I was puzzled, this year, by the appearance of yellow foliage on some of my young pines. Yellow foliage is common on weak trees and often results from bad soil, under-feeding or various kinds of infestation. All of my pines are in the same soil, get the same sunlight and fertilizer and show no signs of infestation. […]
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Redirecting growth on pines
Decandling and cutback are great techniques for redirecting growth on black pines. Here are some examples. Tree #1 After eleven years, the trunk of the tree below has reached the desired size. Any further significant growth and the curves would begin to disappear. The goal for this stage of development is to reduce investment in […]
Summer clean-up on a Western juniper
Some of the least exciting bonsai work happens in summer. This is when lots of watering and fertilizing happens, but it is also a good time for jobs that can get put off during busier seasons like fall or early spring. A few months ago, the Western juniper below was wired and cut back. After putting on a […]
Distinguishing old growth from new growth on junipers
A recent hot spell left its mark on a number of trees in my garden. On the day temperatures peaked, brown needles appeared on some Sierra junipers. Brown needles on Sierra juniper While brown needles can be scary, it really depends on which needles turn brown. If the old needles turn brown, it’s good to […]
Decandling shohin black pine
The steps are simple. 1) Remove spring shoots. Shohin black pine – 21 years old After removing spring shoots 2) Remove extra needles. After removing extra needles 3) Perform light cutback as needed. The first branch on the right is long After shortening the first branch on the right That’s it. In all I removed 14 […]