I’ve been working on the cork bark black pine below for about twenty years. It’s had it’s ups and downs but had filled in enough in recent years that it felt like a good time to thin the tree. The idea is that by reducing the needles on the upper branches I can help the lower branches get more sunlight and maintain vigor. (For details about what the tree looked like when I started working on it, see “Increasing density on a cork bark pine.”)
Cork bark black pine
After decandling
After thinning needles – 26″
In crowded areas, I thinned unnecessary buds and branches, and I reduced the length of shoots to improve the silhouette in a few areas. I’ll revisit the tree in fall to see how the summer growth comes post decandling.
Apex detail
Trunk detail
Nebari detail
News & Updates
- Tickets are on sale now for the 2024 Pacific Bonsai Expo. We’ll have volunteer signups online in the next week or so. Stay tuned for details.
- Eric and I talked about our experiences at shows when we were starting out in bonsai on the Bonsai Wire Podcast.
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Rey says
Hey Jonas,
This tree is stunning! Do you happen to know if it grafted or grown from seed? I can’t tell from looking at the nebari — the transition into the trunk line is smooth and the bark is rugged throughout.
Jonas Dupuich says
Thanks, Rey! The tree is grafted and is likely at least 60+ years old.
Rosa PRECIGOUT says
Thank you
Mick says
Hi Jonas, very nice work on your little “old” baby…
Heard that nishiki have die back issue.. probably due to the weakness of the cultivar and specifically their weak root system ?
Have you ever experience it in the past btw?
Do you work with nishiki with the same calendar as usual kuromatsu?
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Mick – I haven’t seen much dieback, but in general corking cultivars are weaker than the straight species. It’s also easy to bump branches and injure the live portions. I had one cork bark pine that lost branches, but it was years ago and I don’t know if I figured out a cause.
As for the schedule of what to do when, it’s about the same as for black pine or maybe a bit earlier to give the tree more time to recover.
Craig says
Hey Jonas! Do you know roughly when we can expect a program or timetable of the expos various talks/demonstrations? Trying to decide which tickets to buy!
Thanks!
Jonas Dupuich says
It’s looking like it’ll be soon. We just secured a larger space for the programs so we’re re-doing the schedule now and we’ll post it when we can confirm the times with everyone. I’d suggest checking back in 1-2 weeks. Thanks, Craig!