Any advice on pruning this tree?

[QuarentineBonsai]

It's been in the pot for the last 10+ years. I bought it from a guy that's moving and liquidating his bonsai. He hasn't taken care of it in 10+ years.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

We should continue to use this thread on it.

Cheers!

Sorce

 

[misfit11]

I don't want to give you any advice on styling this. It's just too hard to do via an internet forum. If you could give us more pictures from different angles that would be helpful. Also, when you photograph your trees, make sure there is a solid background so the branches are clearly defined (there are some great threads on photographing bonsai on BNut. Just do a search).

Next, do some research on candle cutting on pines. Get a firm understanding of this procedure before moving forward (@Brian Van Fleet has some great threads on here about it and on his blog). I'm guessing that this is a Japanese Black Pine, is that correct? Species information is key. JBPs respond very predictively to candle cutting. They are the most used pine species in bonsai so they are well understood and information on them abounds. That being said, pines in general aren't easy. Most people don't start with a pine as their first tree for good reasons.

Lastly, and I can't stress this enough, find a local club. This forum is great but there's no substitute for working with real, live human beings (although with a pandemic going on this is a bit tough I know). Also, update your account with your location and hardiness zone so we can know more about your specific situation.

I hope that helps.

Cory

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

First, you need to know what species of pine this tree is. Pines fall into several care categories. Double flush in long growing season pines. Single flush 2 needle pines, Single flush 5 needle pines. And the separate category for collected pines with trunks over 75 or 100 years old. Each group requires a different pattern of care.

If this tree were mine, I would do zero pruning until one year after repotting. This tree looks like it needs to be repotted. Depending on your location, you may, or may not be able to repot this year. Otherwise you might have to wait until spring 2021. Do no pruning until at least one year after repotting. So if you repot spring 2021, no pruning until the appropriate time in 2022.

This is a neglected tree, the roots need work. It does look reasonably healthy, but not vigorous. If you do "too much, too soon", it will not survive.

 

[Forsoothe!]

This tree was styled, and pretty well, many years ago and let go to Hell. I don't know much about Pines, but I would feed this and grow it in full sun until it had lots of buds instead of what looks like one candle per node, then I'd apply the standard slowing down the aggressive top top to favor the lower branches by removing the biggest, early extending buds in upper clusters so the smaller, fewer buds in the lower branches and smaller buds in the upper branches fatten up, whereupon you pick and choose which and how many you let extend & shorten. But first, ya gotta have a healthy tree with some decent foliage. When it's well on its way to lots of needles and buds it probably should be repotted, probably the first time in ten or fifteen years.

I'd like to hear from our resident Pineologists...