Tidal Bonsai
Omono
I'd sincerely like to know how it responds when its decandled.
Because I've struggled with less-than-vigorous trees before and recognize them when I see them.
It was not my intent to set myself up as an authority. I'm not looking for an argument and only want to help. I did bonsai for longer than I care to admit before I really knew what healthy looked like.
I am glad to hear that your heart is in the right place after making the bold statement above! I am not an authority, but this is my counter:
1. Pitch Pines are 100% multiflush trees. Bjorn has written about it recently, Ryan Neil has talked about it recently, and before those two, Martin Schlamberg (another NJ bonsai guy) wrote about it in his book North American Bonsai. All the clubs around here treat it like JBP.
2. The act of decandling is a refinement technique that is supposed to slow down the tree. I did the big bends, I am happy with its size and shape, so I am starting to refine the tree. I fertilize my trees that will be decandled heavy in the spring, and withhold fertilize a month before I make the cuts. Before I decandled this tree, it sent out long extensions and after it was decandled it sent out long extensions that I cut off during Fall shoot selection. The whole purpose of decandling is to slow down the tree, get bifurcation, and use the shortest pieces of growth.
Before Decandling
Before Fall shoot selection
3. The part that you are missing is that the pictures I post are after Fall shoot selection. Whorls of up to 6 new branches are thinned to two. This tree is vigorous, I am just controlling it’s vigor by decandling and shoot selecting to two. One branch, bifurcated into two, which splits to four, which splits to eight, etc.