Towards the end of decandling season (mid-July where I live), I make a point of checking every pine in the garden to see if it’s a candidate for decandling. Most of my pines are young and don’t require this work, but there are a number of trees between five and ten years old that can […]
Search Results for: sacrifice branch
Bonsai Development Series #25: Pruning exposed root pines
Some of my exposed root pines are close to seven years old. They have long sacrifice branches to help thicken the roots. Although the fastest way to thicken the roots will be to let the tree grow freely all summer, I often prune this time of year to improve the branch structure. As an added […]
Decandling field-grown pines
When decandling season comes around, I start with the biggest pines in the garden and work my way down to the smallest ones over a period of four-to-six weeks. This gives the larger trees enough time to develop needles over summer that are just the right size (see “Decandling overview” for details). Two of my […]
Spring cutback on ume
Last year I tried a variation on my normal spring cutback for ume. Instead of reducing mid-sized branches to 2-3 leaves, I left them long but defoliated them (see “Cutback” for details). I found that the defoliated branches leafed out but they didn’t regain their vigor. As you can see from the photo below, the […]
Aligning containers with development goals
I use a variety of containers in my garden, but over the years I’ve narrowed the types of containers I use at different stages of development. Here are some common options for our trees and some of the reasons why we might want to use them at a given stage of their development. Plastic containers […]