JBP Trunk Chop?

[Aaronjmusgrave]

Good Morning All,

Earlier this year I purchased a few little 'starters' from Bunnings (don't judge ) to have a few little trees growing until I had the confidence to practice on something bigger and of better quality. One of these was this Japanese Black Pine.

Front2.JPG

Front.JPG

Here is a close up shot of some of the lower branches.

Close up.JPG

My questions is, should I go ahead and let it continue to grow and thicken (and grow incredibly top heavy) or should I give it a good trunk cut to promote better growth in the lower branches and improve the taper. I have no idea on the age, but I can appreciate that it is still relatively young.

The nebari and roots are also a bit of a mess, but that's another story. Any help with this would be appreciated, thank you all!

[dansai]

You definitely want to encourage those lower buds. I would chop the top section and leave the strong growth on the right to keep it growing strong to help thicken the trunk. Maybe best to wait though until someone with more experience with developing pines chimes in though.

As for the roots, while it is young is the best time to sort the roots outs. You can cut back any thick roots, crossing roots and long roots. This Autumn would be a good time.

[MoGanic]

Hi Aaron,

With stock such as this, it's best to maintain the lower growth (which will eventually be used to style the tree) but still allow a strong branch to grow upwards.

In this case, you're ahead of the game as you already have a strong sacrificial branch growing which will aid in trunk thickening. Pluck off the needles on the sacrifice back to just this years growth to weaken it if the lower branches start to slow down too much, and only cut it off if it gets too thick.

If you just cut off the strong growth at the top, you'll find it takes much longer to thicken the trunk to any decent size.

The great thing is, you can still treat the bottom branches as you would in terms of refinement and styling (provided you don't work them so hard that they weaken to a point where the top growth takes over completely - it's all about a balancing act).

Specific to this tree, I would leave the lowest shoots, cut off that first long shoot, and pluck all the old needles off (i.e. the ones that are hard and opened last year or the year before) all the branches above that leaving just the new growth for this year. Then let it run for the remainder of this year. The shoots at the bottom need to be kept compact and you would need to encourage as much branching down there as possible through de-candling and selective pruning. Never allow more than two shoots at any given junction.

I suggest trying to get some experience with maintenance work on black pines - it can be daunting starting off on your own. You can still de-candle the lower branches so do a search on de-candling and write down a timeline of what to do and when.

If you're in Melbourne, Tien at Bonsai Sensation nursery does free regular Saturday classes last time I checked and I'm sure would be more than happy to guide you on this.

Cheers bud,
Mo

[MoGanic]

You definitely want to encourage those lower buds. I would chop the top section and leave the strong growth on the right to keep it growing strong to help thicken the trunk. Maybe best to wait though until someone with more experience with developing pines chimes in though.

As for the roots, while it is young is the best time to sort the roots outs. You can cut back any thick roots, crossing roots and long roots. This Autumn would be a good time.

This is some sound advice, however I wouldn't chop the top section and leave the weaker long shoot as we're not aiming for taper on a sacrificial branch. It's better to leave the strongest section only as that will grow the fastest hence thicken the trunk quicker.

Cheers bud,
Mo

[Aaronjmusgrave]

Thanks guys. My initial thoughts were more what Dansai was thinking, to improve taper, however a thicker overall trunk is the goal in the end.

Mo, is something as per the below what you're suggesting.. it is a very crude edit, but yeah, I'd be making the cut at the red, and remove last years needles above that point?

Front2edit.jpg

My understanding is this leaves the vigorous top growth to thicken the trunk, while cutting the branch as shown will help to promote further growth to the smallest branches below. Hopefully that makes sense?

Mo, I live up in Brisbane and am planning to head on along to a few of the workshops at Bonsai Northside Nursery in the New Year.

[MoGanic]

Pretty close mate, still a few too many needles on the main sacrificial leader.

Note: We're not giving preference to thickness over taper here - in actual fact we're killing two birds with one stone. My point was that there's no point in creating taper in a sacrificial branch - because you're just going to chop it off anyway.

Of the shoots at the bottom, one will become your new leader that will be kept and used to build the apex and, it will be inherently thinner than the trunk underneath it (because the main leader is working to thicken the trunk, not so much the branches). As it thickens, it will blend more with the thick trunk underneath it and hey presto, you have gorgeous taper.

By the time the sacrifice is gone and the scar has healed, (and providing you've kept on the refining and maintenance of the lower shoots), you will have a beautiful tree that you can grow on and improve.

Cheers,
Mo

[Aaronjmusgrave]

I think I'm understanding all of this Mo.

So moving forward, is this suitable to do at this time of year?

If so, I plan to take the marked branch off and reduce the amount of needles from above that cut as shown. This will allow the sacrificial leader to thicken the trunk of the tree.

The lower branches will be maintained/ decandled etc as desired while the tree grows for the remainder of the growing season - these branches will ultimately be a part of the trees final design. Rootwork will follow in Autumn.

How does that sound?

[MoGanic]

I think I'm understanding all of this Mo.

So moving forward, is this suitable to do at this time of year?

If so, I plan to take the marked branch off and reduce the amount of needles from above that cut as shown. This will allow the sacrificial leader to thicken the trunk of the tree.

The lower branches will be maintained/ decandled etc as desired while the tree grows for the remainder of the growing season - these branches will ultimately be a part of the trees final design. Rootwork will follow in Autumn.

How does that sound?

I think you said you're in Queensland? I'm in Vic, so no idea what the right timing is up there! It all depends on what the tree is telling you.

As a rough guideline, decandling is done after the first flush of growth in Summer - your aim with this is simply to get more shoots in a single growing season NOT reducing needle length (don't need to until the tree is in the final stages). Basically, prune back to 2 shoots at each junction before the first flush of growth, decandle, prune back to 2 shoots once the second flush of growth has hardened.

Autumn is great for root work, just don't go crazy and be careful in removing large roots that hold a large amount of the fine feeder roots.

NB: More needles means more growth = thicker trunk quicker. What we're aiming to achieve by thinning the needles above where you will cut is balance. This assists the tree in distributing energy to the lower branches as well as the sacrificial leader. If we just let the leader grow it will take over and lead to the lower branches either not moving at all or dying.

Cheers,
Mo

[Aaronjmusgrave]

Yep no worries. I don't plan on doing any needle reduction any time soon, mainly because I have no idea what I'm doing. But I do know it isn't required until the tree is very well developed.

I think it definitely requires a bit of balance at the moment, the lower branches have been growing very slowly in comparison to the rest of the tree.

Thanks a lot Mo! Very good advice (I hope ), very clear and concise.

[MoGanic]

Yep no worries. I don't plan on doing any needle reduction any time soon, mainly because I have no idea what I'm doing. But I do know it isn't required until the tree is very well developed.

I think it definitely requires a bit of balance at the moment, the lower branches have been growing very slowly in comparison to the rest of the tree.

Thanks a lot Mo! Very good advice (I hope ), very clear and concise.

Any time mate, cheers.

Mo