Bonsai Tonight

An educational website about bonsai development

Refining a 10 year-old pine

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Rather than make long term goals for trees, I’ll often make short to medium-term plans based on the current condition of the tree. This is true for many of the black pines I’ve been growing from seed, especially the ones for which I can’t see obvious futures.

The pine below is one of these trees. It has little taper and only a few low branches which doesn’t make it a great candidate for a small bonsai. Because the trunk is straight, it’s not a super candidate for informal or formal upright styles either. I’m thinking I’ll eventually pick a new direction for the trunk in a year or two, but as the low branches are small, I’ll wait to make that decision. For now I’m reducing the apex to encourage growth closer to the base of the trunk so I’ll have good options for new leaders down the road.

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10 year-old black pine

After reducing the apex

After thinning branches

I’ve worked on enough similar pines to know that I can be pleasantly – or unpleasantly – surprised by trees’ development in as little as a single year. We’ll see what the next year brings for this tree.

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Comments

  1. It would be interesting to see some sort of scale marker in one of the pictures to give an idea of the size of the tree. Colanders come in a variety of sizes so that doesn’t really serve. I have started growing some of my pines in colanders and I really like the results here in central Ohio.

  2. Hello Jonas,
    thx for sharing this post,its very nice.
    my question: since you are in trunk developing stage, wouldn’t be more efficient to leave the apex and let it
    grow?

    Greeting
    Efi

  3. Have these 10year olds been raised in colanders exclusively or did they have any time in the ground. It is such a long project just to get an acceptable trunk. And that’s just to start. I have as well planted up 200 black pine seeds this fall trying to do my bit to get more jp into circulation. I should have started this project 20 years ago. I could have.
    Qualicum Brian

  4. Brian: Your comment reminds me of a wonderful chinese proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the next best time is now”. It’s never too late. I’ve grown black pine from seedling as well, now in their 4th year……..though nowhere near as many as you. Transplanted a few from rootmaker pots to collanders last year just to experiment; both work well for me. Will be interesting in another 3 or 4 years to compare trunk width to others transplanted to ground.

  5. Hi there !
    i found this blog really interesting. If anyone is interested in short term bonsai results, you probably need a jade. Its the perfect short term bonsai. I am personally growing one for 6 years and it has really come out well. Pruning is not a hard task with jade. Moreover i like its beautiful hearty leaves. Perfect gift for your loved ones .

  6. Zach – thanks, I’ll make a note to do something about the scale. This tree is now 27″

    Brian – these trees have been exclusively container grown with most of the time spent in colanders.