I wrapped up my decandling for the year by removing the new shoots from a small black pine last weekend. I waited fairly late to decandle the tree as there’s a chance I’ll show it in the upcoming Bay Island Bonsai exhibit and I didn’t want the new needles to be too long.
Shohin black pine – 19 years old
The tree tends to come out fairly evenly so I don’t do much to balance the vigor beyond pulling extra needles from the top branches. As you can see from the photo below, many of the interior shoots are weak – these I didn’t decandle.
Less vigorous interior shoots
The contrast between the long spring needles and short summer needles from the previous year always cracks me up.
Apex decandled
Apex and front branches decandled
As the decandling work went quickly, I had time to rewire the tree. Here are the branches before and after wiring.
Decandling complete – before wiring
After wiring – 6″
Although the tree has the basic silhouette I’m looking for, there are plenty of branches I’d like to reduce or remove – subtle adjustments that will improve the tree and help keep it small – but because an exhibit looms ahead, I erred on the side of leaving the tree full and will wait to do more significant cutback next February.
Curious what it looks like to decandle a small pine? For those who haven’t seen it, here’s a video from when I decandled the tree last year.
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stan says
Jonas-
Interesting post. Well done.
You said, you had “short summer needles from the previous year,” and the tree appears to have been in the “refinement” stage. So why did you let the needles go long for a season? Wouldn’t de-candeling the previous years shoots have added to the overall refinement of the tree?
Thanks.
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Stan – The long needles are this year’s spring growth, the short are from last year’s summer growth after decandling. You can see from the video I decandled everything last year as I did again this year – does this help?
Sean says
Hi Jonas,
I’m relatively new to bonsai and struggling on how to achieve taper in my developing pines ranging from 2~6 years old (not in the ground). I’m suppose to develop them slow, but let them grow out and not decandle? Should I be choosing between sacrifice branches now and trimming the ones I want to keep to keep them in proportion to my final size? It all seems like a fine balance, but I know a thick trunks leaves a strong impression. A post on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-Sean
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Sean,
I typically focus on the getting the trunk where I want it when the trees are young – this means no decandling for the first 5-10 years. When the trunk gets to the appropriate size I start decandling. Along the way I develop and remove sacrifice branches. If at this point I have branches to work with in the final design, great, otherwise I turn to grafting. I’ll post details when I have photos to demonstrate.
Hans Vleugels says
How about Nishiki-matsu Jonas? (Corticosa corkbark pines)
Is there any difference in decandling this species with the normal Japanese black pines?
Regards,
Hans
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Hans – great question, thanks for reminding me. In short, cork bark black pines are treated like regular black pines that are on the weak side. I’ve decandled some every year with no problems – others I’ve never decandled as they aren’t as vigorous. Check out the following for details:
http://bonsaitonight.com/2010/07/16/decandling-cork-bark-japanese-black-pine/
http://bonsaitonight.com/2010/07/13/why-decandle/
http://bonsaitonight.com/2011/06/17/refining-cork-bark-black-pine-decandling/
Cheers,
Jonas
Brian VF says
That video is classic! Too fun.
Fabiano Costa says
Hi Jonas,
About the pines, it´s done or will say anything else on which has not been placed in this series of articles?
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Fabiano – that’s the bulk of the info on the topic of decandling though I’ll likely make a few follow up posts later in summer and fall. Do let me know if you have any questions on the topic – I’d like to cover as much of the topic as possible!
Fabiano Costa says
Actually I’m doing a summary of your posts and translating into Brazilian Portuguese, for myself and friends use it study material, so far my doubts to be clarified, if you have some additional touch to give me I live in Florianópolis / SC – Brazil, with winter temperatures up to 7 º C in summer and 40 ° C. .. My PN has been very good. I appreciate your commitment to the posts and blog and congratulate you for the good work.
If you have any more material that could send me about black pines, thank you immensely.
Big hug.
Fabiano Costa.
fabianoscosta@hotmail.com