Japanese Black Pine - Needle Plucking

[squizzy]

Good to see you got in touch with Hugh. Also good to see your thread got some momentum with discussion.

Squizz

[Cindy]

So I have a raw JBP that I bought at Megumi 1 month ago and would like to clean up the needles up before I repot in 2-3 months time. Any pointers on where to start off
Need guidance

Why not have a couple of lessons with Megumi or Alex on this tree? I know she use to run classes 20 + years ago when I first started in bonsai.

[xIIRevoEvoS]

So I have a raw JBP that I bought at Megumi 1 month ago and would like to clean up the needles up before I repot in 2-3 months time. Any pointers on where to start off
Need guidance

Why not have a couple of lessons with Megumi or Alex on this tree? I know she use to run classes 20 + years ago when I first started in bonsai.

Not in the right time slot on weekends, I share a car with my mum who happens to work on that same day when workshop opens. Would like to go but not in the current situation

[kcpoole]

Ok so I assuming you have decided to grow it on to increase trunk size

Only need to cut branches back if they are extending further than the final size of the tree, or need to be reduced for another reason. eg growing too much to be a good size later in the trees life.
Cut them back to build ramification by forcing back budding, or forcing growth into closer branches nearer the trunk.

With Pines you cannot just let them go mad and lose all the shoots in close as they will not back bud there. Although that is what you really should do to get rapid growth. On a deciduous tree that would be OK as you can cut off the scrifices and regrow new small branches, with pines that does not work.

Pick a branch as a sacrifice to let go, but control the growth of the other branches so they do not get out of proportion and lose close in foliage.

Re the Candles, if the branch is going to be a sacrifice, then leave them to drive growth in the tree. If the branch is to be used in the final design then you will ( oince the branch is of sufficient size for the design, then control its growth by selectively removing candles adn needles at the appropriate times.

Re repotting. if you are bench growing trees on, I increase pot size by on size each repot. I will root trim lightly to remove problem roots ( too big, circling the pot etc) and then tease them out to create the nebari then repot.
Next year do the same but go up 1 pot size.
Putting a small tree in a large pot sooner can be counter productive because the tree does not have sufficient roots to pull the moisture out of the soil and thus it can stay too wet. Result is poor growth or worse death because to manage the amount of water, you have to limit the watering and is easy to let it dry out far too much.

Ken

Thanks Ken, much appreciated with the reply
Bench growing is my main option due to sun positioning next to the car port as you can see in the images of my other bonsai's
Also Hugh of Bonsai Evolution got in touch with me to offer 1 to 1 lessons as well from central coast and he will teach me as well.

Excellent on both counts

Ken

[xIIRevoEvoS]

Also, look at what Kez does. He has mucked around with a few.

Here's a link to the lastest active thread.
viewtopic.php?f=131&t=17775

Maybe get a younger tree to torture? That's what I'm doing this weekend, Bonsai World in Jilliby has 10 inch pot JBP for $25 (last weekend).

Got a young cutting JBP from Ray Nesci $12 - would not like to torture it yet because I'm also looking for another seedling JBP that will be my main experiment piece like Squiz JBP seedling image.

[shibui]

I agree with all but one point from Ken.
I routinely pot trees into pots several sizes larger - 11 cm into a 30 cm pot is usual. I know there are persistent stories about the mix staying wet but with a good open bonsai mix you should have no problems. My trees have thrived on this and really put on some size quite quickly. Also with the extra room you don't need to pot them on again for a few years.

Certainly do the roots now when you pot it up. By the time it grows up a bit many roots will be too big to make any adjustments so best to do it properly early. Have a look at that thread from Grant about tying? binding? roots as well.

Can't really give specific advice about pruning without seeing the tree. Very difficult to put into words and each case may be slightly different. You'll just have to have a go.

[xIIRevoEvoS]

I agree with all but one point from Ken.
I routinely pot trees into pots several sizes larger - 11 cm into a 30 cm pot is usual. I know there are persistent stories about the mix staying wet but with a good open bonsai mix you should have no problems. My trees have thrived on this and really put on some size quite quickly. Also with the extra room you don't need to pot them on again for a few years.

Certainly do the roots now when you pot it up. By the time it grows up a bit many roots will be too big to make any adjustments so best to do it properly early. Have a look at that thread from Grant about tying? binding? roots as well.

Can't really give specific advice about pruning without seeing the tree. Very difficult to put into words and each case may be slightly different. You'll just have to have a go.

No worries and thanks for the information Shibui.
Bought a bag of Scoria 2-3mm and 2 bags of bunnings pebbles as well as 2 nursery mix from Ray Nesci and will need to purchase 2 soil mix from Megumi.
Its what I've been using, both has there own characteristics.