Bonsai Tonight

An educational website about bonsai development

Pinching candles on small exposed root pines

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While repotting a batch of two-year old pines this past winter, John Eads and I paused to create a handful of miniature exposed root bonsai.

We hadn’t intended to make small trees, but when we found that the roots we were working with weren’t as good as we had hoped, we decided to make exposed root trees instead.

Now that the the spring candles are elongating, it’s time to reduce the new growth to reduce the trees’ overall vigor.

Here’s what this looks like.

Two-year old pine

Two-year old pine before pinching

After reducing the new shoots

After reducing the new shoots

By reducing the new growth I can encourage the tree to invest resources in the lower branches and avoid additional thickening along the trunk.

Removing a portion of the new shoots slows the tree down without stimulating the adventitious buds that I’ll want to encourage in June or July when it’s time to decandle the tree (see “Decandling black pine bonsai” for details).

When it is time to decandle, I’ll have several options for where to make the cut. Here’s another example.

Two-year old black pine

Two-year old black pine

If I want to create a relatively long tree, I can removing the spring growth at decandling time as indicated by the scissors in the photo below.

Cut location 1

Cut location 1 for making a relatively long tree

If I want to make a more compact tree, I can cut closer to the base of the trunk.

Cut location 2

Cut location 2

Cut location 3

Cut location 3 to make an even shorter tree

As long as there are healthy needles left on the tree after I prune at decandling time, I can expect to stimulate needle buds near the location where I cut (see “Stimulating back buds” for details).

I may opt to make the tree much smaller. If I go this route, I’ll cut here.

Cut location 4

Cut location 4 to make a very small tree

The most compelling reason to make the tree so small is that the smaller the tree, the more I can highlight the exposed roots.

Exposed roots

Exposed roots

I have a couple of months to decide where to cut. In the meantime, I can pinch the long shoots and continue fertilizing the tree until June or July when it’s time to prune again.

Reducing the new shoots by hand

Reducing the new shoots by hand

After reducing the new shoots

After reducing the new shoots

This technique works for big trees too. If you see extraordinarily long shoots on trees you plan to decandle, feel free to reduce new shoot length before the candles finish elongating.

News and Updates

The Bonsai Society of Portland is hosting “Farm to Table: Bonsai Development from Field to Show” next month on May 14th and 15th.

Farm to Table poster

The event features lectures, demonstrations, critiques, and workshops that focus on core development techniques appropriate for field or container grown bonsai.

Many of the trees featured were grown at Telperion Farms by Chris Kirk, Lisa Kirk, and Gary Wood. Gary and the Kirks will be presenters along with Michael Hagedorn, Matt Reel, Andrew Robson, John Eads, and me.

A great selection of vendors will be on hand with field-grown bonsai and pre-bonsai, plus visitors will be able to see an exhibit of field and container grown bonsai in the final stages of development.

Registration for members and non-members is open now. See the Bonsai Society of Portland website for details.

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Comments

  1. Hello,
    Many thanks for your informations…
    Can I can pinsh a white pin?
    Many thanks for your answer.
    Farid

    • Hi Farid – you can pinch white pine buds the same as you can black pine buds. The difference is that you don’t get the same results if you decandle white pines (typically this isn’t recommended).

  2. Thanks for this Jonas, always a great read, and looking like some nice little trees in the making.

    ‘Farm to Table: Bonsai Development from Field to Show’ sounds awesome! The show everyone needs. Whilst the ‘turn rough stock into a bonsai in under an hour’ demo’s are good, the real value is in the development over time. Please post some content from this show if you get a chance.

    Thanks
    Scott.

  4. Hi Jonas, what will you say is the fastest/best to increase trunk diameter? Raised bed, colander, colander over raised bed, wooden box, roots bag, straight to the field? Sorry if this questions have been asked before. Thank you for sharing.

    • Hi Paolo – I think any option that allows the tree access to the ground will give you very fast growth: raised bed, colander over raised bed, straight to the field.

      Large containers can produce very fast growth if the water and fertilizing is done well.

  5. Any chance that the “Farm to Table” event will be streamed online or recorded? I won’t be able to make it in person, but I would love to have access to more information from Gary Wood and the Kirks. If not, you should bring them on the podcast and pick their brains for us!

    • I don’t know that the event will be available online, but we’re going to try to catch up with the Kirks at the event or down the road when we next time we meet up.