In general, we want two new shoots at the end each branch to develop on black and red pine bonsai. Red pine – two summer shoots Nature, however, doesn’t always provide us with what we’re looking for. Black pine – three shoots Four summer shoots More shoots than I want to count One shoot can […]
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.
Decandling and then some
I started decandling some of my 9-year old pines this year. A number of them lack the interior branches I’ll need for styling. Typical decandling – removing the spring shoots – would produce dense summer growth and likely trigger some, but not all of the interior shoots that I need. By cutting back further, I […]
Korean hornbeam – summer cutback and leaf pruning
Summer care for Korean hornbeam typically consists of minor cutback, defoliating and/or leaf pruning. As I completely defoliated the tree last summer – something I don’t necessarily recommend: see Defoliating a Korean Hornbeam for details – and repotted the tree in winter, I’m taking it a bit easy this year. I reduced long shoots to […]
Decandling a shohin black pine
I wrapped up my decandling for the year by removing the new shoots from a small black pine last weekend. I waited fairly late to decandle the tree as there’s a chance I’ll show it in the upcoming Bay Island Bonsai exhibit and I didn’t want the new needles to be too long. Shohin black […]
Decandling aftercare
To restate a common theme – decandling is very stressful for pine bonsai. In some cases trees can lose up to 60% or 70% of their foliage during decandling. One-year old needles that have been growing beneath the shade of new shoots are newly exposed to full sun. Scores or even hundreds of small wounds […]