AusBonsai

JulzD wrote:Also, as for roots always being "awake", so to speak, I am wary of not giving the plant some sort of dormancy, even if it is contrived/simulated.
The trick I think is knowing when to do that for the micro-climate in which you find yourself.

I read somewhere that Japanese researchers found active roots and mycorrhizae under the snow surrounding Japanese White pines. Seems that even if the top is dormant there is still some activity going on through the winter below ground level but probably at a much reduced rate.

Nice!
Noted.

Very useful discussion, thanks everyone who participated.
I have one thing to add: with the growth rate varying on our pines, depending on a lot of factors - not just the season - it is difficult to know how much a tree has absorbed of past fertilisations and how much is still in the soil. Over-fertilising is more detrimental than under-fertilising. So winter is the ideal time not only for a plant to rest, but for the soil as well. I give Seasol, that is all.

Lisa

Stronger than normal Spring growth - results of feeding continually throughout autumn AND winter.
Years previously, I had never even considered to maintain Winter feeding at all.
The suggestions by some in this thread , and now the results achieved, have persuaded me to change my routine.

That irons fantastic


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That pine certainly is looking very strong, KCAR! Agree the iron underneath is a fabulous idea.

The tree looks verdant to say the least! Very healthy. Daft me thought the Reo under the pot was some kind of artistic impression - then I realised its function to hold wired branches . Very clever. [THUMBS UP SIGN]


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I repot a mini pine bonsai in spring. Is it self to needle pluck or candle cut?

I guess the Q to be 'is it safe to .......'
I believe it is. I certainly don't miss candle pruning any of my older pines whether they have been repotted or not. Needs to be done every year or you'll lose control. Still a bit too early to cut candles here but I know others who go early and then deal with the larger shoots in other ways.
I pluck needles in autumn to help equalise vigour but if you have not done it I think it should be OK to do now - just not as long to have any effect on the new shoots. If you do have long older growth with lots of healthy needles you can still prune further back into last year's needles instead of just taking the candles off.
No point in plucking new needles when you're just going to cut off the entire needle in a few weeks.

KC and R... that is one hell of a pine. beautiful ramification and it looks superbly healthy. I love your use of the iron below for guy wiring, BRILLIANT! Gotta source myself some of that.

I am new with Black Pines and am trying to follow the ideas of people here and Ryan Neil, my question is about spring candles, my pines sent out spring candles and I did not cut them (there has been no direction about such) and so now they are all elongated and have significant needles, I am preparing for what I thought was January candle pruning, however my trees look nothing like the examples on Mirai, or in books, How do I proceed from here? Bernie

How to proceed depends on the current state of the tree and your aims and aspirations. I could wear out a couple of fingers typing all the possibilities or you could show us the tree and tell us what you think you want in order to cut down the possible ramifications.
At a very basic level trees in development (you want to thicken the trunk or grow it bigger) are treated quite differently than more established trees.

I have been growing pines for close on 45 years now. i was trained in the traditional sense [japanese way]. There used to be a booklet "100 ways to prune a Japanese Black Pine". I now use Ryan Neal's method. It is easy and it works.

Hey guys, if you'd like to find out how I manage to get homogeneous growth on my black pines, I did a blog post about it here https://hakujuenbonsai.com/blogs/blog/autumn-blog

We all end up doing it slightly differently, and do what works for you, this is just how I was told to do it when I studied abroad, and it seemed to work really well.

Hope this helps,

Matt

bunce wrote: ↑August 13th, 2020, 8:18 pm Hey guys, if you'd like to find out how I manage to get homogeneous growth on my black pines, I did a blog post about it here https://hakujuenbonsai.com/blogs/blog/autumn-blog

We all end up doing it slightly differently, and do what works for you, this is just how I was told to do it when I studied abroad, and it seemed to work really well.

Hope this helps,

Matt

Thanks for the article Matt, would you please help me understand if I have to remove more needles from my pine below? According to your guide I should be leaving only five sheaths (10 needles), do I have too many now?
Thanks