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Decandling – how late is too late?

October 31, 2014 by Jonas Dupuich

Getting the timing right when decandling is as much art as science – or so it can seem. While it can be tough to determine the ideal time to decandle a tree upfront, in hindsight it’s usually pretty clear what went right or wrong (see When to Decandle for details).

When the proper time to decandle has come and gone, the options are to put off decandling until the following year or to decandle late and see what happens. As I’m often busy during decandling season, it’s not uncommon for me to decandle pines on the late side, and this year I was more behind than usual. For most of the trees that missed the cutoff, I left the spring growth alone. For a few others, however, I decandled late to see what would happen.

In general, I can decandle healthy young pines in mid-June.

Black pine

Decandled 6/22

Black pine

Summer growth – 10/29

In some cases, I was able to postpone decandling without many consequences. I decandled the pine below two weeks later on July 7.

Young black pine

Decandled 7/6

Black pine - decandled 7/6

Summer growth – 10/29

Possibly giving the tree an extra reason to push, I removed a large, cascading branch when I decandled. The remaining stub is now covered with small buds.

Black pine

Dense growth

With other trees I was less lucky. I decandled the pine below around the same time as the tree above.

Black pine

Summer growth – 10/29

As you can see, no summer shoots appeared. This case is a bit different from the trees above in that it has several large escape branches.

Black pine

Escape branches

Typically, trees with escape branches aren’t decandled as escape branches are designed to encourage vigorous growth and decandling aims to slow down growth. The tree above is a poster child for not decandling trees with escape branches.

Where does the energy that drives summer growth go in these cases? Often it’s diverted into the escape branches.

Young black pine

Decandled July 7

Black pine - decandled 7/6

Summer growth – 10/29

Instead of producing summer shoots where I decandled, the tree produced summer shoots on the escape branch. The branches I cut, meanwhile, set plenty of buds for next year.

Black pine

Little summer growth

Strong buds

Healthy buds for next year

Of course, I decandled the above pine on the late side – July 7. I decandled a similar pine with a large escape branch that is twice its age – 20 years old instead of 10 years old – a month earlier. This tree came out fine.

Black pine - after decandling

Decandled June 7

Black pine - decandled 6/7

Summer growth – 10/29

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

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. nyfan1967 says

    October 31, 2014 at 5:59 am

    Hi Jonas, I am just starting out with Japanese Black pine and I have no idea what decandling is. I have one specimen that looks like he’s going to be a great bonsai however, I have no idea what to do with it. Can you offer any help? Thanks, Clyde

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      October 31, 2014 at 10:41 am

      Hi Clyde – For a primer on decandling, check out http://bonsaitonight.com/2013/05/28/what-is-decandling/ and http://bonsaitonight.com/tag/decandling/

      As for next steps for your pine, I’d suggest posting pics at a forum like Bonsai Study Group or reddit/bonsai and soliciting suggestions. Will see about a space for that here soon.

  2. Stu says

    October 31, 2014 at 8:46 am

    Thanks. What species and cultivars are these?

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      October 31, 2014 at 10:42 am

      Hi Stu – these are all straight pinus thunbergii.

  3. J.G. says

    November 4, 2014 at 10:42 pm

    Hi Jonas,

    I have a tree similar to your “unlucky tree” example with escape branches flourishing and minimal summer shoot development. What do you intend to do for recovery and the future of this tree? I was tempted to cut off the sacrifice branches but wondered if there were alternatives.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      November 5, 2014 at 7:44 am

      Hi J.G. – great question. Because the buds are healthy I don’t need to do anything extraordinary. The next decision point will come in May. If the tree is strong enough to decandle I’ll do so – if not, I’ll let the tree grow freely for the whole year. If the lower branches were very weak and it was important to save them, then I’d consider removing the escape branch.

      Hope this helps!

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