Cutting back and wiring a young cascade pine

Some of my cascade black pines are almost six years old.

Black pine pre-bonsai

Now that the basic curves are set, the main focus is to improve the branch structure. I do this by cutting back to two branches per intersection.

After cutback

It’s much easier to wire trees that have recently been thinned, so I bent a few branches into position with copper wire.

After wiring – 11″ tall, 18″ wide

The long shoots at the ends of the lowest branches are sacrifice branches. By letting them grow, I can encourage the tree to develop a thicker trunk. The only question, at this stage, is how much I want the trunk to thicken.

I expect to let the sacrifice branches develop for one or two years and then evaluate my goals for the tree. In the meantime, I’ll continue decandling each spring in an effort to shorten internodes and increase branch density.

For a look at the tree back in January, check out “Developing cascade black pine.”