Even though it’s January, I’m just now starting my pine fall work. This entails pruning and thinning extra needles. When time allows, I wire the branches too! Here’s what this looks like with a young root over rock black pine grown by Eric Schrader. Root over rock black pine – 14 years old I’ve had […]
Bonsai Development
Bonsai Development posts form the heart of Bonsai Tonight. Learn about varieties like Black Pine, Shimpaku and Japanese Maple, techniques like Decandling and Grafting and Air Layering, and bonsai features like Deadwood.
Coast redwood cutback and repotting
I’ve been working on a large coast redwood for the past few years in fits and starts. After an initial pruning and repotting (see “Coast redwood” for details) I’ve worked on the tree in earnest several times only to let it grow out again. After a few cycles of this, I removed almost all of […]
Fall cutback on Japanese plum
When the leaves of my Japanese plums (Prunus salicina) change color and fall off, it’s time for fall pruning. The goal is to remove branches that have reached the desired thickness and wire branches that are soft enough to bend. Here’s an example. Tree #1 before pruning Tree #1 after pruning and wiring These plums […]
Wiring a Ponderosa pine
For the past three years, I’ve been working on a Ponderosa pine with large branches on the upper half of the trunk. I spent the first two years getting the tree healthy enough to work on and I lightly pruned and repotted it last year. The tree responded well and is now ready for styling. […]
Fall cutback on a root over rock trident maple
When most of the leaves on deciduous trees have turned color or fallen away, it’s time for fall cutback. Trident maple ready for cutback I start by removing the leaves so I can see the branch structure clearly. After removing the leaves As you can see, the branch density is good but the branch structure […]