In general, we want two new shoots at the end each branch to develop on black and red pine bonsai. Red pine – two summer shoots Nature, however, doesn’t always provide us with what we’re looking for. Black pine – three shoots Four summer shoots More shoots than I want to count One shoot can […]
Decandling
Decandling follow-up
After some debate around whether or not to decandle one of my pines, I decided to remove the strongest shoots. I did this on June 16th. Five weeks later, the new shoots are growing well. Japanese black pine – 5 weeks after decandling Somewhat surprisingly, the growth is strong on the top, middle, and lower […]
Vigorous summer shoots
It’s been three weeks since I decandled some of my 9 year-old black pines. Although the weather has been cool, the summer shoots are growing well. 9 year-old black pine after decandling – 6/30/13 3 weeks later – 7/21/13 Back side The new growth is strongest where I shortened some of the larger branches. Lots […]
Decandling and then some
I started decandling some of my 9-year old pines this year. A number of them lack the interior branches I’ll need for styling. Typical decandling – removing the spring shoots – would produce dense summer growth and likely trigger some, but not all of the interior shoots that I need. By cutting back further, I […]
Decandling a shohin black pine
I wrapped up my decandling for the year by removing the new shoots from a small black pine last weekend. I waited fairly late to decandle the tree as there’s a chance I’ll show it in the upcoming Bay Island Bonsai exhibit and I didn’t want the new needles to be too long. Shohin black […]