I Snapped my Bristlecone Pine Bonsai in Half

[@SulamAkarBonsai]

Good job & beautiful tree ❤❤

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thank you! I haven't done much - just kept it alive this summer and snapped the top. Next growing season will be the challenge - to repot or not repot, and the associated aftercare/watering.

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

What an improvement! I really like the bark character at the base of the tree - this one has a great future I think. 🎉

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thank you! I agree, I think it will be a great bonsai...in about 20 years! With this tree, for me it's really just about having the species in my collection - I enoy high-elevation five-needle pines and the environments that they grow in. It's fun to have one in my backyard.

[@baldyeti]

That was pretty slick, good sir.

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thanks!

[@bradbuss9753]

The white dots are typical on healthy bristlecones. The foliage is not infested with scale, but merely sap. Don’t scrape them off! My sole surviving collected bristlecone has had them all over since I found it. It has been in 100% pumice for over two years (this is its 3rd winter) since I brought it home and is thriving with new buds and needle growth every spring. The sap speckles have remained present throughout and, not only are they a part of the tree’s charming character, they indicate that the tree is thriving. I’ve been waiting for your bristlecone’s “snap video” and I’m convinced it was a necessary move in the initial styling. It even looks better, but I’m not sure how long or if a new leader will develop. It is fortunate you had lower growth to allow you to snap off the top. Budback may develop slowly but the remaining lower branches are sure to benefit from newfound energy. You took off the majority of the foliage, so I wouldn’t rush into repotting your tree in the coming spring. Let it gain some energy and healthy momentum until the roots have figured out what happened. If you decide to repot it, I’d keep the existing rootball in place and surround it with pure pumice in a larger container so the roots have plenty of room to spread without sitting in water. It is important to keep the symbiotic association between the established mycorrhiza in the rootball and feeder roots to enable nourishment in the spring. These are tough, slow-growing trees that know how to survive harsh environments in their natural settings. So, if it were my tree, I’d be patient with it and, above all, not be tempted to overwater. You can fertilize in the spring as it is waking up from dormancy just as you would any of your pines… just be careful to have good drainage and avoid overwatering. Unfortunately, I had my first collected bristlecone in 50-50 pumice/akadama that seemed to survive its first winter, but I watched the needles go from light green to yellow to brown and dead by the end of summer. I’m sure the roots drowned from water retention and/or the rootball had been disturbed enough that it didn’t stand a chance of a nourishing survival. Too bad it had to die, but I learned from my mistakes.

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thanks for your comment - I appreciate hearing about your experience. I did a careful examination of the white flecks, and checked out pine scale images online, and I think they are indeed just dried sap flecks like you say - I can't find anything scale-like that would have caused them. I removed a few flecks to see what would happen, and more sap comes out, so yeah, I think removing them could be harmful. I'm about 50/50 on repoting into bonsai substrate this spring. Repoting this spring seems like the higher risk/higher reward option (getting those roots more oxygen sooner), whereas not repoting is the safer option (as long as I'm diligent about only watering when needed).

[@bradbuss9753]

@@BonsaiNorthwest i’ve seen thousands of these trees in their native environment and every single one of them is speckled with sap all over the foliage. Are all those trees infested? Not a chance so don’t believe everything you hear on the Internet on this subject. That doesn’t mean that scale can’t infect pine needles though.

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

@@bradbuss9753 I've also visited bristlecone pine groves a few times, but I don't remember the white flecks - I was too entralled with the trunks/dead wood.

[@bradbuss9753]

@@BonsaiNorthwest When I first visited bristlecone habitat and the experience was new to me, there were limber pines there as well. The white flecks are the first way I could make an identification between the two. Then I was able to identify by things like needle length and the appearance of the cones. The one sure identifier for me is the white sap speckling and the BC all had them. Both BC and Limber are five needle pines and have similar appearance. I saw centuries old trees of both and yes… the deadwood is amazing. Every tree seemed to tell a story to me and I never cease to be amazed at the ones that are still living.

[@thelazybonsai]

Sooper cool

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thank you!

[@alexbrendan7181]

Nice snap! I totally agree with bradbuss: don't repot this year (ie. season). Personally, I'd have a really hard time not at least checking the roots in Spring, but I've killed several pines by getting too enthusiastic. If you do check the roots, keep the rootball intact, maybe chopstick off a tiny bit of the outside soil just to check for girdling roots, then surround the existing roots in mostly pumice for the next year or two, either in the same pot or in a similar sized/shaped clay pot (a classic garden-center reddish unglazed flower pot). Once it's producing new growth, then you can do a real repot in Spring of 2026. Bristlecones are extremely slow-growing, so it won't show damage for several months--by then it's already been dead for months. It looks like it's not root-bound, so I'd wait a full 18 months to repot--and given how organic that soil is, water sparingly. And yeah, the little white dots are a natural feature of Bristlecones. Love your channel, by the way!

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thanks for your input, really appreciate it. Between you and bradbuss, I'm convinced: I'm going to wait on repoting this one this spring, and plan on a repot in Spring 2026. I might do as you suggest this spring - take the tree out of the pot, take a bit off of the outside of the root ball, and put it in a large terra cotta pot that dries quickly, with some pumice/bonsai substrate around the outside, to encourage the root ball to dry quickly. Glad you are enoying the channel!

[@n8tyler]

Excellent content as I am in the process of working on my conifers and wanted to know when the best time to 'Snap-Top'...I volunteer at Elandan Gardens and those 'white dots' are Pine Scale(really likes Bristlecone and Lodgepole Pines, but can show up on any pine)...Look closely and you will see that the larger specs are on undernourished needles...I've spent plenty of time de-scaling with the tip of my pruners removing this from several pines on the property...Thanks for sharing...

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thanks for the info about pine scale! I'm going to have a closer look at those white spots and see if they are a scale. They shouted "insect!" to me when I first saw them, but then a quick google search and some research led me to think they were natural resin flecks characteristic of bristlecone pines (e.g., ask2.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=763736) . I examined the white specks and they did appear to simply be resin flecks (I couldn't find anything insect-like causing them). But I'm going to look again, so thanks for the alert! This tree is small enough that it wouldn't be too much of a pain to remove each little fleck.

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

I studied pictures of pine scale and did a close examination of my needles, and the white specks don't appear to be pine scale, fortunately. I think they are simply the natural dried resin flakes characteristic of bristlecones. But I do appreciate your pine scale warning.

[@percy_the_bonsai_dynasty]

check it out my new rock for bonsai root over rock project > kzbin.infoXJmq5cugE5s

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Looks nice and healthy, nice work.