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Developing cascade black pine

January 15, 2019 by Jonas Dupuich

The first batch of cascade black pines I started are now five years old. After decandling the trees last spring, it’s time for cutback and wiring.

Five year-old cascade black pine

Right side

There are a number of spots along the trunk where too many branches emerge. Ideally, no more than a single branch would split off from the trunk at any given point. Rather than remove all of the extra branches now, I’m thinning back to two or three branches per intersection. This will reduce the foliage by about half which is enough cutback for now. Were I to remove any more, I’d expect the tree to produce very long shoots after decandling.

Here’s the apex before and after cutback.

Upper branches

Upper branches after thinning

Upper branches seen from above

The work is similar for the rest of the tree. Here are the center branches seen from the side.

Center branches before cutback

After shortening the center branches

And here’s the same process on the lowest branches.

Terminal branches

After thinning

Here’s what the tree looked like after cutback and removing some of the old needles.

After cutback and thinning old needles

The trunk already has some movement in it, but I’d like for the cascading trunk to extend lower. After wiring the trunk, I’ll add bends that move up and down and from side to side.

Wired trunk from above

After wiring – 9″ top to bottom, 13″wide

I’m not sure how much farther I’d like the cascading branch to grow, but for the time being, it can go back on the bench and grow for another year.

✕

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Filed Under: Bonsai Development Tagged With: Black Pine

Previous Post: « Cutback on young quince
Next Post: Repotting a collected Sierra juniper »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Zack Clayton says

    January 15, 2019 at 7:00 am

    Jonas, you have a fortunate knack for documenting what you are doing and why. We are all the beneficiaries of your skills and long term vision.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      January 15, 2019 at 4:54 pm

      Thanks, Zack, I appreciate it!

  2. Lloyd M Christiansen says

    January 27, 2019 at 8:36 am

    Thank you Jonas,

    Great work! I guess I need clarification of the proper time and process for cutback, which seems to be now, and decandling, which is done in the summer. Could you please provide a brief synopsis for both when to thin old needles?

    Thank you!

    Lloyd

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      January 28, 2019 at 7:46 am

      Thanks Lloyd! The brief version: thin needles in fall. You can do this work through February and again at decandling time. It’s the same for cutback.

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