White Pines

[Bonsai Nut]

(Frightened of making a mistake) With such things as maples, this can be covered up, but with pines?

Go onto eBay or similar local ecommerce site, buy about 20 small black pines that are 3-5 years old and experiment with them. Break the 20 trees into 4 groups of 5 trees and do different things to them - i.e. pinch candles on one group, trim candles after they elongate on another, cut candles in half in the third, and let the fourth grow wild for a year then cut back hard. Take photos before and after and maintain a file. In a couple years you will learn more than most people learn in a lifetime

Pines are all about balancing the strength of the tree, and understanding how to manage buds. That's about all there is to it A weekend to learn, and lifetime to master

 

[Vance Wood]

For what it's worth there is an easier way to remember what to do between two and five needle Pines. With two needle Pines you are playing head start, you work on the weaker portions of the tree first and give them a head start. With five needle Pines you are playing slow down and catch up, you work on the stronger portions of the tree first to slow them down and let the weaker portions of the tree catch up.

In short: Head start two, slow down and catch up five.

 

[Chris Johnston]

Go onto eBay or similar local ecommerce site, buy about 20 small black pines that are 3-5 years old and experiment with them. Break the 20 trees into 4 groups of 5 trees and do different things to them - i.e. pinch candles on one group, trim candles after they elongate on another, cut candles in half in the third, and let the fourth grow wild for a year then cut back hard. Take photos before and after and maintain a file. In a couple years you will learn more than most people learn in a lifetime

Pines are all about balancing the strength of the tree, and understanding how to manage buds. That's about all there is to it A weekend to learn, and lifetime to master

"A weekend to learn and alifetime to master?" What is this, Stratego? Seriously, the study of pines can last a lifetime, even with good, solid teaching. I don't suggest that everyone go out and try to reinvent the wheel every time they are a little unsure. I suggest finding a good teacher whose trees indicate they know what they are talking about. Preferably someone who studied under a real bonsai master.

John and Vance have it right--with 2 needle pines in general, but specifically with Japanese black pines (pinus thunbergii), we are balancing the growth by cutting candles (the whole candle right at the base). We don't cut the very weakest because they are too weak. Cut the next smallest group, a week later the next group larger, a week later the largest. Don't do this by the size of the candle, do it by the calendar for your part of the world. If you don't have someone experienced to give you a heads up, try in mid-June (northern hemisphere) as your starting point. Adjust next year as needed.

Japanese white pine (pinus parviflora) involves cutting stronger candles first and reversing the process, although I haven't cared for JWP, my teacher has.

It's interesting that JBP have more in common in this way with Trident maples (acer buergerianum) than with white pines. In both species we have very vigorous growers. We let them grow and then cut back to work with the second flush of growth on the trees. So we feed very heavily in early spring to force a great deal of growth, then take fert. off after cutting back so the new growth doesn't get too big. I like working with both species because they both grow well in my climate with the heat we get in summer.

JWP and Japanese maple (acer palmatum and acer japonicum) are more delicate, slower growing trees which won't give us the second flush of growth and we have to use what we get. So we don't feed them heavily in early spring. Cut candles (not the whole candle) or pinch new growth so that when it extends it's not too big. On J. maples we use tweezers to get the nascent bud before it even separates enough to grab with fingers. These techniques keep the growth from extending too far. Miss it even once and the internodes are too big to remain in proportion with the tree.

There are a great many considerations, too many to fit into a book or article online or in a magazine. One of Dave DeGroot's favorite answers to bonsai questions is..."It depends!" Not because the answers aren't based in fact, but because every tree, every branch must be treated in its own context. That's why there was an article in Japanese called, "Eighty-eight Ways to Pinch Black Pines."

Take advantage of generations of bonsai information. Mine the experience of masters from Japan, Australia, the U.S. and Europe. Don't try to do it all on your own, there are far too many factors to control for each, especially for the beginner.

We are pulling for you!

 

[John Hill]

I Kinda agree with Chris and BNut, the purpose is to balance the trees growth patterns. I prune when the tree tells me to, not by the calendar. The candles will let you know all there is to know about that tree. Some zones have longer growing seasons then others so you may have to do needle reduction pruning later then those that have a shorter growing season. For instance if you want to elongate a branch you do not want to bother that branch just let it go. When you have your tree where you want it and want to keep it in bounds then you work on balancing the tree so all get the same energy. Then you try and keep it so the needles only have so long to elongate. This keeps the needles shorter, but you have to do it so the whole tree keeps the needles the same length. So the weak first and the strongest last. Give the weakest a head start so to speak.
The weak areas the medium and the strong. So what you have to do is pinch to balance the energy to to certain parts of that tree. It basically is not the how to but the why?
For someone to try and teach someone how to prune pines for shorter needles is really hard to do with just words. The best is to raise pines and learn from how they grow and how does one balance that growth through out the tree and keep that growth so the needles have less time to elongate.

I am still learning and the tree is teaching me each and every season.


A Friend in bonsai
John

 

[Chris Johnston]

I just reread this and realized what I was missing so far: for a very young tree, we candle and prune far differently than for a well developed tree. Once a fair balance has been achieved, then we candle by the calendar to achieve the resulting needle length we want.

Of course, mother nature must cooperate. The JBP I helped prepare for Boon's show was candled summer before last at the normal time. This should have produced final needles about an inch to 1 and 1/2 inches. Instead, the summer was very cold and cloudy, and the needles were half inch or less. The tree looked a little odd, from what I hear!