Not all sacrifice branches need to be big. Small sacrifice branches are a good way to thicken the trunk and close wounds on trees even when most of the branch work is complete. Here’s an example. Shohin black pine – 7″ (16″ with sacrifice branch) The tree above is fifteen years old from seed. I’d […]
Black Pine
Reopening an old wound to promote callus formation
After removing a large branch, you might find that the callus doesn’t form evenly around the wound. The best way to fix this is to reopen the wound. Here’s an example of a wound created one year ago after removing a large branch on a black pine. Old wound on Japanese black pine The top […]
Bonsai Development Series #13: Balancing vigor
The basic approach to developing material for bonsai is to first create the trunk and then focus on the branches. In between these two stages, it’s common to split the focus between the trunk and the branches. When focusing on the branches, the idea is to slow the tree down to produce fine growth. When […]
Developing cascade black pine
The first batch of cascade black pines I started are now five years old. After decandling the trees last spring, it’s time for cutback and wiring. Five year-old cascade black pine Right side There are a number of spots along the trunk where too many branches emerge. Ideally, no more than a single branch would […]
Bonsai Development Series #11: Culling trees with poor characteristics
I’d like to say that every pine I start from seed grows into a winner, but that isn’t the case. To avoid investing time in trees with flaws that are difficult to correct, I periodically evaluate all of my bonsai and cull out any that don’t make the cut. Doing this frees up time in […]