Decandling black pine – case study

There’s a lot to say about decandling Japanese black pine. I’ll start with some basics. Here’s a pine going into decandling season.

Japanese black pine – front

Japanese black pine – back

And here’s the same tree after decandling:

Japanese black pine – front

It won’t take much effort to see that I didn’t decandle this year. Why? Last year I showed the tree in Bay Island Bonsai’s 10th Annual Exhibit. Here’s a shot from the exhibit:

Tree as shown at BIB’s 10th annual exhibit in 2009

I repotted the tree before and after the exhibit. Several months later I decandled it. This winter I noticed that the drainage had slowed down, so I repotted again, clearing out a lot of old soil and cutting the tree back heavily, knowing that I wouldn’t be showing it for some time.

As a result of doing this work, the tree came out weak this year. New growth appeared at every shoot, but the growth was not vigorous. The tree needs a break, so I decided not to decandle it this year. Decandling weak trees can slow them down or even kill them – chances I have no desire to take. By letting the spring growth mature, I expect the pine will quickly regain its vigor. And when the tree is again vigorous, I can continue refining it.