AusBonsai

This is one of the first black pines that I bought, around 1992 or 1993. I remember paying about $4.00 for it then. Its trunk was
about pencil-thick, and was about 10 cm tall. Its top was cut off, and it had a lot of little buds throughout.

The following pictures were taken on 6/November/2007:





I think the above two are better views of this black pine.





I was not very happy with the three tops. But I did not feel right about cutting any of them off. I wired them about two months prior
to taking the above pictures. I kept on looking at it, but still it did not feel right. It looked too heavy and unbalanced. Most of my early
trees have been suffering this problem. I seemed to have no clue about how train the top. And I still find it difficult shaping crowns.

After two months, I decided that it was still ugly. I needed to do something drastic. I felt that I must get rid of two, leaving only one
to train as the new leader. Details of the three tops:



I should eliminate branches A and B, and keep C. Simply because A and B are smaller than C. Importantly C has branches C1 and
C2, which I could further develop. And that will give this tree four main layers.

Having made the decision, I cut the branches off sometimes during November, 2007. The timing might not have been best. But I just
could not wait.

The following pictures were taken on 27/January/2008:









I think it is more harmonious than before, but is still very unbalanced. The two top branches must be developed more, to be in proportion
with the two below.

Since January 2008, I have also shortened the length of the lower two layers, and I have also moderately succeeded in back budding, and
improved ramification of the lower layers a little.

I did take some more photos recently. But they look indistinguishable from the previous ones, so there is no point including them here.

* Measurements:

Trunk diameter: 4 cm. Measured right on the surface.
Tree height: about 70 cm. Measured from the soil-surface in the pot.

Pot length: 39.5 cm.
Pot width: 30.5 cm.
Pot height: 9.5 cm (including the "legs".)

The pot is Chinese. It is the middle-size of a set of three. I paid about $50.00 for it.

Viet - I think you've done a great job with this pine. It's true, as you say, it's still somewhat unbalanced, but it's infinitely better than when you started. I wouldn't presume to offer any suggestions, as I'm grappling with a couple of black pines myself - and I'm not a great stylist anyway! I'll be interested to see how it progresses.

Good post, by the way!

Scorpio

PS - You may (or may not) be interested in this article from Julian Adams re needle reduction and foliage control. It came from International Bonsai 2005, No. 2, pp. 17-21 - about 5 pages long. There is a short summary at the end about the author.

http://www.adamsbonsai.com/pine_foliage.pdf

What a difference in just 12 months! Your tree is looking very good and seems to be coming along nicely. You must be so proud of it.
Penny.

Looking good Viet, you have kept the foliage in nice and tight.

You may (or may not) be interested in this article from Julian Adams re needle reduction and foliage control.

Thanks a lot Scorpio - I have printed the file and added it to my folder on Black Pines. Working on the species does seem confusing and this is a good read.

Jon

Definately some good work.
And also a very good read. JBP can be so much work, but rewarding when things start to work

Hi everybody,

Thank you for replying.

Hi Scorpio,

Thank you for the article. This is the first time I have known it. It is a good read. I have also observed that,
sometimes during the wiring process, branches might crack a little, and a few weeks later, a new shoot
develop from there. This also occasionally happens to white pines. He actually explain what happens -- I
find that useful.

Stone Lantern company have compiled a book on pines, based on articles scatter throughout the various
issues of Bonsai Today:

Bonsai Today Masters' Series, PINES, Stone Lantern Publishing Company, P.O. Box 70 Passumpsic, VT 05861, U.S.A. 2005.

I bought it for $60.00. I think this is the best book on pines that have been written so far. It has a lot of
inspirational transformations of pines.

Please post your pines Scorpio.

Hi Penny,

I think I have done a little better with my later pines. I have lost so much times on this. But during reshaping
this pine, I think I have matured a little -- I did not have any sudden regret after cutting of the branches. I felt
relieved and at peace with myself.

Hi Jarrod,

I do agree. Sometimes things seem so close with black pine, other times they can seem far away... and
we just trying to pin it down

Regards,

Viet.