It’s been three weeks since I decandled some of my 9 year-old black pines. Although the weather has been cool, the summer shoots are growing well. 9 year-old black pine after decandling – 6/30/13 3 weeks later – 7/21/13 Back side The new growth is strongest where I shortened some of the larger branches. Lots […]
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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 […]
Trees that lean
A bonsai is said to lean forward when its apex lies in front of the base of the trunk. For example: Pine viewed from the left side – the apex is over the front edge of the pot. A forward lean is common to many, many bonsai in Japan. I don’t know when or why this […]
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 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 […]