Remove the new growth from your pine bonsai and you’ve decandled the tree. Within a month or two, new shoots like these will appear: Summer growth – Japanese black pine Easy enough. Place another pine on the turntable, pick up the scissors, and get started. How to make that first cut? I typically consider the following: […]
Black Pine
Decandling techniques
The practice of decandling refers to the removal of spring growth on pine bonsai. The goal of the practice is to balance growth and reduce needle size. Simply removing spring growth from a pine will result in smaller needles, but it will only go so far towards balancing the tree’s growth. Over time, the bonsai […]
Decandling basics – Japanese black pine
The basics of decandling Japanese black pine are straightforward. The application of the basics is more of a long-term pursuit. At its most rudimentary, decandling is the practice of replacing vigorous spring growth with moderately-vigorous summer growth – a technique for removing one shoot and replacing it with two. It’s a powerful tool for balancing […]
Decandling black pine – case study
It’s common to divide a tree’s shoots into three zones based on strength during decandling season. A long-term project of mine had me dividing a tree into three zones for very different reasons. Japanese black pine – after decandling The lowest third of this sixteen year-old Japanese black pine is beginning to develop branches that […]
Decandling black pine – case study
There’s a lot to say about decandling Japanese black pine. I’ll start with some basics. Here’s a pine going into decandling season. Japanese black pine – front Japanese black pine – back And here’s the same tree after decandling: Japanese black pine – front It won’t take much effort to see that I didn’t decandle […]