It’s common to divide a tree’s shoots into three zones based on strength during decandling season. A long-term project of mine had me dividing a tree into three zones for very different reasons. Japanese black pine – after decandling The lowest third of this sixteen year-old Japanese black pine is beginning to develop branches that […]
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 a red pine forest
Sixteen years ago I planted a group of red pine seeds. I made seedling cuttings, watered, and fertilized the trees, but never created a plan for their future. As a result, fate determined their present form. The trees were healthy but ungainly – perfect candidates for a forest planting. Red pines are a very vigorous […]
Decandling black pine – case study
There’s a lot to say about decandling Japanese black pine. I’ll start with some basics. Here’s a pine going into decandling season. Japanese black pine – front Japanese black pine – back And here’s the same tree after decandling: Japanese black pine – front It won’t take much effort to see that I didn’t decandle […]
Trident maple bonsai – spring cutback
Trident maple bonsai grow quickly. It’s a characteristic that can yield great ramification in a relatively short amount of time. Daisaku Nomoto, a very talented Japanese bonsai professional and student of Kihachi En, suggested a mere three years can be enough to prepare trident maple bonsai for Kokufu. I asked how this could be possible. […]
Developing Japanese winterberry
Spring work for this small ilex serrata is straight forward. I want the primary branches to thicken so I let them run. Aluminum wire helps them set in place. Japanese winterberry – before Japanese winterberry – after If you look closely, you can see that the apex is much smaller than the main part of […]