Many people who work a lot with black pine bonsai develop a special relationship with tweezers. Fall, winter, and sometimes spring and summer offer opportunities to remove copious amounts of needles from pine bonsai in later stages of development. I like tweezer work because it leaves pine foliage looking clean and even – balanced, in […]
Bonsai Care
The bonsai care category includes topics like Watering, Fertilizing, Repotting and Bonsai Soil. You can also find information about the Pests commonly found on bonsai, and read Interviews with bonsai professionals.
Restoring an old Japanese maple
I’d gone several years without a Japanese maple in my collection and I missed working with the variety. It’s hard, however, to find good specimen. I resigned myself to starting a tree from scratch, either by layering nursery stock or by working with an old tree that needed help. A few months ago, I found […]
Restoring a Japanese beech
You never know what you’re going to find when you repot a tree for the first time, or when you finally get around to addressing a tree’s major flaws. The Japanese beech below was due for a reboot. The tree’s owner began by working on the roots. Japanese beech Poor nebari In addition to removing […]
How to repot a young Japanese black pine (2 of 2)
One of my favorite repotting activities is often neglected. After removing the tree from the pot and working with the small roots (see part one of How to repot a young Japanese black pine) it’s time to improve the nebari. “Nebari” refers to the area where the roots emerge from the trunk – it’s the one […]
How to repot a young Japanese black pine (1 of 2)
I have been growing Japanese black pine bonsai from seed for the past 17 years. During this time, I’ve done a lot of repotting. This past January, it dawned on me that I had to repot almost 50 young pines. Very few needed repotting last year, but this year all but a handful needed it. […]