Maiden's JBP Kabudachi

[Maiden69]

This is the JPB Kabudachi I bought from @cmeg1 on July 2021. Not much was done to it the first year, I received it in the stone wool block, removed the tape from the block and moved into a 1 gal rootpouch with Monto Clay/Bonsai Block/pumice/lava. Then planted the bag in a pond basket and surrounded it with small pumice.

This thing grew like weeds... by September 2021 it was so dense you could not see the trunks anymore. By summer 2022 I decided to clean up the trunks a little and start selecting which trunks to let grow, the other ones were cut back or the needles above the are that I would be using for development were removed.

August 2021




September 2021


June 2022


July 2022




March 2023


Pond basket removed


Rootpouch removed - that root ball was tough. I cleaned as much as I could from the top and racked the sides, but when I tried to rake the bottom, the fork or a chopstick where useless. I grabbed a 3" paint scrapper and chopped the lower 2-3" of soil and roots as best as I could.


Notice that there are barely any thick roots in that area after being inside the pouch for 2 seasons.


Moved into a 2 gal Rootpouch, maybe 2 more seasons and it will be ready for a bonsai pot.

 

[cmeg1]

Awesome!

 

[RJG2]

Nice growth! Mine have done pretty well too, especially considering my much shorter growing season.

I'll have to start cleaning some needles, doing some selection and wiring too - once the snow clears at least!

 

[Maiden69]

Not pics today... I had to remove all the wire I did on the spring as it was halfway embedded into the trunk.

 

[pandacular]

Not pics today... I had to remove all the wire I did on the spring as it was halfway embedded into the trunk.

your speedy growth is biting you... in the trunk!! Do you find that sections of trunk or branches with bite hold their shape better than those without?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

If you pull off a multi-trunk pine, I'm going to be very impressed! Tough job!

 

[Maiden69]

your speedy growth is biting you... in the trunk!! Do you find that sections of trunk or branches with bite hold their shape better than those without?

Almost all cultivars have this quality. Pines and rough bark trees have the benefit that once the bark grows the wire marks disappear.

If you pull off a multi-trunk pine, I'm going to be very impressed! Tough job!

That is the plan... I know, I have seen a lot that don't look that appealing. I'm going to be on top of it and probably ask a lot of questions once it gets to a decent size.

Quick pic I took Sunday. I have some knuckles from last years growth, didn't expect it to be so vigorous, I will try to see what I can do to reduce them in the long run. I'll probably pull it out of the ground and apply some wire to the low branches. I think Ryan recommends doing this by the second week of August, but our growing season is longer, so probably it will be ok,