One of the most common questions I hear relating to the development of pine bonsai has to do with the lower branches: What should I do with them? The answer is fairly simple – keep them. There are, however, some details that may come in handy. Let’s look at an example. The pine below is […]
Black Pine
Evaluating summer growth – how much is enough?
One of the most common questions I get this time of year is whether or not the summer growth on decandled pines is strong enough. A better question might be, based on the summer growth to date, is there something I need to do to keep the tree on track? Here’s a black pine I […]
Larger pots make a big difference for young pines
I’ve been growing black pines for a long time. My approach has been pretty consistent the past few years and I can dependably produce trees that look like the following after 2½ years. 2½-year-old black pine This past year I made a small change to the process. Here’s the same 2½-year-old pine next to a […]
Selecting branches to decandle
Two of my young pines are almost – but not quite – ready to be fully decandled. The tree below, for example, looks ready, though you might notice that the upper branches are a bit far away from the relatively small trunk. Japanese black pine – 13 years from seed The upper branches have extended […]
Decandling pines in development
A number of my 13 year-old pines are making the transition from trunk development to branch refinement. During this stage, I’ll often decandle branches that will be part of the final design while letting other branches continue to thicken. Most of the branches on the tree below were decandled this year. The branches that I […]