number of different levels.

During the spring, you will notice that the tree starts to look fresh with a flourish. You will see that the needles are a bright green and grow longer. During the springtime, full-sized pine trees can grow as much as two feet. To combat this active growth, you will want to remove the new shoots every year or so.

Most of the time, re-potting your plant will take place during the springtime, but you can see it as late as the fall as well. Some artists choose to re-pot during the fall long after the hot months are over and the plant is less vulnerable.

You will need to make sure you have good drainage during re-potting. Since the white pine can tolerate dry soil better than if you over-water it, you will want to check the drainage frequently. Use 50% soil, 10% peat and 40% coarse sand as a good base for these plants, although some artists will vary this recipe somewhat.

While re-potting, look into root trimming. You will need to be conservative since the white pine needs a deep root system to stay solidly in the pot. Cutting off no more than 1/3 of the root will suffice.

During the late fall months, branch pruning is best. You will see that some needles turn brown and fall off in the summertime, but you should not be worried unless your tree is diseased. If you see a very dark growth on the branch, you might have a tumor. If you only see a small percentage of the brown needles, you should be fine. Keep an eye out for aphids and bugs which are common pests for the bonsai tree.

         

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