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. […]
Search Results for: decandling
Decandling pines in early stages of development
Decandling young black pines is a treat. It’s during this phase of development that a tree’s basic elements begin to take shape. Sometimes there are clear candidates for the “first branch” or “future apex.” In these cases I’ll often add a little wire to guide these branches into place. Other times I don’t know exactly where […]
Decandling pines in development
Whether I’m working on well-established pines or pines that are have yet to experience much branch development, the basic decandling process is the same – remove spring shoots with the aim of producing summer shoots. One difference is that when I’m working on less-developed pines, I’ll often do more cutback and sometimes a little wiring when […]
Decandling established black pines
The transition from spring to summer marks the middle of decandling season, the time of year when we remove spring shoots from black pines to produce more compact summer growth. If a tree is healthy and received a lot of fertilizer in spring, it’s a good candidate for decandling. Based on this criteria, the black […]
Decandling follow-up
After some debate around whether or not to decandle one of my pines, I decided to remove the strongest shoots. I did this on June 16th. Five weeks later, the new shoots are growing well. Japanese black pine – 5 weeks after decandling Somewhat surprisingly, the growth is strong on the top, middle, and lower […]