Before and after – cutback and decandling exposed root black pines in development

I thought I was nearing the end of decandling season when I remembered a table of black and red pines trained as exposed root bonsai.

My standard approach is to not decandle exposed root pines until the trees are older and the roots are thicker. Of course, the standard approach also entails wiring the trunk when it’s young to create movement. Due to a lack of time a few years back, I neglected to wire the trees and am now replacing the straight trunks when smaller branches.

In some cases, I didn’t have as many branches to work with as I’d like. To remedy this, I’m decandling the trees to encourage branch ramification. Once I have more branches to use in the final design, I can get back to thickening the trunk with sacrifice branches.

Here’s a quick before and after for seven pines with a brief description of the work.

Tree #1
A new sacrifice branch is off to a good start, but in the wrong direction

Tree #1
After decandling the foliage along the trunk and pulling down the sacrifice branch

Tree #2
Last year this tree was pruned to encourage growth on the lower branches

Tree #2
After decandling and wiring the lower branches

Tree #3
The new trunk is off to a good start but the sacrifice branch is too strong

Tree #3
After reducing the sacrifice branch and decandling the lower branches

Tree #4
The lower branches need wiring before they become too thick to bend

Tree #4
After decandling and wiring the lower branches

Tree #5
Like several of the trees above, the trunk is straight and the lower branches lack movement

Tree #5
I don’t often resort to reducing all of the branches, but I’m curious to see how the tree will respond

Tree #6
Yet another straight trunk with straight branches

Tree #6
After decandling and wiring the first branch

Tree #7 – Red pine
I wired several branches last year to give the tree options for a new trunk

Tree #7
After decandling to increase density

In fall, I can see how the trees responded to this summer’s work and make a plan for the coming year. Once a plan is set, I’ll let new sacrifice branches grow for a few years to help the roots thicken. Once the roots have developed, I can expose them and resume work on the branches.