AusBonsai

Here's some pics of a little black pine that I've been working on for a while now.

Last year it was a little weak so I let it grow wild and left far more needles on the tree than I normally would to help build the strength. It's now into it's second year in this current pot.
First job was to thin out the needles and I cut the needles back to let more light and air in. Surprisingly there wasn't much die back and plenty of buds popping everywhere. I normally don't cut the needles.
Still looking pretty average and I need to find a new front. Here's some shots. This last pic is the go. Just need to wire now. I only positioned the main branches to open up the tree and let more light and air in to the developing buds. No fine wiring at this stage. I'll leave that until next winter.
I happy with the progress so far. Here's a pic from 2009 as a comparison.

Great stuff Scott. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this one.

Nice looking tree, How come the section of trunk above the first branch is the same diameter ( or looks it) as the section below?

I assume it was cut down from the larger tree and there was not much taper in those sections?

Ken

Great Scott!

Very nice nebari for such a small tree, something to aspire to

Thanks guys. Appreciate the comments.

Ken, it was cut down. The last pic shows the original height before I reduced the size. There is a nice spread at the base and it does taper down as you progress up the trunk just not so much in the section near the first branch.

Front was nicely selected mate

Fantastic start