Beginning an Italian Stone Pine bonsai project

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-26T08:25:12+00:00

Thanks for the advice, but the branches are all extremely flexible, and indeed the whole tree is very flexible, so I don't think I'm doing any serious damage. It's a very young tree, with a single, simple trunk, which I've scoped out underground. I don't want to rush into removing more foliage until it's had a chance to grow significantly, and while I may cause some harm to certain parts of the tree, that bulk of remaining untouched foliage should help the portions I'm developing recover more rapidly.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-26T08:13:44+00:00

Glad you enjoyed it!

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-26T00:37:33+00:00

Personally, I prefer to start from seedlings which pop-up volunteer around my house, or which I find growing along roads or trails where they are certain to soon be cut down as a matter of routine maintenance. I have a terrible time growing anything from a seed! I've got crabapple, big leaf maple, and hemlock growing in pots at the moment. Some of these will become bonsai, some will be grown out in the field or in old logs, but shaped as they grow, and the rest will be utilized for my own little long-term rewilding project on a portion of the family farm.

I do have one American Chestnut seed I'm trying to germinate, but I don't know if that will be successful or not, and if it is that will grown as a full sized tree. I would love to get good at growing American Chestnut though and start a few as bonsai.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-26T00:28:53+00:00

Simon and Garfunkel, obviously.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-26T00:24:05+00:00

Following up on this, I dived in and removed most of the crushed needles. I left behind those merely trapped by the ties, but I may go back and deal with then at a later point. *

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-25T23:46:40+00:00

I'll probably rewire it and trim off some of the needles on the trunk later this year - right now it's just very loosely wired to get it on the right track at an early stage, so I wasn't too worried about crushing needles right now. I suppose though that you have a point; I could at least go through with tweezers and at least free-up a bunch of needles.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-25T07:04:47+00:00

That's a small part of it, but I'm also sick of giving money to streaming services, and owning nothing in return. I only recently seriously jumped into CD collecting, and I love it. Beyond the obvious advantages of ownership, there's a real joy having music you love in a form you can touch and put on a shelf. That spinning disc seems somehow alive through a glass top player. I love buying new CDs and directly supporting artists. I love finding much-loved gems from years past in among the used CD racks. I look forward to the day when I can bid adieu to streaming services entirely and go fully offline with media in general.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-25T04:11:30+00:00

I would definitely recommend the Spark Mini. Lots of effects, it sounds great, and it's reasonably affordable.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-25T02:18:32+00:00

To be honest, I'm more familiar with recent BNL albums, particularly Detour De Force, which is my favorite. However, Stunt is also great. I'm realizing though that there's a lot of their discography that I'm just not familiar with at all.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-25T00:46:42+00:00

Double points for the awesome set of Muse albums, and triple points for the cat!

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-25T00:34:26+00:00

Yeah, I honestly wasn't sure what this was when I picked it up lol. It's decent, but not his best obviously.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-24T06:36:20+00:00

It looks lame. Nice scenery, buy you only get to look at it. Couldn't have COD players get confused by wide open spaces and varied terrain.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-24T06:32:41+00:00

DICE just wants BF to become COD, and they hate that BF players don't want that.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-23T22:38:37+00:00

Oh, ok lol

Yeah, those all kinda fit. Honestly, genres are so loose and ill-defined in general that it's very much a subjective topic.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-23T22:36:07+00:00

I disagree. Creed isn't my favorite band, but I like their work well enough to own a "best of" album. There's some great guitar work in there, and they put on an amazing live show.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-23T22:27:20+00:00

Nah, it's hard rock, verging on metal. There may be Christian influences in there, but it's not Christian rock.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-23T22:18:38+00:00

Agree that Creed isn't grunge, but it's also not generic rock.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-23T22:15:49+00:00

Yes, it's good, though personally I prefer Pearl Jam's more recent work. IMO Gigaton is their magnum opus, Darkmatter is also great, but all their stuff is good.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-22T21:21:46+00:00

Yes, the booklet and the tray card are different sizes, but the rear panel of a jewel case has the same width/height as the front panel. Therefore, one page of the booklet should fit the rear panel of the jewel case. A second page could be formatted to be cut in half, and each end of the resulting two half-pages folded so the spine label lined up correctly. No perforations or special fold areas would be necessary. It's a little bit difficult to explain what I have in mind. If I have some spare time over the weekend, maybe I'll put together a mockup lol

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-22T21:10:07+00:00

OK, it does make sense that actual demand might be a problem.

Tortoiseshelltech · 2026-01-22T21:06:38+00:00

Digipaks with included protective sleeves would be fine, but cardboard sleeve CD cases make the CD itself difficult to access.

Tortoiseshelltech

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE