Bonsaiscaping with Tanyosho Pine

onlyrey

Mame
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Last weekend, I found this Tanyosho Pine (Pinus densiflora Umbraculifera), bought it and planted it on my front yard. My idea is to create somekind of made to look "bonsai" frontyard. The young version of this tree looks like an inverted umbrella (see the pictures). I would like to use pine bonsai training techniques to choose a new leader, maybe developing into a literati on the floor.

What do you recommend? Can I for example, decandle this type of pine?



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johng

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I recently saw again the one I planted 15 years ago...a little larger than yours to start but it is easily 10' across now and about 5' tall...trunk is as big as my thigh!
The other I have has been bouncing around trying to find a home...first in the landscape...didn't perform well under irrigation...then a container and now back in the ground outside of the irrigation.

In my experience they respond to JBP training techniques...but not as vigorously.
 

Potawatomi13

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Personally the style as bought just doesn't turn me on. I'd suggest letting some of the candles grow to get some non umbrella looking growth to it.
 

johng

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Personally the style as bought just doesn't turn me on. I'd suggest letting some of the candles grow to get some non umbrella looking growth to it.
Well...umbrella shape is the natural shape of this culitivar... so more has to be done that just let it grow or all you end up with is a bigger umbrella!
 

onlyrey

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Mine is within the irrigation zone as well, although it is placed in sort of a mount so that it is higher than the grass (not appreciable because of the pine straw). I'll have to follow its performance.

One note is that the soil it came in was sort of clay looking brown. The top layer below the lawn that the builder put is about a foot of clay . The original soil below being sand. I digged down to the sand and put good draining material.

I am also going to try to break it away from the inverted umbrella shape using bonsai techniques. I've never have worked with pine, so I might leave it alone till next growing season.


I recently saw again the one I planted 15 years ago...a little larger than yours to start but it is easily 10' across now and about 5' tall...trunk is as big as my thigh!
The other I have has been bouncing around trying to find a home...first in the landscape...didn't perform well under irrigation...then a container and now back in the ground outside of the irrigation.

In my experience they respond to JBP training techniques...but not as vigorously.
 

fredtruck

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I had one for five years, but it was not grafted on to a standard, like the one pictured, but was grafted on a very stout JBP trunk. Ben Oki did the initial styling, and after that, I followed his lead. He told me standard bonsai techniques won't work on the tanyosho. The reason is that the red pine top branches like a deciduous tree, rather than a pine.

I found the tree very responsive to decandling, but if you get really aggressive, as I did, you can kill the tree...which I did. Maybe do it every other year. I don't think trying to make a new leader is a workable plan. You can try it, but the tree's natural habit is indicated by another name it has: table top pine.
 

onlyrey

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Thanks guys, I'm going to go easy on it. To assure some extra strength, I'll remove the pine-cones as they develop. Just to make sure, the purple little things are the pine cones before they dry, right? (I increased the color saturation a bit)
 

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