Although I’ve only posted a handful of explicit bonsai experiments, I tend to think of all bonsai work as experimental. We know what happens when we cut – some amount of foliage is removed from the tree we’re working on. What we don’t know is how exactly the tree will respond. We may have a general idea […]
Search Results for: decandling
Decandling shohin black pine
The steps are simple. 1) Remove spring shoots. Shohin black pine – 21 years old After removing spring shoots 2) Remove extra needles. After removing extra needles 3) Perform light cutback as needed. The first branch on the right is long After shortening the first branch on the right That’s it. In all I removed 14 […]
Decandling – how late is too late?
Getting the timing right when decandling is as much art as science – or so it can seem. While it can be tough to determine the ideal time to decandle a tree upfront, in hindsight it’s usually pretty clear what went right or wrong (see When to Decandle for details). When the proper time to […]
Decandling a shohin black pine
Every year I wrap-up decandling season by decandling any shohin pines in the garden. By decandling small pines later in the growing season, summer shoots have less time to develop, yielding smaller needles – the desired outcome for small trees. Shohin black pine – before decandling When decandling this tree, I removed a few shoots […]
Decandling a red pine forest
If there’s a single bonsai in my garden that grows quickly, its the red pine forest below. Red pine forest Japanese red pines are very similar to Japanese black pines. The most common differences I notice include thinner needles and slightly reddish colored buds, though sometimes the two varieties can be hard to tell apart. […]