Literati Japanese Red Pine attempt

[Shun]

Hello guys as some of you know I ended up buying a JRP to try and make a literati styled bonsai.. I'm still very new to the bonsai world (started about 1 year) and have a lot of things I've yet to learn.. So please be patient with me hahaha!

This is the topic in which I asked for help in choosing the 'right' candidate: http://www.bonsainut.com/threads/heavy-bends-on-japanese-red-pine.25459/

And I bought the #2 pine which is this one:

Right now here in Brazil we are in the middle/end of spring so nothing to do right now on pines (right?) but I wanted to show a small video of the root base I've got in this tree.. Scraped the top layer of soil to uncover the base to have a look.. The base is around 3 inches in size
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What I firstly want to do is to repot it (lots of healthy white roots tips on it circling around the pot) into a colander.. That procedure is done by the end of winter just when the tree is waking up, is that correct?
I ask this because in some points there is a (to me) long neck on the new growth that I'm no too pleasant about because I believe I already have the right elongation of branches to start building up the structure

So my question begins with: Since I'm going to repot it is it prudent to decandle it? What I've read about pines is one procedure per year so the year you're repotting you don't mess around with the tree... I also had some scale insets on it but I believe i resolved the issue and the pine looks to be healthy overall.. Should that stop me from repotting next winter?

And style-wise I plan on removing and jinning / shari on the first stub on the first curve and the second curve also removing the branches but maybe only making a small jin over there..

I also plan on using guywires to lower down the crown of the tree and start working its inition shape with one or two branches but that will come in time (I still have to keep the tree alive! hahahah)

Any other tips or recomendations I'm all ears.. Your guys know so much more than me on whats possible to do and whats not!

Thank you for your attention and later on I will make a 360 small video of the branching so you guys can make observations on the tree..! Thank you again.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

If you repot now, do not decandle. Also do not remove all the old needles at the end of the year. Do get rid of that crossing root when you repot, work on shaping the nebari. Then let the tree recover. If next year the first flush of growth is weak, or less than vigorous, you can skip decandling 2 years in a row if needed to recover vigor for your tree. When you skip decandling don't pull old needles in autumn.

Reason to keep old needles is that for 2 or more years, the buds at the base of the candles remain viable, when you do finally decandle you can cut back 2 or 3 years if you kept enough old needles that you will still have needles back where you cut to.

If your skill level is experienced, and your climate is as favorable for JRP as parts of California, you might be able to do more than ''one insult per year''. But if you have to ask, it means you don't have enough experience to ''get away with doing more''. So stick to ''one insult per year'' until you really have a good feel toward what you can get away with. With repotting after care is critical. Not too wet, not too dry, most move tree right back to full sun, but if root work was drastic, consider part shade for a few weeks. After normal root work, my trees go back to full sun.

Myself, I only have cork bark Japanese Black pine, and I found repotting in summer works well for me if I protect the trees from extreme cold in the following winter. In Brazil, cold won't be a problem, you can probably repot in late summer, after the stressful heat of the hottest part of the summer has passed. Depending on how hot and dry your climate gets in summer, you might not want to repot less than 8 weeks before the most stressful time of the hot season.

Is your summer hot?, above 35 C (above 95 F?) if yes, then your summers should be viewed as stressful for your trees. If you have less than 14 days a year above 35 C (95 F) then your summers are mild enough that you should not have to worry about heat stress in summer.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

By the way, nice trees, I like the start you have.

 

[Shun]

Thank you so much for your attention, Leo! I appreciate the time you took to answer me!

I live on a city (Curitiba - capital of Paraná state) that has good temps for cultivating Black pines and red pines.. We are getting quite a few days of 30C lately (in the latest years the temperatures are increasing) but seldomly get above 35.. Maybe a day or two of 35+C not more.. The lowest temperatures on winter is about 0C rarely going -1C (a day or two maximum).

I will deal with that crossing root when reppoting the tree and will stick to one insult per year. I did not know we could "decandle" to 2-3 years old Flush of needles! I read about decandling on the internet but is always about it on the refinement stages and people usually go by saying to not decandle if youre still in development stages and I thought to myself.. But wont that produce looooong shoots / leggy branches with needles obly on the tips? I always thought on how will I not decandle and still keep the growth compact.. That seemed paradoxal.. But now that I know we can cut back to older needles it makes sense!

When repotting can I remove the lower needles/branches that are not necessary on the design of the tree or should I keep them and remove only on the next season to go by the one insult per year? Its not packed with branching or needles so I kinda think to myself the stress of removal will be minimal (leaving stubs for less bleeding of resin and sap)

Making a small shari counts as an insult per year? Hahahaha I'm asking because i plan on making a small shari on the first curve to eliminate the subtle reverse taper it has on that point.

Thank you again!

 

[Shun]

Hello guys its me again! We are in the end of the summer here in Brasil but its still very hot (29 degrees celcius today) and I wanted to know if its normal for JRPs pushing new needles at this time of the year.... On almost every branch I'm getting a few pairs of needles pushing out..

Is that expected? Good sign? Bad sign?

I haven't done nothing to the tree except watering and fertilizing

 

[sorce]

Vance said of my Mugo..

Sometimes it happens, but you can't count on it.

I Reckon it's a good thing...healthy.

But....dunno for sure....

Sorce

 

[MichaelS]

I don't think it's a good idea to grow temperate species there. (what is your altitude..temperatures?) If it's putting out new growth now it probably means the night temps are too warm. It might be ok? They say Black pine in Hawaii grows non stop.
Why don't you look around for some native species to work with?

 

[Shun]

Well I think its okay where I live.. Altitude of about 950+ meters and I know for sure they thrive where I live. There are specimens of JBP's bonsai of about 50 years all developed here in Brazil. I believe there is a misconception regarding our climate. Actually, where I live, some tropical species dont do as good as up in the northern part of Brasil (remember the higher up, the warmer the climate is, for us.)

Curitiba is a city bellow the tropic of Capricorn, so its actually a sub-tropical location and in some areas we get bellow freezing temperatures in winter.

I'm not bashing on you, MichaelS. Far from it! I'm just explaining why I firmly believe we can grow them down here.


And about the tree.. The new growth is of only a few needles here and there. The buds have not been exploding with a new flush of growth, its just a few new needles coming out.. I thought it was weird considering what I've read on the especies..

Thank you MichaelS and Sorce for the inputs! I will try to get a picture tomorrow!

 

[sorce]

Too....

I got some buds that are half open...
Needles are still curved and half tucked in...

It stalled like that and they been iced froze thawed snowed thawed iced and froze rethawed and froze twice more....

And they still look fine!

Sorce

 

[Haoleboy]

I don't think it's a good idea to grow temperate species there. (what is your altitude..temperatures?) If it's putting out new growth now it probably means the night temps are too warm. It might be ok? They say Black pine in Hawaii grows non stop.
Why don't you look around for some native species to work with?

JBP does very well in Maui. There are several examples I can think of in landscapes there. I'm giving JBP a go here in N. Tampa. I have located one tree that's many years old growing in a school's landscape. This tree gives me hope.

 

[Shun]

Ok so the tree underwent its first step towards the road to bonsai...

What do you guys think?

 

[Milly]

Great start!

 

[GGB]

enough to make me jealous! It seems like all my favorite literati on here are JRP. coincidence or absolute law of nature?

Either way .. looks good. Seems like the needles aren't overly long right now either, shouldn't be hard to go from here

 

[Potawatomi13]

Looks good so far.

 

[Wilson]

Nice movement, and branching for the look you are after. The angle change helped for sure. Curitiba, one of my favourite martial artists is from there!

 

[Shun]

Thanks for the support guys! She needs some branching still.. but not too much or else it will not be fitting for its style. Cant wait for bark to develop!

Curitiba is hometown to many famous UFC fighters! Anderson 'the spider' Silva, Wanderley Silva, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua among others..! You don't want to mess around here!

 

[Shun]

2018 update.
Repotted in a training pot to reduce root mass

A few more years to go.. need to develop mature bark also..

I'm also considering using the back of the tree as the new front. Would need to make a few adjustments but maybe its nicer on this side.

 

[Djtommy]

Getting nice. I think your better off removing that jin halfway up though

 

[Shun]

Oh yes! I will probably remove all jins and leave a small shari.

 

[defra]

Well on its way id say!
Nice