If you haven’t finished your fall pine work, there’s still time! Fall and winter, right up until buds start elongating in spring, is a good time to prune and wire dormant conifers including Japanese black and red pines. The first step is to prune branches in crowded areas, the second step is to remove extra […]
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Decandling an old cork bark black pine
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 […]
The middle stages of pine development – my favorite!
When you have a good trunk to work with and the goal is to improve the branches, you’re working with a tree in the middle stages of development. For pines with large trunks, this stage can last five to ten years or more, depending on your goals for the silhouette. The two pines below were […]
Should I fertilize my decandled pines in summer?
To determine if a decandled pine needs fertilizer in summer, I check to see how the summer buds look. If they’re strong, I hold off on the fertilizer until later in the growing season (usually September or October). If the buds are modest or small, I consider whether or not the pine looks good in […]
Review: Mastering Shohin Japanese Black Pine Bonsai
Eric Schrader and the team behind Bonsaify.com released an online course this week titled, “Mastering Shohin Japanese Black Pine Bonsai: A Complete Guide from Seedling to Show Tree.” I reviewed a pre-release version of the course and am happy to report that it’s a great starting point for anyone looking for support in their journey […]