Bonsai Tonight

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Decandling a shohin black pine

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Late June through mid-July marks the end of the decandling season in my area. This means it’s time to start working on the smaller pines in my garden.

The tree below is sixteen-years-old. It grew strong this spring which is a reflection of the fact that the tree is still young and not fully ramified. In time, I hope for the spring growth to be less than half as vigorous.

Black pine

Shohin black pine – Gyozan pot

The work this time of year includes decandling, needle-pulling, and minor cutback. I’ll postpone the wiring until fall or winter and will repot the tree in a shallower container around the end of the year.

Here’s the tree after decandling, needle-pulling, and cutback.

After decandling

After decandling and pulling needles – 7.5″

I’ll hold off on fertilizing the tree for one-to-two months but will make sure the tree gets a moderate amount in fall. In November, it will be time to prune, pluck, and wire. Will provide an update when I do!

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Comments

    • jonas one of the things that i would like to know is how many hours does an activity like this require. i know you are a trained, experienced and skilled bonsai practitioner and so your work will probably proceed at a more rapid pace than a novice. however, i think a few words about the commitment required to perform these tasks might be helpful

      • Thanks, Scott, that’s a great idea. For this tree, my girlfriend decandled it in about 15 minutes, and a friend plucked the needles and did the cutback in about one hour. I checked in along the way to see how the work was going. I expect I’d do the work in a similar amount of time. Will try to make similar notes in future posts for the more intensive activities!