Great afternoon learning about pines. Information on types and styles from Peter and Les, with a wide range of species on the main table. Characteristics of each species of Pine were covered, from looking at needle colour, number and shape to the type of buds to help understand how to tell each species apart.

After a short break for a refreshment Aaron gave a demo on setting a pine up for exposed root style.
Aaron started with a Japanese Black Pine seedling approx 16 months old, removed the soil to expose all the roots. Some roots were cleaned up. Beforehand, a large pot was filled with normal bonsai soil mix, and then a smaller pot was used for ‘housing’ the exposed root area. The bottom of this smaller pot was cut away and the pot turned upside down and then filled with large particle stones.
The seedling was then planted at the top of the small pot with a bit of normal bonsai mix.

All going well, the roots will grow down through the large particle stone and into the large pot below. As the large stone has larger air pockets the roots can grow thicker than compared to normal bonsai mix.
In 4-7 years the small pot will be gradually removed to reveal the exposed roots.