coh
Imperial Masterpiece
I kind of like @bonhe's blog-type thread where he talks about various trees and projects, so I've decided to start my own. I'll periodically post updates as I work on and photograph various trees I'm working on. Feel free to make any suggestions you may have.
Japanese black pine. This is the tree that @Adair M beat up on in a wine-induced rage a couple of years ago ( , see https://bonsainut.com/threads/cohs-jbp.20345/). This spring I finally got around to digging into the structure. I removed some definitely unnecessary branches and cut others back hard to try to encourage growth closer to the trunk. I removed lots of needles and cut others shorter to allow light inside. Finally, I wired every (or almost every) branch. Still had to use a few guy wires to get the heavier branches where I wanted them.
This is the result, as the tree looked in April. The color cast is way off on this photo using my old camera. Probably Adair will tell me I didn't go far enough or remove enough, but I'm feeling my way through the process...and there is no rush.
Here is how the tree looked after decandling in June. New camera, better color. I didn't remove every shoot, as there were some in key areas (mainly interior/closer to trunk) that were weaker that I may want to cut back to in the future. So I left those. The fertilizer bags were removed after the photo was taken.
I've been debating how to develop this tree. I kind of like the way the structure and silhouette look now, i.e. I don't know if reducing the width from this point would improve the appearance (I've done some virts and don't like the look). I think adding ramification and shortening needles, along with additional thinning, is the plan going forward. Am happy to consider any thoughts or suggestions.
For comparison, this is the photo from 2015 that Adair was working from.
Japanese black pine. This is the tree that @Adair M beat up on in a wine-induced rage a couple of years ago ( , see https://bonsainut.com/threads/cohs-jbp.20345/). This spring I finally got around to digging into the structure. I removed some definitely unnecessary branches and cut others back hard to try to encourage growth closer to the trunk. I removed lots of needles and cut others shorter to allow light inside. Finally, I wired every (or almost every) branch. Still had to use a few guy wires to get the heavier branches where I wanted them.
This is the result, as the tree looked in April. The color cast is way off on this photo using my old camera. Probably Adair will tell me I didn't go far enough or remove enough, but I'm feeling my way through the process...and there is no rush.
Here is how the tree looked after decandling in June. New camera, better color. I didn't remove every shoot, as there were some in key areas (mainly interior/closer to trunk) that were weaker that I may want to cut back to in the future. So I left those. The fertilizer bags were removed after the photo was taken.
I've been debating how to develop this tree. I kind of like the way the structure and silhouette look now, i.e. I don't know if reducing the width from this point would improve the appearance (I've done some virts and don't like the look). I think adding ramification and shortening needles, along with additional thinning, is the plan going forward. Am happy to consider any thoughts or suggestions.
For comparison, this is the photo from 2015 that Adair was working from.