About a month ago, I noticed some of my pines turning yellow near the base of the needles.

Yellowing pine needles

I rarely see this in my older pines, but it sometimes shows up in the younger trees in my garden. It’s a common sign that the trees are staying too wet between waterings.

After a warm spring, the weather turned cool where I live. The morning fog is burning off later in the day and it’s returning earlier in the evening. As a result, my trees need less water.

When the temperatures were warmer, watering was simple – one time per day was perfect for most trees. Now that it’s cooler, I have to pay more attention to the needs of each tree.

In general, the yellowing shows up in trees that were repotted this year, typically young trees that were planted in significantly larger containers. Pines with more mature root systems and younger pines that are more root-bound dry out faster and appreciate the extra water.

Healthy pine foliage

One approach to simplifying care for trees with yellowing needles is to group them together. This can increase the odds that the trees with yellow needles stay dry when needed and the green trees receive the water they need.

Have other tricks for providing trees with the right amount of water? Share them in the comments below!

Related Posts

Spring watering tips

How to evaluate bonsai water needs

The post Signs of overwatering black pine bonsai appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

A member of the Bonsai Society of San Francisco, Samuel Tan, has taken an interest in juniper bonsai – especially deadwood work. Although relatively new to bonsai, Sam has picked up good tips from books like François Jeker’s Bonsai Deadwood and Cheng Cheng-Kung’s Bonsai Shari SiDiao.

I was curious what information Sam had found most useful when getting started with carving. He didn’t hesitate: following the grain of the wood, using a chisel and pliers to peel away strands of wood, and wearing cut-proof gloves.

Sam was working on a shimpaku juniper at the time and agreed to demonstrate these techniques. Here’s the tree.

Shimpaku juniper – black ink marks future deadwood along the trunk

Carving tools

The first technique uses a chisel to deepen deadwood along the trunk.

Narrow deadwood feature created by removing the bark

Chisel

Begin by inserting the head of the chisel parallel with the grain of the wood.

Inserting the chisel into the wood

After pulling the strands of wood away from the tree, use a pair scissors to cut the separated strands.

Cutting the loose strands

From here there are two options. The loose strand can be pulled with finger and chisel or with a pair of pliers. First the finger and chisel approach.

Insert chisel under loose flap of wood

Press firmly on the flap with your thumb and pull

If you can’t pull the wood with your finger, a pair of pliers can help.

Pulling a strand of wood with pliers

Pliers are particularly useful for larger strands.

Peeling away a larger section of wood with pliers

Keep pulling to lengthen the deadwood feature

Once the deadwood feature reaches the desired length, use scissors to remove the peeled wood.

Cutting the peeled wood

Here are a couple of the deadwood features after the initial work. The next step will be to clean up the loose strands.

Jin

Jin and shari

Initial deadwood work complete

Thanks to Samuel Tan for the tips. If you can think of additional tips for new carvers, feel free to leave them below.

The post Carving tips for beginners appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

There are a number of good reasons to fertilize bonsai in summer:

• The tree is young and the goal is to thicken the trunk
• The tree requires nutrition to recover from – or prepare for – defoliation and decandling
• The growing season is short and waiting until fall to fertilize is too late

As I have a number of trees in development, I typically fertilize throughout the growing season. I also fertilize pines about 1-2 months after decandling.

This year I’m trying out Biogold in addition to my go-to choices of cottonseed meal, fish emulsion, and Omakase pellets. I like using different fertilizers throughout the year and seeing how different species respond to different fertilizers. Am looking forward to seeing how Biogold compares with the other organic options in my garden.

I’m using the fertilizer with baskets to see whether I have a preference for the reusable plastic containers or for tea bags. I already prefer the baskets on sloped surfaces as some styles come with spikes that hold the baskets in place.

Fertilizer basket with lid and spike

Fertilizer holder

On flat surfaces I’m using fertilizer covers that keep the triangle-shaped pellets together.

Fertilizer cover

I’m hoping that fertilizing my pines now will help lengthen the needles sooner rather than later as I’d like a few to look good for early fall exhibits.

Summer pine foliage

I can’t wait to see how the pines are looking next month!

Related Posts

Options for applying bonsai fertilizer

How to fertilize bonsai

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Pines commonly produce three types of buds: terminal buds, needle buds and adventitious buds.

Terminal buds, often referred to as apical buds when they appear at the top of the tree, are the buds located at the tips of branches.

Terminal bud

Large terminal bud flanked by two lateral or accessory buds

Needle buds are buds that form between sets of needles.

Needle bud

Young shoot developed from a needle bud

Adventitious buds are buds that form elsewhere, typically directly from branch or trunk tissue.

Small adventitious bud

Vigorous adventitious buds

The ability to distinguish between these three bud types can be useful when cultivating pine as bonsai. Can you spot all three bud types on your trees?

The post Bud types on pine bonsai appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

Earlier this week, we looked at the three basic types of buds found on black pine bonsai. Here’s what we can do to stimulate each.

As terminal buds develop without prompting, we don’t need to do anything to encourage them. They’re the buds at the end of every living branch.

To demonstrate techniques for stimulating adventitious buds and needle buds, let’s look at the following sample branch.

Pine branch with two years of growth

When we decandle pines, we remove the current year’s growth as in the photo below.

After removing the current year’s growth

If we make this cut in the middle of the growing season, typically in June in the northern hemisphere, we can expect adventitious buds to appear from the stub we left behind.

Adventitious buds commonly develop from the stub

If we make this cut at other times of the year, there is a chance adventitious or needle buds will develop, and there is a chance that the branch will die back. The closer we make the cut to the middle of the growing season, the better the odds the tree will develop adventitious buds.

A related technique involves cutting past the spot where we decandle pines. If we cut back to a spot where the previous year’s needles are growing, we can stimulate needle buds. The closer we make the cut to the middle of the growing season, the better the odds the tree will develop needle buds.

Cutting into the previous year’s needles, aka tochuu-kiri

A needle bud may develop between these needles

We can now make the following observations:

• If we want the tree to grow as fast as possible, we can skip decandling to avoid slowing the tree down.
• If we want greater branch division in a relatively healthy pine, we can decandle to stimulate adventitious buds.
• If we want to strongly reduce a branch’s vigor or shorten the gaps between branches, we can cut into the previous year’s needles at decandling time in an attempt to stimulate needle buds.

Here’s where some attention to details like timing come into play.

• Because decandling reduces vigor, we only want to decandle healthy pines that have been fertilized well. If we decandle at the right time for our climate, we can generally expect a second flush of growth to develop over summer.
• Because cutting into old needles can greatly reduce a branch’s vigor, the technique is used sparingly in mature specimens. The tree’s response to this technique (known as tochuu-kiri in Japanese) will depend greatly on the relative vigor of the branch that has been cut. Strong branches growing near the apex are much more likely to produce needle buds than weak branches in the tree’s interior.

The best way to develop a working knowledge of these techniques is to try them out on trees you don’t mind experimenting with. In the meantime, here are some related articles that describe these approaches to stimulating buds in black pine bonsai.

Related Posts

A cutback-decandling technique

Decandling and then some

Bud types on pine bonsai

Decandling black pine bonsai – an in-depth guide

The post Stimulating back buds on Japanese black pine appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

It’s that time of year where I head out to fun bonsai events around the country and take a short break from writing posts. If you get the chance, I highly recommend visiting the following upcoming events:

• Redwood Empire Bonsai Society’s 2018 Annual Show in Santa Rosa, California, August 25-26
• U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition in Rochester, New York, September 8-9
• Northwest Bonsai Rendezvous in Portland, Oregon, September 15-16

I’ll be vending at each so stop by and say hello if you’re in the area. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of summer!

Regular posts will return in September.

Coast redwood by Bob Shimon at 2013 Redwood Empire Bonsai Society Exhibit

California juniper by John Kirby at the 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition

Rocky Mountain juniper by Howard Greisler on display at Portland Japanese Garden

The post Bonsai Tonight – summer vacation edition appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

Mas Nakajima created beautiful works of art by combining viewing stones with paintings. He referred to this work as Suiseki Art.

Masahiro Nakajima with Suiseki Art display

Suiseki Art is appreciated by the suiseki and bonsai communities, as well as the broader fine arts community.

Mas passed away last week near his home in Oakland, California. His daughter, Tomoko Nakajima, has provided the following information relating to his memorial service.

Letter from Tomoko Nakajima

My name is Tomoko Nakajima, I am Masahiro Nakajima’s eldest child. On Monday, September 10th, my father had a tragic accident in the backyard of his Oakland home. He later died at the Highland Hospital with his dear wife Janet Roth by his side. Our family are deeply saddened by this very sudden loss.

The memorial service will be on Saturday, September 22nd. We would be so grateful if you would attend:

Place: Chapel of the Chimes (Piedmont location)
Address: 4499 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611 USA
Date: September 22, 2018
Time: 1:00 pm PDT (13:00)

• Parking is available next to the facility and across the street (entrance on Piedmont Ave)
• An informal reception will immediately follow the service

My family and I are so grateful for the outpouring of support and love this week. Please feel free to write back or call me if you would like more information. I look forward to seeing you at the service.

Sincerely,
Tomoko Nakajima

Suiseki Art

Suiseki Art

Suiseki Art

Suiseki Art

Suiseki Art

Suiseki Art

Suiseki Art

Suiseki

Learn more about Mas Nakajima at the Suiseki Art website.

The post The Suiseki Art of Mas Nakajima appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

I’d like to share photos from some recent exhibits over the next few posts beginning with the Redwood Empire Bonsai Society’s 35th annual event held last month in Santa Rosa, California.

As always, the show featured demonstrations by Kathy Shaner, a large vendor area, and a variety of coast redwood bonsai.

Coast redwood, pot by Jan Rentenaar

Coast redwood

Coast redwood

This year’s show also featured an exhibit of viewing stones provided by the San Francisco Suiseki Kai.

Suiseki and stand by Mas Nakajima

The show featured a good mix of trees that have been developed over a long time as well as more recently created specimens.

Boxwood

Old San Jose juniper

California juniper

The California juniper above has great deadwood – it’s the kind of tree that could look good in a number of different styles.

I brought a Korean hornbeam to the exhibit – a tree I more often display in winter.

Korean hornbeam

Shimpaku grafted on Sierra juniper

Chinese elm

Procumbens juniper

If you look carefully, you’ll notice that the trident maple below is growing on a rock.

Root over rock trident maple

Coast redwood

Trident maple

I’ve been visiting the REBS exhibit since the blog started. To see photos from past exhibits, click here.

Up next, bonsai from the Portland Bonsai Rendezvous.

The post Redwood Empire Bonsai Society’s 35th annual show appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

The Bonsai Society of Portland and Pacific Northwest Bonsai Clubs Association presented the 2018 Northwest Bonsai Rendezvous this month in Milwaukie, Oregon. The event was a big success! Three days of workshops, critiques, and demonstrations made the time fly by. Just steps away, a high quality exhibition featured some of the region’s best trees. Here are some of the highlights accompanied by notes from the exhibit guide.

Ponderosa pine

Collected by Randy Knight. Winner: Best Conifer, 2010 U.S. National Exhibition.

Deadwood detail

Japanese black pine

‘Courage.’ This tree was acquired in about 2002 and subsequently back grafted with its own foliage and developed into a mature bonsai. Winner: National Award (Best of Show), 2012 U.S. National Exhibition.

Subalpine fir

The unusual styling of this specimen represents the high alpine krummholz of the Cascades. This tree was collected in 2004 and finally styled with the direction and encouragement of Ryan Neil in 2015.

Washington hawthorne

Korean hornbeam

This tree was shown at the 2015 Artisans Cup and recently at the 2018 National Exhibition.

Japanese maple

This maple was purchased in 2002 as an established air layer in a 10″ pot with the basic shape. It has been in trunk development and branch refinement for the last 16 years. The companion is a heuchera and sedum.

Subalpine fir

Collected from the Cascades by Lee Cheatle, this yamadori is planted on a layered slab by Erik Krizovensky.

Western hemlock

Collected from a road cut on the Oregon coast in about 1995 and developed by the owner. Winner: Best Conifer, 2008 U.S. National Exhibition.

Japanese beech forest

This forest planting was created in 2002 from mature specimens planted on a hand-shaped sandstone slab with the assistance of Alan Taft. It was re-imagined to include the rock formations in 2015, again with the assistance of Alan.

Bougainvillea

Trident maple forest

Dennis Vojtilla started the forest from seed more than 40 years ago. Has been grown on the slab for over 35 years. The trees were placed in clumps, rather than individually, to imitate a dense forest.

Detail

Tsukumo cypress

This tree was grown from a cutting approximately 45 years ago. Long time propagator and artist, Tak Yamaura had brought the parent tree from Japan when he settled in the Vancouver, B.C. Area. Initially this tree was field grown before entering refinement during the past 10 years.

Shimpaku juniper

This tree was the feature demo by John Naka at the 1992 PNBCA convention. Because of the difficult foliage, it was later grafted over to itoigawa by Bob Laws between 2004-08.

Related Posts

Exhibit displays at the 2016 PNBCA Convention

Highlights from the 2016 PNBCA Convention

The post Highlights from the Northwest Bonsai Rendezvous exhibit appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

On September 8th and 9th, William N. Valavanis hosted the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition in Rochester, New York.

It was an awesome event. The exhibit featured over 300 bonsai – an impressive feat considering the quality of the trees – demonstrations by Taiga Urushibata, Lindsay Bebb, and Mauro Stemberger, plus lectures, critiques, and the largest collection of bonsai vendors in the U.S.

Before I go any further, I recommend you read Bill Valavanis’ recap of the event where you can find details about how it all came together and see photos of the prize-winning trees.

I’ve included a few photos from the exhibit below, starting with my entry, a medium-sized Japanese black pine.

Japanese black pine, stand by David Knittle

In addition to enjoying the bonsai, I appreciated the quality pots and stands the trees were displayed with.

Pot by Tom Benda

Stand by Austin Heitzman

I also appreciate the more creative displays, including the entry below featured in last year’s Natives exhibit at the Pacific Bonsai Museum.

Coast redwood

As the U.S. National Exhibition is held in fall, the show featured trees with and without leaves.

Ficus

Japanese flowering quince ‘Chojubai’

Here are a few more entries, including a massive Japanese black pine.

Japanese black pine

White pine

Shohin display

White pine

Olive

If you’d like to see all of the trees on display, you can pre-order a copy of the commemorative album today from the event’s website.

Check in Tuesday for photos of the accent plants.

Related Posts

See highlights from the 4th and 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibitions here.

The post Highlights from the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

The variety of accent plants on display at the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition was fantastic. Here is a small sample.

Dwarf variegated bamboo and pyrossia sp.

Sedum on volcanic stone

Mixed planting

Equisetum, selaginella, and moss

Mixed planting

Hen and chicks on volcanic stone

Violets

Dwarf pitcher plant

Hen and chicks in Bunzan pot

To see all of the bonsai and accents on display, pre-order the book here.

Related Posts

Highlights from the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition

Highlights from the 4th and 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibitions here.

The post Accent plants on display at the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

I’d like to write a few articles this season about fall work for pines, in particular needle-pulling and thinning.

I’ll start with a simple example. One of my recently acquired pines was very weak last year. When I repotted it for the first time, I found enough healthy roots to make me think the tree had a chance to recover. I watered carefully, fed moderately, and avoided pruning or decandling.

As the new growth filled in, much of the old foliage turned yellow or brown.

Black pine

Discoloration of old foliage is common for pines that are in recovery. Now is a good time to remove these old needles.

Branch with old needles

After removing the old needles

I removed almost all of the old foliage on the tree. Doing this gave me a good idea about how healthy the tree is as I can now see that there is a good number of healthy, green needles.

Healthy foliage

Because the tree is still gaining vigor, I have yet to decide if I’ll do any pruning or wiring before spring. I may, however, repot again to bring the tree closer to the intended planting angle.

New planting angle

What caught my eye about the tree was the interesting movement and deadwood – not common features on black pine.

Trunk detail

I don’t know the history of the tree so I don’t have a good idea about how long it’s been in training or what might account for the deadwood features. I am, however, enjoying these distinctions as it’s fun to have a pine that stands out from the others a bit.

Midori Bonsai Club’s 57th Annual Show this Weekend!

Midori Bonsai Club will be hosting its 57th Annual show this Saturday at the Quinlan Community Center in Cupertino, California. Show hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I’ll be doing a bonsai demonstration on a hinoki cypress at 1:30 p.m.

A beginning bonsai workshop will kick-off at 10:00 a.m. and several bonsai vendors will have trees, tools and supplies on hand. I’ll be vending before the demo so stop by and say hello!

For more information, see the Midori Bonsai Club website.

The post Rehabilitating a black pine – removing old needles appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

Here’s another black pine that’s slowly regaining vigor. There’s plenty of new foliage on the strongest shoots, but many of the weaker branches have just a few new needles each.

Old black pine

Where there are many new needles, I can remove all of the old the needles.

Relatively strong branch

After removing the 3rd year needles

After removing last year’s needles

On the weakest branches, I removed a few of the downward facing needles and left the rest alone.

Weak branch

After removing the downward facing needles

Needle-pulling complete

I expect a number of the yellow needles to turn brown and fall off over the next month or two so the tree will likely look thinner by the end of the year. It will likely be a full year before I can start working on the branches, and possibly two before the lowest branch is strong enough for wiring or decandling.

Related Post

Rehabilitating a black pine – removing old needles

The post When to keep old needles on weak branches appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

Two years ago this month, Daisaku Nomoto did a demonstration at the Pacific Northwest Bonsai Clubs Association convention in Olympia, Washington. His helpers were Boon Manakitivipart, Matt Reel and Tyler Sherrod – quite a team! Here’s the finished product.

October, 2016

After the demo, I brought the tree home, repotted it in winter, and decandled it the following spring. Here’s what the tree looked like just over a year after the demo.

January, 2018

As Daisaku was in town at the time, I thought it would be fun for him to continue his work on the tree. Here’s what it looked like after he increased the main bend in the trunk.

After increasing the bend

The tree responded well to the work so I was able to decandle it again this past spring.

New planting angle – May, 2018

After decandling

As luck would have it, Daisaku was again in town on his way to the National Exhibition in Rochester, New York, so I thought he could wrap up the basic styling he started two years before. Here’s how it now looks after Daisaku wired it last month.

October, 2018

I think this tree is a great example of how much a bonsai can change in a relatively short amount of time. The change would look even more dramatic if I had a photo of how the tree looked before the demo. (If anyone has a photo, do let me know!)

It’s also a good example of how the work that happens during a demonstration is just the first step towards realizing a design. It’ll be a few more years before this pine really fills in, but I expect future changes to be relatively subtle as the focus will be on branch selection, thinning, needle-pulling and decandling.

East Bay Bonsai Society’s 57th Annual Show this Weekend!

The East Bay Bonsai Society will be hosting it’s 57th Annual Show at the Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, California, this weekend. The exhibit runs from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday and 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Sunday. In addition to the exhibit, the event will feature club sales of bonsai and bonsai-related items. I’ll be doing demonstrations both days by from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

I’ll be working on a procumbens juniper Saturday and a Korean hornbeam Sunday. The juniper will be auctioned after the demo and the hornbeam will be raffled.

If you get the chance to come to Oakland this weekend, I’ll look forward to seeing you at the show!

The post Two year progression on a cascade black pine appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

Here’s a six year-old pine with a large sacrifice branch.

Six year-old black pine

It’s great that the sacrifice branch has grown this much, but it’s getting big relative to the future trunkline.

Sacrifice branch

Future trunk

If I had reduced the sacrifice branch a year or two ago, it would have grown less but the future trunk would be thicker. To help the future trunk gain strength, I’ll reduce the foliage on the sacrifice branch.

Upper section of the sacrifice branch

After reducing the upper section of the sacrifice branch

Lateral section of sacrifice branch

After reducing lateral branch

After making just a few cuts, the tree is now much smaller.

Cutback complete

I’ll remove the rest of the sacrifice branch after letting the new trunk thicken for a year. In the meantime, the only work will be to rewire the new trunk to make sure it has the right shape before it continues to thicken.

Registration Now Open for ABS/HBS Bonsai on the Bayou

The Houston Bonsai Society and American Bonsai Society are co-hosting Bonsai on the Bayou next April in Houston, Texas. The event will run from Thursday, April 11th, through Sunday, April 14th, at the Marriott Westchase hotel. The event will feature an exhibit, workshops, vendors area, raffles, live and silent auctions, and demonstrations from headliners Ryan Neil, Boon Manakitivipart, and Enrique Castaño de la Serna.

I’ll be vending at the event and leading a workshop on shohin red pine bonsai. Learn more about the event and register online here.

The post Bonsai Development Series #10: transitioning to a new sacrifice branch appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

The first time I visited a fall exhibit in Japan, I was struck by the number of fruiting bonsai. Every aisle offered examples of crabapple, princess persimmon, pyracantha, or hawthorn bonsai with colorful fruit. I hadn’t realized what a good opportunity the season was to show off trees with fruit as I hadn’t been exposed to so many fruiting bonsai in California exhibits.

Since then, I’ve come to appreciate every fruiting bonsai I see in fall exhibits. Along with fall color – another rarity where I live – fruiting bonsai are a great indicator of the season that offer a contrast to coniferous varieties that don’t change as dramatically through the seasons.

This past weekend the East Bay Bonsai Society held their 57th annual exhibit in Oakland, California. The exhibit featured a number of trees with colorful fruit or foliage along with the junipers, oaks, elms that look good year-round. Here are a few of the highlights.

Princess persimmon

Cotoneaster

Nandina

Persian ironwood

Sierra juniper

Ponderosa pine

Chinese elm

Related Posts

Past East Bay Bonsai Society Exhibits

Past Taikan-ten exhibits

The post What to look for at fall bonsai exhibits appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

I’ve long found that the hardest part of photographing bonsai is figuring out how high to hold the camera.

Holding it too high can be good for showing the foliage but not so great for seeing the branch structure. Holding the camera too low reveals more of the branch structure but doesn’t offer a good view of the tree’s outline.

I usually start by holding the camera about one-third of the way between the lip of the pot and the apex. If that level doesn’t do the tree justice, I’ll make adjustments up or down as needed.

Here are some photos of a large satsuki bonsai displayed at the 2015 Taikan-ten exhibit in Kyoto, Japan, showing the effect different viewing angles can make.

Too low

Still too low

About right

A tad too high

Too high

Way too high

The post Photographing bonsai – getting the level right appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

Each fall, the Gardens at Lake Merritt host the Autumn Lights Festival. The event is a fundraiser for the seven-acre garden in Oakland’s Lakeside Park.

Held over three evenings, the event attracts thousands of visitors of all ages. More than five thousand made it to the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt to see trees illuminated by the festival lights. Here are some highlights.

Coast redwood

Trident maple

Ginkgo

California juniper

Japanese maple

Cascade juniper

Root over rock trident maple

The GSBF Convention in Sacramento is open now!

The GSBF Convention 41, Creativity in Flight, is now running at the McClellan Conference Center in Sacramento, California. This year’s convention will spotlight headliners Suthin Sukosolvisit, Bjorn Bjornholm, and special guest Yasuo Mituya. The event features the workshops, demonstrations, and exhibits the convention is known for, as well as an expanded vendors area. I’ll be vending at the event with trees, tools, and supplies. If you can make it to the convention, stop by and say hi!

For registration, directions, and more information, see the event website here.

The post Illuminated bonsai at the Oakland Autumn Lights Festival appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

The Golden State Bonsai Federation held their 41st convention this past weekend at the McClellan Conference Center in McClellan, California. The event featured two exhibits – one for general entries and one for judged trees. Below are some of the trees that were on display at these exhibits.

Western juniper – Best in Show

Deadwood detail

Trident maple

Corkbark elm and atlas cedar

Japanese maple ‘Shishigashira’

Clump-style ginkgo

Korean hornbeam

Hinoki cypress

Shimpaku

Ginkgo

Shohin shimpaku

Atlas cedar

The post GSBF convention exhibit highlights appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.

I’d like to say that every pine I start from seed grows into a winner, but that isn’t the case. To avoid investing time in trees with flaws that are difficult to correct, I periodically evaluate all of my bonsai and cull out any that don’t make the cut. Doing this frees up time in my schedule and space in the garden.

This week I looked at all two-and-a-half year old pines. In general, I liked the curves in the trunks, but the roots weren’t all great. If I only had a few trees in this batch, I’d keep most, if not all of them, and see what I could do to correct the roots. I happen, however, to have a lot of trees in this group so I was happy to mark a few for culling.

Three black pines – 2.5 years old

The first tree I looked at had nice curves in the trunk. All of the trees in these photos are styled to become small informal upright trees, and the gentle curves in the pine below are easy to work with.

Tree #1

The roots, however, aren’t as good. Even though they emerge at different points around the trunk, they descend steeply before dividing. This wouldn’t be a problem if I wanted to make a larger tree, but they’re harder to correct on a smaller scale.

Roots emerge downward instead of laterally

The second tree also has nice curves, but the roots essentially split in half at the base of the trunk. Making big cuts can fix this, but that would slow the tree down for a couple years.

Tree #2

Poor roots

The other side is no different

Further up the trunk, the tree had a large scar created by wire that cut in over summer. It’s healing well so I don’t expect it to become a problem in the long run, but it’s another reason to mark this tree for culling.

Wire scar

The third tree has gentle curves and decent roots at the base of the trunk.

Tree #3

Good roots

At this stage of development, good roots, and to some degree genetics, are the main considerations for keeping or culling a tree. The trunks are still slender enough to bend with wire so the specific shape of the trunk is typically adequate as long as it isn’t straight.

Here’s another group of three pines.

Three more black pines – 2.5 years old

I really like the movement of the trunk on tree #4, but the root division is poor.

Tree #4

Poor roots

Even worse than the roots is the space between the base of the internodes and the first mature needles. Although this gap is often a reflection of the tree’s health at a specific point in its development – the tree grew quickly as the new shoots were elongating – it’s telling that the gaps below the needles are longer here than they are on any of the other pines in the batch.

Sparse foliage

These gaps can make bonsai development tricky as it can be difficult to produce buds in areas with no needles.

Tree #5 has a low curve and what appear to be OK roots.

Tree #5

Roots look good at the base of trunk

Digging a bit deeper, however, reveals poor root division below the surface of the soil.

Poor roots below the surface

Tree #6 has subtle movement and good roots at the base of the trunk. It’s a keeper for now.

Tree #6

Good roots

In all, I culled about one in five trees from this batch. That left me with plenty of trees to work with and helps me avoid correcting flaws that add time to development.

The most common question that comes up when culling trees is where to draw the line between which trees stay and which go. I typically sort the trees into three groups as I work – keepers, rejects, and maybes. Depending on how many trees end up in each group, I can move the maybes into either group depending on whether I want to keep more or cull more.

Have any strategies for culling your own collections? Feel free to share them in the comments below.

The post Bonsai Development Series #11: Culling trees with poor characteristics appeared first on Bonsai Tonight.