Summer is not the most interesting time of year in the bonsai calendar. The trees rarely look their best, and it’s too hot for them to grow much. They do, however, require a lot of water this time of year. We essentially had our entire summer last week – 4 days over 90° F – […]
Black Pine
How to decandle shohin black pine
Decandling shohin black pine is similar to decandling larger black pine bonsai with one key difference – it’s done later in the season. Just by a few weeks. By giving summer shoots less time to develop, we prevent them from growing too large. As is often the case in bonsai, proportion is far more important […]
Cork bark Japanese black pine – finding the front
Finding the front of a bonsai is a great exercise – one of my favorites. Both existing bonsai and newly collected trees make good candidates. The cork bark black pine I’ve been working on for the past 6 years has had the same front for very likely most, if not all, of its life. Here […]
Decandling cork bark Japanese black pine
Decandling cork bark Japanese black pines is very similar to decandling the non-cork bark trees. The main difference is that cork bark pines are usually less vigorous. A general rule of thumb is to decandle them every other year, ideally showing them in the years after which they’ve been decandled. I decandled this tree for […]
Why decandle?
There are many techniques for developing Japanese black pine bonsai: pinching, plucking, and pruning among them. All are necessary, but none do the work of decandling. I’m surprised each year at how well decandling balances vigor, improves ramification, and reduces needle size. I began caring for a cork bark Japanese black pine in 2004. After […]