2 Years in the life of a Japanese Black Pine

[Chris Johnston]

I've posted this other places but thought it might make a valid contribution to this forum. This is a corkbark Japanese black pine I have had for some time, but a very few years ago I began following Boon's regimen for training Japanese black pine. The only difference between corkbark and regular JBP care is that with normal JBP we remove the candles every summer. With Corkbark we only do it every other year: one year for candles, one year for bark formation.

Here's the tree in 2007. Kind of looks like a plucked chicken.









I had put it in this pond basket the year before.

[daiviet_nguyen]

Hi Chris,

This tree has a potential of becoming a very nice pine bonsai.

I have not trained any corky bark one, have not read much on them either.

I gather from what you wrote that it is slower and somehow not as strong as normal
black pines?

(And how many many Kansas Cities are there in the USA, Chris? I have been to one,
Missouri -- but it seems that there is/are other/s somewhere?)

Thanks Chris.

Best regards.

[kcpoole]

Hey Chris
Nice tree
The foliage looks a lot like mine at the moment, A few long needles and plenty of short new ones.
Looking forward to the progress series over the 2 years if thast is what you are going to do.
Please remeber if that is wnat you are going to do, to use the Seasons rather than the months of the year of when to do what as we are are ass up here

Ken

[Chris Johnston]

Thanks, guys. There are only two Kansas Cities in the world, Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas. They are separated by the Missouri River. I live 45 miles SW of the metro area.

I would not say that nishiki is weaker than standard JBP, it's just that we only work the candles on odd years. That gives the tree a year in between to work on its bark.

The photos from before are 2007. I candled this tree in midsummer (July 4 here) but each individual must find the optimum week to do this in their particular microclimate. You see, we do not candle by stage of growth, length of candles, etc. We candle strictly by the calendar.

The object of candling Japanese black pines (and some other 2 needle pines as well) is to balance energy throughout the tree. The effects of the correct practice are to not only make the tree balanced, but needles are proportionate to the tree, and ramification is increased by using two flushes of growth per year. It may be possible to get a third budding, but I can't do it where I live, and doubt that trees will stay strong over too many years of candling twice in a year.

So here's what we do. In spring, we begin feeding heavily. We want to produce as much growth as possible. We don't cut any candles, don't break any, don't pinch anything. Just feed, water, sunshine. The growth may extend to an extreme length.

[Chris Johnston]

Timing of candling is wholly dependent upon the calendar based upon how long and hot your summer is. "Midsummer" is a very general thing and we have to be more precise than that. At this time, I think the first week of July is best for my place, but Boon candles in Mid-June (northern hemisphere). The thing is, the longer your new buds have to develop and grow, the longer your needles will be. Boon lives in the San Francisco Bay area, noted for its cool damp summers. Mark Twain famously said, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

Kansas, on the other hand, has a late winter with lots of rain in the spring, with major heat coming mid-July through the end of September. It is not uncommon for us to have heat waves of 38-43 C for up to three weeks at a time. You may be hotter or cooler, but adjust your candling timing accordingly.

So on July 4 weekend (a holiday weekend yay!), I will remove all my candles except the very weakest ones. They will be allowed to grow unchecked this year, and they will benefit from the energy being redirected to them.

Candle cutting technique is not difficult but takes some care. We want to leave from 5 to 10 cm of the "neck" on the tree. It's essential to cut straight across the candle, as an angled cut will produce longer candles on one side than the other. This stub will be left longer on the stronger candles, and shorter on the weaker ones. It actually siphons some of the energy from the new buds which will form at the base of it, as long as no needles are left.

[Jow]

Great post Chris, Any chance of explaining a years worth of work usung your techniques?

I always find it interesting just how many different techniques there are to reduce 2 needle pines needle length. All are based somewhat around the same principals but all differ slightly. Here in Japan i find that even nursery to nursery the techniques are a little different.

I grow my pines in somewhat a similar manner but cut candles in two stages and i think i also take alot more needles off in Autumn... I am keen to try your method side by side with my current one to see which one performs best under my local conditions so any further detail you could provide would be great!

[bonscythe]

Hi Chris,
Just a couple of questions about the Black Pines, do you candle on small trees or wait until they have grown up to the desired size then begin candling on a more mature tree?
Also, do you cut back harder on the top candles and only half-length cut on the lower lateral branches?
Thanks for your advice!

[anttal63]

It's essential to cut straight across the candle, as an angled cut will produce longer candles on one side than the other. This stub will be left longer on the stronger candles, and shorter on the weaker ones. It actually siphons some of the energy from the new buds which will form at the base of it, as long as no needles are left.

the detail is gold!!! thanks chris

[Chris Johnston]

Great post Chris, Any chance of explaining a years worth of work usung your techniques?

I always find it interesting just how many different techniques there are to reduce 2 needle pines needle length. All are based somewhat around the same principals but all differ slightly. Here in Japan i find that even nursery to nursery the techniques are a little different.

I grow my pines in somewhat a similar manner but cut candles in two stages and i think i also take alot more needles off in Autumn... I am keen to try your method side by side with my current one to see which one performs best under my local conditions so any further detail you could provide would be great!

There are a lot of techniques used. This is quite new and is producing incredible results in Boon's trees and others'. We also take off a lot of needles in the fall of the year, I'll show that in a bit.

Chris

[Chris Johnston]

Hi Chris,
Just a couple of questions about the Black Pines, do you candle on small trees or wait until they have grown up to the desired size then begin candling on a more mature tree?
Also, do you cut back harder on the top candles and only half-length cut on the lower lateral branches?
Thanks for your advice!

Young trees are worked differently because we are building trunk and branches. If you need extension growth on a branch, instead of removing the entire candle in midsummer, you will reduce it by half or so. This will prompt some back budding along the branch, and your new buds will pop at the end of the cut instead of the base of the candle. Needle pulling is also done differently on a young branch.

jbp young branch full.JPG

jbp young branch plucked.JPG

Leaving the needles as shown takes advantage of the latent buds in between each needle pair. You'll be able to choose your new sub branches when the time comes.

For very young trees, let the tree grow and build your trunk either with trunk chops or by grafting buds where you want them.

Chris

[Chris Johnston]

Following candling, we are going to make our energy management more intense by plucking needles. Instead of waiting until autumn, we will remove needles from throughout the tree, leaving as few as five pairs of needles in the strongest bits of the tree (where we left long necks) and as many as ten pairs in the weakest bits. Foliage draws energy, which will encourage the new buds to develop. For this reason we leave more foliage with weaker buds, and vice versa. For areas in which more branches are needed, you can leave extra needles. There will be a chance to get new needle-buds to come out.

P1011666.JPG

This will tend to make your tree, especially a young tree in training, look a bit like a plucked chicken.

[anttal63]

nice to see proffessor kirby's face after such along time, how the hec is he?

[Chris Johnston]

Errr, not Kirby. Tom Conley. This is Kirby:



And there he is on the left, this time with beard (winter)

[anttal63]

oh dear me sorry to tom. god they have similaraties at a distant photo.

[Liam Taylor]

Any chance on another installment of 2 years in the life of a black pine Chris? I have really enjoyed reading your post. cheers Liam