Bonsai tree: Decandling shohin black pine

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Decandling shohin black pine

Decandling Japanese black pines is the process of removing spring growth to produce summer growth. If we decandle early in the season, we give summer growth more time to mature and produce long needles. The converse is also true – decandling later produces shorter needles. For this reason, we typically decandle shohin pine bonsai about a month later than larger pine bonsai.

My smallest pine bonsai produced lots of spring growth this year. It’s hard, in fact, to tell the front of the tree from the back of the tree.

Shohin Japanese black pine – front

Shohin Japanese black pine – back

Once I started removing the spring growth, I began to see the outline of the tree. Before long, the tree had returned to the basic shape it sported in winter.

Shohin Japanese black pine – front

Over the next four months, the summer growth will fill in and it will be time for fall work. I’m looking forward to fall because this tree, like so many of my pines, is due for a lot of cutback and wiring. Time to book more workshops! Read more!

Bonsai tree: No Interior Buds, Now What?

One down, one to go. Decandling two Japanese black pines. Photo by Jonas Dupuich.

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Bonsai tree: More fall decandling

Source: Bonsai Tonight
More fall decandling

Last summer, Akio Kondo visited California to work and to teach bonsai. During a Bay Island Bonsai workshop, Kondo made an interesting suggestion for improving one of my pines. The tree looked great from a distance, but he quickly noticed that the tree had no interior buds. Without interior buds, the tree had no future. What to do?

I’ve been waiting a year to put his advice to the test. His suggestion was to decandle the tree in fall. Two of my trees made good candidates for the experiment. I decandled the first two weeks ago. I’m now getting to the second tree.

What’s the theory? Fall decandling is a two year process. By decandling late, “summer” buds have little time to develop. If the tree is healthy, it will produce adventitious buds in the tree’s interior.

If all goes according to plan, the tree will look silly in a few months – nothing but weak buds and old needles. Next spring won’t be much different. But as these new buds take hold, they set the stage for the following year. With a second year’s growth, the tree will regain its former vigor. So goes the theory.

Below are detailed shots of the decandling and needle-pulling process. I treated the tree like I would in spring, so the steps below apply equally to pines decandled in summer.

One down and one to go – decandling Japanese black pine bonsai

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Bonsai tree: Decandling a red pine forest – part 2

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Decandling a red pine forest – part 2

I decandled the red pine forest below about 3 months ago (see Decandling a red pine forest). The summer growth has come out and the trees look much fuller than they did in June. But because the summer was cool, this grove isn’t as far along as I’d expect for this time of year. No matter, in the mild San Francisco Bay area climate, pines continue to grow throughout the fall.
Just two days into fall, however, it’s too soon for needle pulling and cutback as the new needles are still soft. Some enthusiasts thin summer growth at this time, but I usually wait until late fall or winter. Typically I continue to water and feed the trees this time of year, trying to encourage out what growth I can before the weather turns cold.
I also check the pines I’ve decandled to gauge their response to the decandling. The trees in this forest have a long way to go to achieve any sort of balance which makes them great for practicing decandling techniques. Here’s the forest as it looks today.

Red pine forest, 16 years old

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Bonsai tree: Balancing Growth on Pine Bonsai

Before decandling. Cork bark Japanese black pine bonsai from Bonsai Tonight.
The photos and instructions in this post are all from Bonsai Tonight. The topic is decandling (also called candle plucking or candling pinching) Japanese black pines (specifically a cork bark black pine). The purpose of decandling is to balance bonsai growth, develop ramification and reduce needle size. Not all pines are the same, nor should they be treated exactly the same. Still, the basic principles can be applied to pines other than the Japanese black bonsai.
 
After decandling.

“Divide the tree’s growth into 4 zones depending on vigor. Zone 1 is the weakest, zone 4 the strongest. (See “Decandling basics” for details)
Remove the new growth in zone 2.
10 days later, remove the shoots in zone 3.
Another 10 days later, remove the shoots in zone 4.
The process takes 20 days to complete. How does it work? The longer a shoot has to develop, the more time it has to gain vigor. By removing weaker shoots before removing the more vigorous shoots, we give the weaker shoots more time to “catch up” and grow strong. Stronger shoots get less time to develop – this keeps them in check. The very weakest shoots are left alone. Decandling very weak branches can significantly slow them down or bring them to a stop. Letting them grow for a year increases their strength.”

Source: Bonsai Bark Read more!