Once the trunk on a pine in development reaches the desired size, it’s time to focus on the branches. After 13 years in development, the pine below is now ready for the refinement stage.
13 year-old black pine
The branches are quite undeveloped at this point, but the basic trunk is set. Here’s a better shot of the trunk.
Trunk with young branches
One fun thing about this tree is that it has two candidates for the front. Here it is from the other side.
Candidate front #2
One reason I didn’t remove the sacrifice branch earlier is that it was helping to heal the wound left by the removal of a larger sacrifice branch. The wound isn’t closed yet, but I expect it to close in the next year or two.
Wound about half-way closed
After removing the sacrifice branch I repotted the tree into a much smaller terra cotta container.
After removing sacrifice branch and repotting – 6.5″ tall
And here’s the tree again from the second candidate front.
Candidate front #2 after repotting
I’ll start feeding the tree in about a month, and take another look at the branches in spring at decandling time.
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Zack Clayton says
Jonas, I like your posts and they are very informative. One thing I would ask for an improvement – It is hard to tell the true size of what you are doing. Would yo consider adding a scale indicator in the education shots like this article? For example a six inch ruler at the bottom edge of the pot or something similar that would show the size we are seeing in the picture.
Jonas Dupuich says
Thanks Zack. I’ll try to get heights in there – feel free to remind me anytime! This tree is 6.5″ tall (noted above too).
Mohan Rao says
After removing the sacrifice branch, you have repotted the tree in a much smaller terracotta pot of conciderable depth and minimal width. Please clarify your reasons for not using a pot of minimal depth and larger width, and also reasons for preferring a smaller pot of terracotta. Thanks.
Jonas Dupuich says
Good question Mohan – I want smaller width to ease the transition into a bonsai pot. It’s easy to put the tree into a more shallow pot in the future. I selected terra cotta because the tree is still in development. A bonsai pot is not necessary at this point.