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Preparing a young black pine for show

March 23, 2012 by Jonas Dupuich

“Show trees are full trees,” Boon tells us. In need of a second tree to display with my root over rock trident maple, I searched my garden for full trees. I found one, but it was clear that not all full trees are show trees.

Before styling

Japanese black pine

My optimistic side figured that some selective wiring and needle pulling could prepare the tree for show. After finishing this work, I found myself on the fence.

After wiring

After selective wiring and needle plucking

Being on the fence, it turns out, didn’t fill the gap next to my trident maple – the tree was going in the show.

After repotting

After repotting

A relatively new Yamaaki pot I found in Japan turned out to be a good fit for the pine. And although it’s not as developed as I’d like for a show tree, it’s not too far off. Later this year I’ll reduce the silhouette, especially on the left side, to get the branches in better sync with the trunk. If all goes well, I’ll show it again at Bay Island Bonsai’s 15th annual exhibit, “Made in the USA” – a bonsai exhibit featuring no imported trees.

If you missed Tuesday’s post, you can see the tree as displayed at the 2012 BIB exhibit.

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Filed Under: Display Tagged With: Black Pine

Previous Post: « Selecting a pot for a small trident maple bonsai
Next Post: Fertilizer technique »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. anijhuis says

    April 4, 2012 at 8:20 am

    Hi Jonas – That Mt Hemlock is one that I collected – since they have stomata on both sides of the needles they need cool night time temperatures in order to respire properly. High night time temperatures forces the stomata to be kept closed – they also enjoy misting (Heavy night dews). The new growth is very tender also, I have a small blog I started and will post more as time goes on at anijhuis.wordpress. The soil I use is fish compost, when collected the trees are very chloritic and the fish compost encourages root growth as well as supplying much needed iron in a chelated form. But I warned Boon that they may not do well in California

    Take Care
    Anton

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      April 4, 2012 at 9:01 am

      Hi Anton – thanks so much for the note! The tree is really happy in your soil – I’ll be sure to keep up the iron and organic fertilizer. I also see there’s a lot of good information on your site – I’ll be sure to read it all and will let you know how the tree does in the Bay Area. Best, Jonas

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