Fall decandling – year two
Last fall I decandled two Japanese black pines a few months later than normal – see “Fall decandling” for details. New shoots appeared soon after I decandled the trees but they stopped growing during winter. In spring the new shoots became vigorous. At this point I realized I didn’t know the plan for the second year. Fortunately, Akio Kondo was due for another visit.
Earlier this week, Kondo – a Japanese bonsai professional in town to teach and work on client trees – visited our monthly Bay Island Bonsai meeting and gave a critique. I brought both pines I’d decandled last fall. Kondo’s first question: why didn’t I decandle the trees this year? I pleaded ignorance. Turns out it’s very important to decandle the trees at the regularly appointed time the year following the fall decandling. For Northern California, that means the ideal time for me to decandle these trees was a few weeks ago in mid-July. Because the trees are strong, we decided to decandle them anyway.
Kondo says not to expect much immediately after decandling trees in fall – it’s in the second and third years after fall decandling that we can expect new buds to appear.
Kondo sizes up the tree
Bonsai professionals who studied at Kihachi en – the bonsai nursery of the late Kihachiro Kamiya – tend to work on pines with tweezers in their right hand and scissors in the left. It’s a good system once one gets used to it.
Kondo decandling
Fall shoots differ a bit from spring shoots. Spring shoots have a “neck” at the base, as Janet put it – a pale green area from which no needles grow. Fall shoots seem to grow directly from the branch with needles appearing all the way to the base of the shoot. Both shoots are decandled the same – the cut is made just above the base of the new growth.
Fall shoots
Decandled branch
Decandling complete – one more tree to go
Kondo only took a few minutes to decandle the small pine. His critique of the tree included a suggestion I don’t often hear. He said to thicken the middle part of the trunk. The base is a good size for the style but the rest of the trunk is skinny. By thickening the mid-section, I can improve the tree by producing better taper.
The second tree was more dense than the first.
Black pine, August 2011
When Kondo saw the second pine on the turntable, he suggested that I do the cutting and he do the supervising.
Kondo and I considering a cut
For time’s sake, I used the scissors in my right hand and pulled the decandled shoots away with my left. It would be generous to say I worked at half Kondo’s speed.
Decandling
Kondo looking over my shoulder
By the end, Kondo was “helping” from the sidelines.
Still decandling
When the decandling was complete, I noticed I’d removed the bulk of the tree’s foliage.
Decandled shoots
Kondo followed up by cutting back some of the more vigorous shoots to encourage new interior growth.
Summer cutback
I’m curious now to see if more new buds will appear later this year or early next. Either way, I’ll be sure to decandle the tree on time next summer.
Big cut – crape myrtle
Greg recently brought a crape myrtle to a Bay Island Bonsai workshop. The tree has a large trunk and good roots. It also has a big first branch. Boon recommended removing it.
Crape myrtle – front
Crape myrtle – left side
Crape myrtle – right side
Because the branch was so large, Boon recommended making the cut in stages. Greg could cut most of the way through today, and complete the cut next year.
Proposed cut – left side
Proposed cut – right side
Removing the branch in stages speeds the time it takes for the wound to heal over. It’s also less stressful for the tree.
Making the cut with a sharp saw
Cut complete
After making the cut, Greg cleaned the edges of the cut with a grafting knife. Even sharp saws tend to leave rough edges. Cleaning the cut with a grafting knife will help the wound to heal quickly.
Cleaning the cut
After cleaning the cut, Greg covered the wound with cut paste. In one or two years, the cut will have healed significantly and the rest of the branch can be removed.
I first learned about this technique in Japan at Ebihara’s garden. Here is a photo of a Japanese maple undergoing a similar treatment.
Healing a large wound on a Japanese maple
Witnessed in a recent workshop – grafting follow-up and junipers
Witnessed in a recent workshop – grafting follow-up and junipers
You can’t have too many branches on ume – or at least I can’t. Getting ume to ramify has proved difficult for me. I made several grafts this year and fortunately most of them took. See “Ume – cutback and grafting” for details about the grafting process. My job now is to help the scions develop. To do this, I cut back the branches onto which the scions have been grafted.
Ume – before cutback
Ume – after cutback
I’ve left the grafting tape in place to keep the scions secure while they are fusing. If the branches continue to grow well, I’ll remove the tape in fall.
Grafting tape holding scion in place
The following photos show the new scions and the original branches onto which they have been grafted. The new shoots look a lot like the old shoots – why have I bothered? The new shoots bear fragrant white flowers – the old shoots, double pink.
Scion on left, original branches on right
Original branch on the left, healthy scion on the right
While I worked on the ume, I noticed both large and small junipers taking shape. Jeff brought in the big juniper below for a tune up.
Getting the tree into place
Prostrata juniper
A much smaller juniper was showing some real progress. The shari had been added to make the trunk more interesting and the branch pads were developing well, showing off the shimpaku foliage to great effect.
Shimpaku
Shari – note how the curves exaggerate the natural flow of the trunk
Branch pad showing good ramification
While I was inspecting the shimpaku, Boon called me over to witnes a sap bubble that formed where a shoot was cut on a black pine. Apparently this happens occasionally on hot days.
Sap bubble
Decandling before and after – red pine forest
Decandling before and after – red pine forest
Decandling is a great technique for improving ramification or for maintaining it. What little ramification my red pine forest has can be attributed to a few years of decandling. I don’t currently have any plans to further develop the trunks in this forest, so the branches are getting all of my attention. Here is the group planting before decandling.
Red pine forest – June, 2011
Top 1/3 decandled
2/3 decandled
Completely decandled
In addition to removing the spring shoots, I removed some extra vigorous branches to better balance the tree. The shoot below is quite vigorous – more than I want for this bonsai.
Vigorous branch
The branches below are better suited for development into branch pads.
Desirable growth
Where extra-vigorous shoots were crowding out more refined growth, I removed the vigorous shoots.
One of these shoots is not like the others
Extra-vigorous shoot removed
As I worked, I found a few anomalous shoots like those below. They weren’t spring shoots, but they weren’t exactly summer shoots either. Where did they come from?
Mystery shoots
About two months ago, I thinned these trees and shortened some of the candles – see “Thinning a red pine forest” for details. On one or two occasions, I accidentally broke the candles before they had time to develop. It was as if I “de-candled” these branches on the early side. The result of these mistakes are the strong shoots you see pictured above. As these shoots would continue to develop ahead of the properly decandled branches, I removed them to maintain balance.
Mystery shoots removed
After removing all extra-vigorous shoots and plucking needles from some of the more dense areas, I wrapped up my work for this season.
Decandling complete
This forest is another good candidate for wiring this fall. Once the branches are in place, I plan to repot the group in a slightly smaller pot.
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