Daisaku Nomoto bonsai critique
Daisaku Nomoto bonsai critique
It always feels good to be a member of Bay Island Bonsai. This week it feels great. Bonsai professional Daisaku Nomoto of Miyazaki, Japan, provided the program for this month’s meeting. It was a critique – members were invited to bring trees for comment and some minor re-working. Turned out to be a great evening. Here are some of the trees and comments they elicited.
The first tree under consideration was a Japanese black pine. Nomoto wanted the movement of the silhouette to reflect the movement of the trunk, so he suggested some minor cutback. The tree’s owner gave the ok, and Nomoto got to work.
Nomoto demonstrating the tree’s movement
Note the shoot pointing downward in front of the trunk – removing it shifted some emphasis from one side of the tree to the other
Nomoto adjusting branches with pliers and finger
A few more adjustments
The result
The chopstick indicates the relationship between the apex and the center of the trunk. This relationship has a big effect on the tree’s overall balance.
The pinyon pine below was a gift to Boon from Michael Hagedorn. The tree has grown steadily for a number of years and is ready for a styling. Nomoto suggested removing the foliage on the left side of the tree to emphasize the bunjin movement of the trunk. Instead of removing the foliage all at once, he recommended removing it over time to preserve the lifeline defining the shari along the trunk.
Noting the future location of the first branch
This section of the lifeline feeds the foliage to be removed. Removing the foliage over time decreases the odds that the lifeline will die back in the area to which Nomoto is here pointing.
Applying wire
Nomoto was very impressed with the small Olive below. He mentioned several times his desire to take the tree back to Japan. Why? He tells us that small olives with such great trunks are quite rare in Japan, and that this specimen is a great candidate for the Kokufu Exhibit.
Admiring the olive
Nomoto’s one suggestion was to change the angle at which the tree was planted. By tilting it forward, the trunk rose straight into the air rather than leaning back.
The suggested planting angle
Suggested planting angle from the front
I was very impressed by the material that showed up for the meeting. Many of these trees have yet to be shown, however their quality was great. The juniper below has a super trunk and awaits a styling before it’s ready for exhibit. Nomoto’s suggestion was to plant the tree lower in the pot. The relatively narrow base of the tree creates some reverse taper which distracts from the overall power of the trunk. By planting the tree lower, the base of the tree looks larger in relation to the rest of the tree.
Sierra juniper – note subtle reverse taper at base of trunk
Suggested planting depth and pot style. This pot is a bit too small for the tree, but the style and color make a great match
A very mature Sawara cypress elicited a single recommendation. The tree’s current silhouette is quite round. Nomoto suggested a more triangular silhouette.
Sawara cypress and chopsticks
After asking some basic questions about the variety, Nomoto offered to trim a few branch pads on the boxwood below to demonstrate how more, smaller pads can make the tree look older and more developed.
Trimming boxwood foliage to create smaller pads
Another collected juniper elicited some interesting suggestions. For the jin below, Nomoto suggested gouging out the channel just to the left of the old lifeline to create more interest.
Examining the deadwood
He also suggested removing most of the trunk. The pinyon branch stands in for the future key branch.
Juniper with towel and pinyon foliage
The first goal for the very old cedar below is to return it to health. It’s come a long way in the past year, but still has a bit to go before it can withstand significant styling. Nomoto recommended removing the branch that emerges at the first bend in the trunk. His first preference was to leave no jin behind, providing the wound can heal properly, though he thought a small jin could also be appropriate.
Appraising an old cedar
The fantastic juniper below was grown by Jim Gremel. Nomoto wanted to reduce the canopy a bit. To do so, he recommended removing the first branch. This branch grew upwards and formed somewhat of a second trunk. Removing it would leave room for one of the upper branches to fill in and provide a more appropriate silhouette.
Seen from the front – great movement
The foliage at the right emerges from the branch Nomoto suggests removing.
Thanks go to Boon for arranging for Nomoto’s visit. It’s quite a treat to have such talent at a 30-person club meeting, commenting on our trees. I understand what a special occasion this is, and I appreciate it greatly!
How to decandle shohin black pine
How to decandle shohin black pine
Decandling shohin black pine is similar to decandling larger black pine bonsai with one key difference – it’s done later in the season. Just by a few weeks. By giving summer shoots less time to develop, we prevent them from growing too large. As is often the case in bonsai, proportion is far more important that absolute size. “Small needles” are great in the abstract, but on a tree they can look funny if the proportion is off. Larger trees look good with larger needles, shohin look good with small needles. All of which can be produced by careful decandling.
Here’s a 16 year-old shohin black pine, ready for its second or third decandling. It’s rather shaggy.
Shohin Japanese black pine – before decandling
The first step is sizing up the shoots. As expected, I found large shoots near the top of the tree, and smaller shoots on the lower branches.
Vigorous shoot
Less-vigorous shoot
For the most part, new shoots were either somewhat large (the two on the left) or fairly small.
Large, medium-large, and small shoots
Normally I’d like to remove the smallest shoots first, wait 10 days, then remove the larger shoots. But because I decandled this tree a little later than normal this year, I opted to remove all of the spring growth on the same day.
I found, as I worked, several very large shoots.
Two very large shoots with a small shoot for comparison
These were anomales. Each started not near the tree’s apex, but from the center of the tree – the spot where I’d normally expect to find the very weakest shoots. In each case, they sprouted just below large cuts where entire branches were removed the year before. That energy had to go somewhere, and it made it into these shoots.
Because I removed all of the shoots on the same day, I needed a way to slow down the more vigorous areas of the tree to bring the strong and weak areas into balance. To do this, I left stubs – longer in strong areas, shorter in weaker areas – and pulled needles.
Just before getting started, I wondered how I would be able to distinguish the strong areas from the weak after decandling. If I couldn’t tell one from the other, I’d have little guidance when it came time to pull needles. There are two conventional solutions. One is to remove unnecessary needles while decandling, scissors in the left hand, tweezers in the right. This is a great technique – one I would not, however, recommend to anyone without significant pine skills.
For this tree, I opted for the easier alternative – first I cut the spring growth, then I pulled needles. The stubs let me know which shoots were vigorous and which were weak. When I came across a shoot like the one pictured below – large stub, many needles – I’d remove a fair number of needles. When I came across shoots with shorter stubs, I left more needles to help these shoots catch up with their more vigorous neighbors.
Decandled shoot with stub – before removing needles
Decandled shoots
Post decandling is a good time to catch up on wiring. In a few weeks, when the new buds appear, wiring becomes very tricky. Once pines get to this point, it’s best to wait until the summer shoots harden off before wiring. Here’s a picture of the tree after removing the spring growth but before thinning the needles.
After removing spring growth.
And here’s a shot of the tree post decandling and needle thinning.
Japanese black pine: decandled, needles thinned
This young tree has a way to go before it’s first exhibit. Once the summer growth comes in, I’ll give the tree a once over – more needle thinning, cutback, and wiring. That will help – I’m optimistic I can show it within the next five years. To better gauge how the tree is coming along, see the following post (my third ever) from a year ago January: Shohin black pine from scratch.
Cork bark Japanese black pine – finding the front
Cork bark Japanese black pine – finding the front
Finding the front of a bonsai is a great exercise – one of my favorites. Both existing bonsai and newly collected trees make good candidates. The cork bark black pine I’ve been working on for the past 6 years has had the same front for very likely most, if not all, of its life. Here is a photo of the tree from 2004.
Winter – 2004
The tree was very yellow that year as it hadn’t received much water the previos year. That spring, almost all of the needles fell off leaving very little foliage to keep the tree alive. After two significant repottings and several years of attentive care, the tree is back in good health. Which is a good time to consider how it’s styled.
Were I to remove the top quarter of the tree, the bit that protrudes to the right, I’d have a nice ready-made bonsai. Future work would require finding a smaller pot and further developing the existing branches.
Spring – 2010
I’m not convinced, however, that keeping this front will yield the most interesting bonsai. I’ve long considered how I might take advantage of the top part of the trunk and the best I’ve come up with involves selecting a new front for the tree.
This is tricky for existing bonsai. The branches are well distributed for the existing front and the trunk and root-base currently show well. But when I look at the tree from the right side, the trunk gains movement and character. Of course, when viewed from this side the root base narrows – typically a bonsai no-no – and the branch structure falls apart. Were I to make the switch, I’d have to find a way to work with these deficiencies. Here are several views from the right side.
New front #1
New front #2
New front #3
New front #4
It’s not going to be an easy decision. For although I find the possibilities intriguing, they might not yield the effect I’m looking for.
The current front provides a nice, wide root-base and good interest.
Trunk detail – current front
The new front could provide a slightly wider trunk, at the expense of a much narrower root-base. There is great visibility of the trunk, below and above, but at the expense of poor branch structure.
Trunk detail – candidate for new front
The back of the tree offers good view of the trunk and root-base but no branches whatsoever. They can’t all be fronts.
Trunk detail – current back of tree
Decandling cork bark Japanese black pine
Decandling cork bark Japanese black pine
Decandling cork bark Japanese black pines is very similar to decandling the non-cork bark trees. The main difference is that cork bark pines are usually less vigorous. A general rule of thumb is to decandle them every other year, ideally showing them in the years after which they’ve been decandled.
I decandled this tree for the first time in 2009. It came out very strong so I’ve decandled it a second time this year. We’ll see how it comes out in fall.
Before decandling – front
After decandling
Before – back
After decandling – back
I plucked a handful of needles from the strongest areas, mostly near the top of the tree, to help balance the new growth. The lower branches are weaker – I left all of the old needles in these areas.
Decandled shoots
Decandled shoots
Considering the many factors that contribute to successful decandling, I’m leaving the fertilizer in place throughout the decandling season. Normally I’d remove it all when I decandle. But because cork bark is somewhat weaker than pine, I’m giving the tree the slight advantage of getting fertilizer while it forms summer shoots. I’ll add new fertilizer according the to typical decandling calendar – little by little beginning about 4 weeks after decandling – and end up with a lot of fertilizer on the tree by fall. I’ll leave the fertilizer in place until the very end of the year – the mild winters here make the growing season long.
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