Six of my biggest pine seedlings are now showing signs of their roots coming out of the bottom of their pots. I am planning on moving them to some seven gallon cloth pots and let them grow for another year or so that way to get big enough to put into the ground. Long term the plan is to harvest their pine nuts, from what I have read some the pines I have selected to grow are tasty. Though that is a long way away. Maybe close to 10 years, but never a better time to start than now. The Korean pines should be really tasty as pine nuts, not so sure about the Mondell/Afgan. At least they will look cool against the sea of loblolly and virginia scrub pines.
We can see signs of stress, yellowing on the tips of their pine needles. Good I saw the roots early, probably feeling a little cramped in their little pots they are in now.
Another observation, the pines marked with orange flags are seedlings inoculated with Mycorrhizae. That is a type of fungi and bacteria that help the roots of the plants. To me it seems like those marked in orange are bigger, making me think the powder is helping the roots of those pines.
The blue ones are Mondell Pines, also known as an Afghan Pine. The green ones are Korean Pines.
I finished germinating the last of my Mondel/Afgan pine seeds. Still have a few more of a different species in the fridge for another month or so to match their stratification needs. And once those are sprouted they will go into some of these reds pots, until big enough to finally move onto their final pot before planting the seven gallon pot.
A couple were looking big, but no signs of roots yet. But these should be up next for pots. Looking like this year I will have at least a dozen if not more in seven gallon pots.
So next place those with roots coming out of the bottom into bigger pots, they will hopefully be fine outside during the winter and come out the other side during spring waking up and growing more. We shall see if that works, I hope so. So far they have only been indoor seedlings, so I hope they handle their first winter okay.