JBP - Always Be Wiring

[treeman]

Who of us would even consider doing this when designing a tree from the start? And yet, these are exactly the kinds of things to consider if you want to go ''natural''

natbonb.JPG

[GavinG]

Profound thoughts Mike. It's difficult to get out of our usual patterns, but the rewards are lifelong.

Gavin

[Matt S]

This thread started with a JBP of mine and turned into an interesting discussion on wiring, but it's the best place to post an update on the tree in the original post. So here's an update.

It took me a few nights but I wired up all the tertiary branches and bought a few of the primary ones down a bit further. Since it has movement to the left I wanted to fill in the gaps a bit on the right and create negative spaces on the left. I put in it a proper pot last year but I need to find a better one. The ramification is coming on after I started the decandling process 5 years ago.

JBP May 2021 after wiring.jpg

Matt.

[Beech92]

Looking good, some more ramification to fill.out the pads and you have a great tree on your hands.
I quite like the graceful of this tree.

[tgooboon]

Looking great, you can really see the improvements since the first photo 2 years ago

[Matt S]

A few months ago I plucked the needles on this pine and decided to take a lot of the wire off, only to have the branches flop around again. Luckily Tony Bebb was in the state recently so he helped me rewire and thin out a lot of growth. He also suggested a change of angle for the front, and of course he was right.

The tree is now looking much cleaner and taller, and the search is on for a better pot.

JBP July 20 before wiring.jpg

JBP July 20 after wiring.jpg

Matt.

[tinto]

lovely tree,

[BonsaiBobbie]

Definitely better front

[SuperBonSaiyan]

Nice tree, I really like how you've kept the needle lengths all the same and short. Good technique!

[Macros]

Looking great!!
Another year or 2, and this'll be even more magnificent

[Akhi]

Nice tree, I really like how you've kept the needle lengths all the same and short. Good technique!

I was wondering how you did that can you please shed some light . I am just starting my pine journey and still confused as to how to get that uniform needle length. Not that I am in a hurry, have a long development phase to cater for.

[SuperBonSaiyan]

Nice tree, I really like how you've kept the needle lengths all the same and short. Good technique!

I was wondering how you did that can you please shed some light . I am just starting my pine journey and still confused as to how to get that uniform needle length. Not that I am in a hurry, have a long development phase to cater for.

I've not done it yet, but from what I understand, you stop fertilizing at some point (can't remember when - end of spring or start of summer?) - this is to flush all the nitrogen out of the system. Less nitrogen = less vigorous new growth.

Then you candle prune later (again, can't remember exactly when - mid summer or end of summer?) - this is to encourage back budding and also to ensure the needles don't get too much time to grow.

Please correct me where I'm wrong - I'm still learning.

[Matt S]

I was wondering how you did that can you please shed some light

Needle reduction is quite a big topic and you should be able to find an existing thread covering this in better detail, but in a nutshell:

• Japanese Black Pines are double flush pines, meaning they are capable of producing two flushes of growth over the one season.

• Sometime in early Summer when the first flush of growth has hardened off and the needles are approx 45 degrees apart from the candle, all the new candles are removed. If the growth is really uneven you can spread this over a few stages starting with the strongest candles, waiting 10 days then moving to the weakest. In my area (Adelaide plains) I usually start a week or two before Christmas.

• The second resulting flush of growth should be weaker with smaller needles and shorter internodes, and there are usually at least two candles sprouting where there was originally one. If there are more than two candles, reduce to two.

• During Autumn, pluck the needles on the new growth leaving approx 8 pairs on each shoot. You can get fancy here leaving more needles on weaker shoots and less on stronger ones, and it's a good idea to leave some needles where you would like some backbudding in the next season.

• You can tweak the fertilisation by stopping a few weeks before de-candling so the resultant second flush is not as strong, and then resuming once it has hardened off. I fertilise over winter, but not as much as summer.

There are a couple of big caveats here:

• Needle reduction is started in the refinement stage. First you need to get your trunk, primary and secondary branches set and at the thicknesses you want.

• De-candling is stressful for the tree, so make sure it's in top health before starting. It's also a good idea to give the tree a rest every 3, 4 or 5 years depending on the health.

• There are a few different methods and tweaks you can do to get the needles smaller, but it's best to choose one method and stick with it for a few years, don't go chopping and changing. Be patient, it takes a few years to get the results you want.

Hope that helps. Like I said there are plenty of threads that cover this in greater detail, so get digging.

Matt.

[SuperBonSaiyan]

• De-candling is stressful for the tree, so make sure it's in top health before starting. It's also a good idea to give the tree a rest every 3, 4 or 5 years depending on the health.

I wanted to encourage some back budding along a fairly bare branch of my JBP - would de-candling this branch in spring / summer this year encourage back budding?

[shibui]

I wanted to encourage some back budding along a fairly bare branch of my JBP - would de-candling this branch in spring / summer this year encourage back budding?

During development and growth phase there's a couple of methods we can use:

1. Trimming new spring shoots (decandling) - usually results in new, smaller shoots growing from the tips. Good for controlling length and to reduce bare 'necks' that form on strong spring candles.

2. Pruning back to older needles - Pines also produce buds from the base of any healthy needle so we can allow shoots to grow for a couple of years for the extra vigour and thickening then chop to the lowest needles to get back budding. I use this method for trees in development phase. The majority of buds grow from a few needles close to the cut ends so I find it better to chop right back to where I want the new shoots. Stronger, healthier branches will often produce a few buds on the bare wood below as well but not guaranteed.

3. Cut to a lower side branch and rebuild - This is also used on deciduous and other species to reduce length and size. This method is used initially to start the design but also used with mature trees. Because trees grow longer each year it is important to have fallback branching. Every few years when the tree has grown too long, reduce branches to shorter side shoots then wire to shape and go again.

In practice you'll probably use all the above in different combinations through the development stages of your pines.