• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bonsai Tonight

An educational website about bonsai development

  • Blog
    • How-to Guides
  • Podcast
  • Shop
    • Bonsai
    • Books
    • Soil
    • Soil (wholesale)
    • Supplies
    • Tools
    • Video Consulting
    • Northern California Bonsai Resources
  • About
    • Workshops

Decandling established black pines

June 24, 2014 by Jonas Dupuich

The transition from spring to summer marks the middle of decandling season, the time of year when we remove spring shoots from black pines to produce more compact summer growth. If a tree is healthy and received a lot of fertilizer in spring, it’s a good candidate for decandling. Based on this criteria, the black pine below made a good candidate this year.

Black pine - before decandling

Black pine before decandling – tea bags are filled with cottonseed meal

I removed all but the weakest shoots to give them a chance to catch up with the more vigorous ones.

Black pine - after decandling

Black pine – after decandling

My large cork bark pine is healthy but not all areas of the tree are vigorous. As a result, I decandled the strong areas and left the weaker areas alone.

Black pine - before decandling

Cork bark black pine – before decandling

Black pine - after decandling

After decandling the strong areas

Decandling select areas of a tree can yield funny results as the spring needles will be long, the summer needles, short. I don’t typically take this approach, but am curious to see how it goes. It will take at least one more year after this year to produce even growth so I expect to be living with uneven growth for a while.

Subscribe to Bonsai Tonight

New Posts Delivered Every Tuesday and Friday

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

Filed Under: Bonsai Development Tagged With: Black Pine, Decandling

Previous Post: « Spring cutback
Next Post: Decandling pines in development »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Daniel Dolan says

    June 24, 2014 at 5:37 am

    Jonas:

    My question for you today is not related to decandling, rather it is about grafting of trunks. In the second photo a tree that makes a transition from a wider base to the midsection is displayed.

    I do not know if this is a result of a graft, but it prompts the following question: I have several Scots and White Pines which are grafted onto other stock and done quite expertly.

    I have some that are 15%-20% wider at the base than the upper grafted portion. I have been told that, over time, these contrasting trunk thicknesses will transition more gracefully. Others state that these differences will remain and still others that it will become worse.

    Can you offer any guidance on this topic.

    Best regards,

    D/D
    Chicago

  2. Jonas Dupuich says

    June 24, 2014 at 12:14 pm

    Hi Daniel – good question. I’m not sure if there’s a general pattern or if it depends on the specimen. I know of some cases in which the transition has improved with time, particularly for white pine grafted on black. I don’t know of as many cases in which the transition degrades with time.

  3. endsurg says

    June 24, 2014 at 1:44 pm

    Where do you make the cuts on these candles. I have a very old established black pine with very short new candles. I know that the tree would benefit from the kind of decandling you’re showing but where do you make the cut on these short candles? At the base of the candle or leave a few millimeters. Also, do you do any needle plucking on the areas where you do the decandling? Is there a way to send you a picture? I have a question about this tree, especially about balancing the energy through needle plucking as Ryan Neil has been recommending.

  4. Jonas Dupuich says

    June 24, 2014 at 9:07 pm

    Good question about where to cut:
    http://bonsaitonight.com/2013/06/14/decandling-black-pine-making-the-cut/
    http://bonsaitonight.com/2013/06/21/making-the-cut-redux/

    And yes, I like pulling needles when I decandle:
    http://bonsaitonight.com/2012/06/26/decandling-season-isnt-just-for-decandling/
    (you can see plenty of decandling posts at: http://bonsaitonight.com/tag/decandling/)

    As for your specific tree, the best place for advice is a forum like bonsaistudygroup.com

Footer

Follow Bonsai Tonight

Subscribe

Instagram ● Facebook ● Twitter
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Shop
  • About

P.O. Box 6560, Alameda, CA 94501 · 510-915-2025 · jonas (at) bonsaitonight (dot) com

© Copyright 2009-2025 Bonsai Tonight · All rights reserved · Privacy · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish. Accept Decline Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT