AusBonsai

This thread is just to document the progression of the JBP I took with me to the Bonsai Masters (thanks again Steven!) and workshopped with Kunio Kobayashi. It was a great experience and I look forward to developing this tree further.
I picked up the original stock from Tien at Bonsai Sensation not long before I headed to Canberra so I can take no responsibility for the great quality of the tree beforehand ... Given that nothing terribly dramatic was performed during the workshop, I felt confident in repotting this tree into a (much) smaller pot the week I returned home ... in early September. I would say the root ball was reduced by maybe 70-75% ... a biggish reduction but the root system that remained was full of nice fine feeder roots and a good radial spread so I wasn't too concerned I had taken too much. The next month or so the tree was left to relax and recover before I began fertilisation in preparation for decandling later this year, assuming all goes well from here.
Since then the candles have all begun to extend nicely and the tree appears to be carrying on like nothing has happened - so all is on track. As I said, if all goes to plan I aim to decandle this year, I am thinking early December and then we'll see what happens from there.

Last but not least ... I decandled this pine with the others yesterday, just getting around to posting it now.
PS : Others will probably not be that surprised by this, but here's a shot of the "candles" that got cut ... to me that's an impressive pile!

That looks like a nice bucketful of pine shoots.

I think I've trimmed all the pines I need to do this year. Thought I was done a week ago but each time I go out there I seem to find another one that I missed.
I managed to fill this 20 litre bucket and some more besides. Note that I am nowhere near as accurate as you

Just an update with a shot after the autumn clean up. Might need to have a look at adding some wire at some stage, but generally happy with the progress. There were lots of shoots in the second flush. I may also go back and thin out the needles a bit more before spring, not sure yet.

Some decandling on this tree yesterday so an update for this thread... some more to do on a few others today.

Autumn work completed on this pine today.
I did the usual shoot select and needle thinning, but then decided that I would remove all the old wire, re-wire and shape it a little.
I'll probably look at reducing length on the right side at some stage in the near future, but for now it stays.
Happy with the progress.

Nice needle size reduction R3. Do you have a final picture in your head for this one or is it still evolving? Plans for more sacrifice branches?

terryb wrote: ↑April 23rd, 2021, 1:32 pm Nice needle size reduction R3. Do you have a final picture in your head for this one or is it still evolving? Plans for more sacrifice branches?

Cheers mate... it’s going OK.
No real definitive end goal, I’m thinking something pretty conservative/traditional though for this, in line I think with what Kobayashi might have seen. Maybe like the sketch below.
Pretty happy with the way things are developing in terms of thickness etc so I can’t see much need for a sacrifice, although I might let the bottom left branch run a bit just to pick up some girth there... maybe! Long term though that branch will probably go - but that is a decade or more down the track.

Another JBP that got decandled over the weekend.
This was also a very healthy tree after a fairly heavy fertilisation regime over the spring.
Happy with the growth it is displaying.

Autumn update on this tree.
Very vigorous tree so the needle size blew out a tad after decandling this year. I'm not too worried, it's still fairly reasonable and I like the way the branching is beginning to fill in. All in all, happy with the progress.

Nice progression ryceman

When I look at this tree instinctively I want to look at it with a different angle. Have you ever thought of changing the planting angle?

benbonsai wrote: ↑May 24th, 2022, 6:40 pm Nice progression ryceman

When I look at this tree instinctively I want to look at it with a different angle. Have you ever thought of changing the planting angle?

In short… yes.
Maybe not as far as you angled it but same direction. I like the aesthetic of the drop branch for this tree and I think it “evens it out” too much going that far.
I have no plans to repot this year though so I’ll experiment with angle next time I repot.
Thanks for the feedback though, always good to get some ideas…

I love the really extreme angle in the trunk.
Either way, a beautiful tree.
No probs Ryceman

Clean up back to 2 and needle pluck for this tree today, probably a tad early but there was underlying reasoning and I doubt it will be that detrimental. I think it’s going well.
It needs a bit of wire to get things back in shape but I’ll wait a month or so before that happens.