Saving a Japanese Red Pine

[pjames]

2014: When I first saw this Japanese Red Pine from one of the club member's garden, I fell in love with the size and the nebari but it wasn't looking good. The owner gave it to me while it was in a bad health giving it hope to revive and become healthy again. It was left to grow and recover with a lot of TLC in the remainder of the growing season that year. There were a lot of new needles and buds grown.

2015: It was then restyled during our club's demo by me just to get the health back again allowing more air and sunlight to get through the inner branches. A lot of cutting backs done to compact the tree further in.

2016: Further cutbacks and further styling started to take place. It needs more branching and ramification to fill in the apex.

2017: This Red Pine is coming really well in the past 3 years. It is potted now to a temporary big pot at least it will grow new young roots. It is root bound and hasn't been repotted for almost 5 years. I'll find a suitable pot later on.

[Nate.bonsai]

What a dramatic change and development in a short number of years!

Gives me some comfort as I have two large old JBPs that are a bit leggy and need a bit of work to drive the growth in. I was wondering whether I was trying to do the impossible, but your progression shows that it can be done!

Love the most recent look, very classic silhouette and great balance. Home run.


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[robb63]

Well done
Looks like its in safe hands.
Hope it grows to be an Old pine that just gets better.
cheers

[Boics]

Lovely transformation.
You've done really well so far.

[pjames]

What a dramatic change and development in a short number of years!

Gives me some comfort as I have two large old JBPs that are a bit leggy and need a bit of work to drive the growth in. I was wondering whether I was trying to do the impossible, but your progression shows that it can be done!

Love the most recent look, very classic silhouette and great balance. Home run.


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Japanese Black/Red Pine is really hard to back bud from bare branches. So I use the weakest available bud inside and use them to bud. Since bonsai is an illusion, I use the foliage to cover up the long leggy branches. This is what I did.
1. Refer to 2nd photo in 2015, tree doesn’t look good aesthetically but this is important. I wired all the branches flat and bend them downwards to expose inner branches to light and air. Also spread the branches all around the tree to cover the leggy big branches popping out from the main trunk.
2. Leave it growing for 1 growing season and I did candle pruning on December to get more new shoots especially in the inside. When you do cut back, don’t cut too much that will weaken the branch.
3. Refer to 3rd photo in 2016. I got lots of healthy new shoots. I started cutting back and made triangle shape (taper) so that more light will go inside the whole tree. Then, I started doing the styling and branching technique that you see a lot in youtube.

It was all about wiring and planning how you structure the branches that will create illusion that the tree looks full of foliage. I’m still in the process of learning, I’ve been doing bonsai for around 4 years and I’m still new to it. Maybe many will disagree with the process but it worked for me.

Send me a photo or post it here, maybe I could help you.

[pjames]

Well done
Looks like its in safe hands.
Hope it grows to be an Old pine that just gets better.
cheers

Thank you. I was worried when I first I got it, I might fail but I did try my best. The tree looks happy now.

[pjames]

Lovely transformation.
You've done really well so far.

Thank you. I'm happy this pine responded well under my care. Looking forward what this tree will be in the years to come.

[pjames]

Update photo on this Red Pine.

[Jake fowler]

[Ryceman3]

Sweet tree ...
The refinement you have added to the silhouette in just the last 18 months or so is sensational - but then when you look at how it started in your care 5 or so years ago this is a personal achievement you should be very proud of.
Super nice job!

[MJL]

What Ryceman said. +1

Top stuff.

[boom64]

Fantastic achievement in such a short time. Well done..

[FiveBonsaiTreeeees]

Hey, great to see you save the red pine and I am still puzzled that their isn't more Japanese red pine bonsai that are as many as Japanese black pine... Can you guys make any sense of it?? Are they harder to keep healthy or alive so that's why the JBP and lesser JWP are more resilient and hardier to bonsai techniques and what we do to the pine that is the likelihood of seeing high quality Japanese red pine bonsai??

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[dansai]

I’m not sure why there are less. JBP are super strong hardy trees that can handle a wide range of conditions and handling. I’ve only got a few young JRP, and only had them for just over a year, so I’m not sure yet if they are as robust. I definitely had to be more careful with watering the first winter as they were staying wetter longer and suffered a little for it. All survived though. Maybe it’s more to do with access to seed?? Or just thats what is thought about when thinking pine bonsai.

[shibui]

Hey, great to see you save the red pine and I am still puzzled that their isn't more Japanese red pine bonsai that are as many as Japanese black pine... Can you guys make any sense of it?? Are they harder to keep healthy or alive so that's why the JBP and lesser JWP are more resilient and hardier to bonsai techniques and what we do to the pine that is the likelihood of seeing high quality Japanese red pine bonsai??

Of the 3 Japanese pines JBP is definitely the strongest and most resilient. Much easier to grow and maintain and relatively quick to grow and thicken.

JRP respond really well to pruning and 2 needle pine maintenance techniques. I can easily get really small shoots and short needles. They grow well when young but as mine have aged they're increasingly sensitive to root problems. I've lost a couple now which appears to be from allowing them to get pot bound and the root ball not draining as well as it should. They also have a rep for being more brittle but I have not noticed that with the trees I grow here.

JWP are single flush pines so we need to learn another set of maintenance and pruning techniques to develop and keep them looking good. They did not seem to appreciate hot, dry summers in my earlier attempts but I now have some more that are doing well both on their own roots and grafted onto black pine stock.