"Roots!" And an Ear-Licking Grin

     As I was watering this afternoon, I noticed some brand-new needles developing on my yamadori ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa.) Since we're in late summer here, I was surprised, to say the least!

 

You can see the new needles, still in their bundles but elongating, right next to another bud that's ready for next spring.
(I had to take this picture from above, which is why the needles appear to be standing upright!)

A little bit later I saw something else, which I didn't recognize for a few seconds. Then I realized what they are: root tips, growing out of one of the seams of the training box! That's when I exclaimed "Roots!" and the "ear-licking grin" appeared! (I came across that phrase in a novel; expressive, isn't it?)

Besides the root tips outlined in the red ellipse, you can see others along the bottom seam.

A closer look at those root tips.

Why was I almost dancing on the deck? This tree is still in recovery following collection this spring and, frankly, I wondered how well the root system was doing. I tried to handle the roots very gently when potting up the tree, but feeder roots, especially, are very fragile. On top of that, pines are still rather exotic to me: there are no needled conifers in the Ecuadorian rainforest, where I formed my earliest impressions of how plants grow. I couldn't help worrying a little.

New root tips, vigorous enough to poke out thru the seams in the box, show that the root system is recovering, and recovering well. Not only that: when I potted up the tree, I put 3 to 3-1/2 inches (8-9 cm.) of substrate in the bottom of the box before I set the rootball in. Roots not only have been growing, but growing enough to reach the bottom of the box and start working their way thru the seams! (None of the seams are glued. The box is held together with screws; there are spaces between them where roots can squeeze thru.)

The orange-tan color of some of the tips indicates that they have gone dormant because they are no longer moist. I gleaned that bit of useful information from Dan Robinson's chapter in Larry Jackel's book Ponderosa Pines as Bonsai. Sooner or later they will die, the plant will wall off the dead tips, and the roots will branch further back along their length.

Root tips are also poking out from the bottom seam at the other end of the box, and in fact, those were the ones I noticed first. Regrettably, my picture of that end did not turn out well.

There's another needle bundle that's developing, and apparently started even before the ones I first noticed.

Another bundle opening in September.

Since this tree is in recovery, and is planted in a deep container of coarse mix, I've been watering it daily, usually with a very light dose of fertilizer in the water. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that these bundles are opening in late summer, or that the roots are growing so well.

I'm not especially concerned about the tree. In about 3 weeks, I'm going to switch to a low-nitrogen fertilizer in the water, and take the rape-seed cakes off the soil of the trees that have them (including this one.) That should allow it to harden off in good time for winter.

Meanwhile, I'm wearing that ear-licking grin!

(For more pictures of this tree, please see "I'm Back.")

:-)  :-)  :-)