Thought I'd try a large pine.

[Brian Van Fleet]

Read this Peter Tea post on Mikawa vs. Awaji tonight...subtle may be an understatement, fascinating nonetheless.

How's your Awaji coming this year, Al? I ordered a couple from Gary Ishii and am eager to grow them out.

 

[Smoke]

Interesting...almost verbatim what I have been saying about black pines for years. Peter had to go all the way to Japan to learn that a black pine is a black pine. Nothing magic nor does growing Mikawa seeds guarantee someone will have a pine like they see at Kokufu.

My pine is doing great. This year I start the tedious task of removing one third of the field soil. It is really growing in mud and will never thrive until it gets into better soil.

Just going slow until then.....

 

[jason biggs]

thank you for all the effort you put in-much appreciated...i have learned more from this one forum than all the books-which i read every night-combined....

 

[Smoke]

Working on this one this weekend. Large branch removal, possible repot into a better pot. Picking the best view.....

 

[Smoke]

Well wasnt able to work on the pine last weekend. I was sick on Friday before and have been sick all week. Respitory infection and this thing has me down. I was to celebrate my Anniversary last weekend both Wedding and bonsai at 28 years. Bought my first bonsai on my honeymoon.

Feeling a little better today, not well enough to spend an entire day driving to Boon's exhibit which I love, but well enough to work on this pine for a couple hours.

This view was the one I liked the best due to the nebari and the trunk agle as well as the movement and taper. It had the weird branch jutting out directly towards the viewer. Not very complimentary.

 

[Smoke]

I decided to just cut the branch off and leave a small stub. Very small maybe 1/2 inch is all.

 

[Smoke]

The tree was removed from the growing container and prepared for re planting. This time it would see a first bonsai pot. Not the final pot but a good pot for now. It is a two footed Tokoname pot, with taller sides for ample soil. The tree is higher in the pot to expose the nebari and will fit into a shallower pot. I may not use the final pot that I bought for it due to its rather literati feel. Maybe a round rustic nan ban pot would work here.

 

[Lancaster]

Wow, cutting that branch off sure does change the look and feel of the tree, doesn't it?
It went from being very rugged to somewhat elegant. At least from where I'm sitting.

-Troy

 

[Jason]

Nice Pot. It's too bad you couldn't make the lower branch work with the nebari and trunk angle. It looked good in the photo....maybe not in real life.

 

[Smoke]

Nice Pot. It's too bad you couldn't make the lower branch work with the nebari and trunk angle. It looked good in the photo....maybe not in real life.

In real life the branch was a stub, and the continuation of the branch was perpendicular branching bent parrallel to the stub. Not very pretty. showed OK in a picture but was terrible if you could see how it was made. It would always be a talking point in a display.

 

[Brian Underwood]

Sweet, it looks much better now. I like the pot, and the nebari aint too shabby either.

 

[edprocoat]

Smoke, thats a sharp tree! The nebari is so natural looking, reminds me of a tree you would see next to a shoreline. My one and only complaint, what the hell is with the can of HITE?!? Don't they have Coke out there in the left coast? Well, maybe I looked at it wrong, or it may have even been the way the can was angled, but at first glance I thought the can said SHITE.

ed

 

[Smoke]

Thats a fine beer from Korea. Smooth and nice. Get some in your local supermarket.....Not!

 

[Smoke]

Here is the pine about two weeks from candle pruning. Needle length is really getting short on this one. Last year they were twice this long.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Plenty of character in that trunk. Why are you candle pruning so early?

 

[Smoke]

Plenty of character in that trunk. Why are you candle pruning so early?

Well lets see. June is an appropriate month for candle pruning for a lot of folks. This tree has had a regimen of candle pruning in June for three years now and it has responded well with balanced growth and shorter needles. and...if I don't candle prune now, those that are in training will knob up due to fast apical growth.

Here are some that have had no candle pruning done in June or any other time for that matter. At least by me. You can see how much more coarse the growth is when not controlled.

If I wish I can get three full bud backs in the same year. I feel that is risky and not very healthy for the tree. Ripsgreentree does this religiously. He has blackpines with needles only 1/2 long! Look like Cedar brevifolias!

 

[Smoke]

On that pine with the open roots, those two whips are over a foot long. I will cut all the shorter candles this weekend and then the long ones in two weeks. The short ones will be cut back to last years growth and the long ones in two weeks will be cut back to that point but I will leave a short stub about 1/4 inch long. That stub will stunt that branch for about two weeks and allow the shorter weaker branches to bud up sooner and then the strong area will bud and they should all be opening about the same time. Thats the plan anyway.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Can't argue with the results, they look healthy. Been hearing and reading lots about candle cutting later on shohin and those that have a tendency to grow long needles.

In AL, the season is shorter than yours, and I normally start at the end of June...into July for shohin, basically not giving them much more than 100 days to regrow and set buds before dormancy. Could be how ripsgreentree gets 'em so short, if he's doing it twice a season.

Maybe for kicks I'll candle cut one of my JBP at the same time as you do yours and we can compare the response times on another thread...maybe others will join and show their results too...

 

[Adair M]

Last year, I candled my JBP on July 4, and my new needles were still full length! We have a long growing season here in Georgia! I'm still working on ramification, so I expect that as that gets better the energy will get spread out, so July 4th will continue to be decandling day. Or, I may have to push it back to July 14th. Bastile Day.

Smoke, it's interesting that you do BOTH the "zoned decandling" where the weaker candles are done first and stronger ones two weeks later, and the "leave a stub" decandling techinque.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Last year I cut on July 1, 10, and 20, and it turned out to be too early...maybe because the winter was so mild. Never had to put anything away. I will be starting a candle cutting thread in June...