Hinoki cypress styling

[cozmicat]

Hey all,

I have this hinoki in my selection. I purchased as a bonsai in this current shape. I am not sure what to do with this. I like the pads that it has created, but I’d like to do more with it honestly. I am just not sure where to start. Any tips/ideas would be greatly appreciated. I live in the PNW zone 8a. I love the curve and detail on this trunk, so my obvious goal would be to accentuate that more. I know this tree is not as forgiving as some conifers in terms of no back budding or even no new growth of pruned back to far. So I am of course hesitant.

thanks all!

 

[coh]

How long have you had this? Is it a recent purchase or have you had it for a full year or more?

 

[cozmicat]

only a few months.

How long have you had this? Is it a recent purchase or have you had it for a full year or more?

Only a few months.

 

[coh]

The one big thing you have to be aware of with hinoki (assuming you haven't worked with one before) - they will shed foliage they "don't need" in the late summer/fall. This is usually the foliage we want to keep, i.e. the stuff inside, close to the trunk and close to the branches. If you don't thin it out and open up those foliage masses you may lose a lot of what you have inside and it can be difficult (if not impossible) to get it back, especially on older trees. Then you'll be left trying to figure out how to make leggy branches look good. This one might be young enough that you can get backbudding but tough to know.

I haven't worked with these for long but have had a couple of them for a few years so I know from experience

 

[cozmicat]

The one big thing you have to be aware of with hinoki (assuming you haven't worked with one before) - they will shed foliage they "don't need" in the late summer/fall. This is usually the foliage we want to keep, i.e. the stuff inside, close to the trunk and close to the branches. If you don't thin it out and open up those foliage masses you may lose a lot of what you have inside and it can be difficult (if not impossible) to get it back, especially on older trees. Then you'll be left trying to figure out how to make leggy branches look good. This one might be young enough that you can get backbudding but tough to know.

I haven't worked with these for long but have had a couple of them for a few years so I know from experience

Thats good to know. I have unfortunately lost some of the inner growth. Is it to late to thin it out? our should I wait for next year?

 

[coh]

Thats good to know. I have unfortunately lost some of the inner growth. Is it to late to thin it out? our should I wait for next year?

Great time to thin it out! I just did major work on one of my hinokis and will be doing less severe work on the other shortly. They haven't started to drop old foliage yet, at least here. You should probably do some wiring to open up and lay out the foliage as well, but these require a delicate touch - easy to break off the small growths. Be sure to keep the "right" orientation, there is a definite top and bottom to hinoki foliage. Vertical growing pieces can usually be laid flat without concern unless one side was in the sun and the other shaded, then be careful.

 

[cozmicat]

Great time to thin it out! I just did major work on one of my hinokis and will be doing less severe work on the other shortly. They haven't started to drop old foliage yet, at least here. You should probably do some wiring to open up and lay out the foliage as well, but these require a delicate touch - easy to break off the small growths. Be sure to keep the "right" orientation, there is a definite top and bottom to hinoki foliage. Vertical growing pieces can usually be laid flat without concern unless one side was in the sun and the other shaded, then be careful.

Thanks for the advice. I will post some after photos.

 

[Forsoothe!]

New growth only emerges from primary tips, lighter green here.


Hinoki are trimmed with a long-pointed sharp scissors at the base of a ramification. If just pulled off at one of the scale joints, a string like ~backbone~ will remain which is hard to cut off. Cutting with a sharp scissors at the joint minimizes the dead, brown tip that will remain. Ideally, the cut joint will be slightly recessed from the end of the cluster/fan of foliage which hides or disguises the cut.


Cuts can be made at the origin of any fan of foliage.


That cut end will turn brown and nothing will grow from that stem. Growth will resume from existing secondary or tertiary buds which are few, hidden and need to be undamaged by your work.

The deeper into a fan of foliage that you cut, the fewer growth tips exist. Chamaecyparis do not back bad much, and most not at all. As stated above, the older the wood, the more unlikely that back-budding will occur when heading back exposes that area to more light. To keep fresh growth closer in, keep fresh growth closer in and don't let it get over-grown expecting to come back later and get new, inner growth. You can see in the cuts made in the photo above, only two buds are visible to replace the (white) foliage removed, so it will take awhile to fill in that space.

The fans grow in almost any plane. Not quite as wildly as White Cedar, but not in neat horizontal layers. As mentioned above, there is an up and down surface and turning a fan upside-down will kill it, so pay attention when wiring. The top of the foliage is greener than the bottom which has white-ish lines. A bud grows in the plane that it is oriented in, so if a bud is pointed in a vertical plane or inward or downward or otherwise not in the plane that you want foliage to grow in, then you have to find a different bud to fill that space or wire it.

All of these rules and limitations make it difficult to shape Hinoki into a vision. Kind of like remembering the 47 things to remember while in the middle of a 2 second golf swing.

 

[cozmicat]

New growth only emerges from primary tips, lighter green here.
View attachment 317990

Hinoki are trimmed with a long-pointed sharp scissors at the base of a ramification. If just pulled off at one of the scale joints, a string like ~backbone~ will remain which is hard to cut off. Cutting with a sharp scissors at the joint minimizes the dead, brown tip that will remain. Ideally, the cut joint will be slightly recessed from the end of the cluster/fan of foliage which hides or disguises the cut.
View attachment 317989
View attachment 317993
Cuts can be made at the origin of any fan of foliage.
View attachment 317994
View attachment 317996
That cut end will turn brown and nothing will grow from that stem. Growth will resume from existing secondary or tertiary buds which are few, hidden and need to be undamaged by your work.
View attachment 317998
The deeper into a fan of foliage that you cut, the fewer growth tips exist. Chamaecyparis do not back bad much, and most not at all. As stated above, the older the wood, the more unlikely that back-budding will occur when heading back exposes that area to more light. To keep fresh growth closer in, keep fresh growth closer in and don't let it get over-grown expecting to come back later and get new, inner growth. You can see in the cuts made in the photo above, only two buds are visible to replace the (white) foliage removed, so it will take awhile to fill in that space.

The fans grow in almost any plane. Not quite as wildly as White Cedar, but not in neat horizontal layers. As mentioned above, there is an up and down surface and turning a fan upside-down will kill it, so pay attention when wiring. The top of the foliage is greener than the bottom which has white-ish lines. A bud grows in the plane that it is oriented in, so if a bud is pointed in a vertical plane or inward or downward or otherwise not in the plane that you want foliage to grow in, then you have to find a different bud to fill that space or wire it.

All of these rules and limitations make it difficult to shape Hinoki into a vision. Kind of like remembering the 47 things to remember while in the middle of a 2 second golf swing.

This is a lot of great info! This will definitely help me understand what I’m doing, or at least not F it up entirely. Lol I will for sure read this again. I will do this one slowly as I don’t want to completely mess it up.

boss level info!!

 

[SeanS]

This is about sekka hinokis but might be helpful regarding styling