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Making the cut – redux
I mentioned last week that an important aspect of making the decandling cut is leaving some new tissue. Having decandled a number of pines this past week, I thought I’d illustrate the point with a few...
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Pulling pine needles
As several approaches to decandling red and black pine involve pulling needles, I thought I’d include a few tips about how to properly pluck pine needles. Why do we pull pine needles? To reduce food...
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Putting it all together – approaches to decandling
There are many ways to decandle red and black pine bonsai. I don’t believe that some techniques are better or worse than others as I’ve seen many techniques used to great effect by professionals and...
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Decandling – where to begin?
So, what if I’m somewhat new to bonsai and I think I have a tree that could benefit from decandling but I don’t know where to begin? Easy – keep it simple. If you’re having trouble finding a starting...
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Decandling aftercare
To restate a common theme – decandling is very stressful for pine bonsai. In some cases trees can lose up to 60% or 70% of their foliage during decandling. One-year old needles that have been growing...
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Decandling a shohin black pine
I wrapped up my decandling for the year by removing the new shoots from a small black pine last weekend. I waited fairly late to decandle the tree as there’s a chance I’ll show it in the upcoming Bay...
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Korean hornbeam – summer cutback and leaf pruning
Summer care for Korean hornbeam typically consists of minor cutback, defoliating and/or leaf pruning. As I completely defoliated the tree last summer – something I don’t necessarily recommend: see...
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Trees that lean
A bonsai is said to lean forward when its apex lies in front of the base of the trunk. For example: Pine viewed from the left side – the apex is over the front edge of the pot. A forward lean is common...
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Decandling and then some
I started decandling some of my 9-year old pines this year. A number of them lack the interior branches I’ll need for styling. Typical decandling – removing the spring shoots – would produce dense...
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Vigorous summer shoots
It’s been three weeks since I decandled some of my 9 year-old black pines. Although the weather has been cool, the summer shoots are growing well. 9 year-old black pine after decandling – 6/30/13 3...
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Decandling follow-up
After some debate around whether or not to decandle one of my pines, I decided to remove the strongest shoots. I did this on June 16th. Five weeks later, the new shoots are growing well. Japanese black...
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Let summer buds grow
In general, we want two new shoots at the end each branch to develop on black and red pine bonsai. Red pine – two summer shoots Nature, however, doesn’t always provide us with what we’re looking for....
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Flowering quince – summer work
Most work on Japanese flowering quince ‘chojubai’ is done in fall or spring, but one task – beyond watering and fertilizing – requires some attention year-round. Removing flowers. Japanese flowering...
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Watching trees grow
Common approach to writing about bonsai: photograph full tree, cut something, photograph less-full tree. Mixing it up for a change, here is progress after spring cutback on my Yaupon holly. I’m...
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One-and-a-half-year-old pine seedlings
This past March I potted up a number of seedling cuttings made in 2012 (see Repotting 1 year-old black pine seedlings). 1 year-old black pine seedlings Just four months later, the seedlings are much...
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Kondo critique at BIB meeting
Last Tuesday, Akio Kondo visited Bay Island Bonsai’s monthly meeting and gave a mini demo and critique. He worked on two small shimpaku and offered suggestions for further developing a few member...
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Yaupon holly cutback
As it turns out, now’s the time for the final significant cutback and wiring ahead of BIB’s January exhibit. I shortened shoots that extended beyond the desired silhouette, thinned out dense growth...
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Thinning procumbens juniper
Thinning procumbens juniper is straightforward. Remove downward-growing shoots, shoots that emerge from branch intersections and shoots that extend beyond the desired pad silhouette. Thin remaining...
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Refining a procumbens juniper
This past winter I bought a juniper, procumbens ‘Nana,’ that was already well established as a bonsai. I repotted it soon after taking it home and have been letting it grow freely ever since. I removed...
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New bonsai pot – Keizan
I recently added a new bonsai pot to my collection, a Keizan (I think) – Tokoname ware that might be 60 years old (Akio Kondo’s estimate). What do I look for when shopping for bonsai pots? The same...
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