Japanese pine

Japanese pine Care

Pinus thunbergii

What is the plant

Pinus thunbergii, also called black pine, Japanese black pine, and Japanese pine, is a pine native to coastal areas of Japan and South Korea. It is called gomsol in Korean, hēisōng in Chinese, and kuromatsu in Japanese.

In its native range Pinus thunbergii is a 100-foot-tall, umbrella-shaped pine with thick, platy gray-black bark. But, it also occurs in a number of contorted forms where it has an asymmetrical, often twisted and distorted character, making it well suited for ornamental plantings. These forms have been collected and propagated in Japan where more than 40 clones are listed. The selected sorts are usually smaller, seldom exceeding 30 feet in height. Japanese black pine is a two-needle pine with deep green needles four to five inches long that are held in a half inch long silvery band at the base. The needles persist four to five years. The candle shaped terminal buds are to two centimeters long, silvery white in color and a distinctive identifying characteristic of the species. The cones are two to three inches long, ovoid in shape and require two years to mature.

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Lighting

Full Sun

Hardiness zone

5b - 8b

Difficulty

Medium

How to Care for the Plant

Water
Water the tree's soil when a metal soil probe at least 3 feet long won’t penetrate to a depth of more than 3 to 4 inches when pushed into the soil under the edge of the tree’s canopy. Irrigate the soil deeply with water from a garden hose until you can push the soil probe 18 to 36 inches deep in the same location you used previously. Japanese black pine is very drought-tolerant but performs best in soil with medium moisture. The tree should be away from larger plants that may drip water on it and prevent it from drying rapidly; dampness promotes fungal and other infections.
Fertilizer
Avoid fertilizing the tree's soil if possible. Pines usually do not require fertilizer. Fertilize the tree if its needles are yellowing, however. Use 2 pounds of 10-10-10, granular fertilizer per every 1 inch of trunk diameter if the tree is large, or use 2 pounds of the 10-10-10, granular fertilizer per 100 square feet of root zone soil area. Broadcast the fertilizer on the soil of the tree's root zone, and water the soil.
Sunlight
Give the Japanese black pine full-sun exposure. Don’t worry if its current location is in light afternoon shade. If it receives heavy shade any time of day, however, either prune competing trees to allow more sunlight to filter to the Japanese black pine or move it to a sunnier location.

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Soil
Japanese black pine grows in a well-drained soil that is acidic or alkaline and sandy, loam or clay. The tree also can grow in salty soil, which it readily tolerates; so it can be part of a seaside garden.
Temperature
The pine can be grown in the zones with winter temperatures down to -10 to 0ºF (-23.3 to -17.8ºC). However, the needles could burn at temperatures of -10 to -15ºF (-23 to -26ºC).
Popularity
273 people already have this plant 32 people have added this plant to their wishlists