AusBonsai

The premier has told me that all non essential activity should be restricted so i decided not to work today.
Fortunately the shutdown coincides with end of season pine maintenance which I have been procrastinating and putting off. Now there's an opportunity and no more excuses.
For those who are new to pines there are several distinct stages in pine development:
1. Growth - allow free growth to thicken the trunk and establish strong roots. Pines do not shoot well on bare wood so it is essential to maintain some healthy needles where future shoots are required so occasional judicious pruning is required.
2. Reduction - prune back to the lowest healthy needles to get new buds and fresh shoots from which to grow the tree.
3. Ramification and maintenance - Spring shoots are removed in early summer so more new, smaller shoots will form. In autumn reduce new clusters of shoots to 2s, remove older needles and balance remaining needles to balance the tree's energy.

As I have trees entering the final phase which have been decandled last December and it is now autumn at my place it is time to do the last.
This process is tedious to say the least. The larger and more ramified the tree the longer this process takes but it appears to be essential to produce tidy, well ramified pine bonsai.

Today I started with some younger, less well developed trees to get some practice for the main event
This is a Japanese Red pine. It is quite old but grown when I did not understand the needs of pine pruning and development so it was allowed to grow too long. I've spent a few years trying to tame it and now it is time to try to make something from the results o far. There is still a long way before I'd call this tree a bonsai but there is potential Every year moves it closer and closer to show ready.
Those with good eyes and larger screens may have noticed some grafting tape on the right branches Not one but 2 breaks while lowering those branches. I was told that red pine was a bit more brittle than JBP but still had to push it a little further However, after the second, lesson learned and the left branch is wound with inner tube rubber to reduce breaks while it was bent successfully

I have just started the ramification development of all these pines. Each year will add another layer of sub branches to the tree. You may be able to see that some areas have been thinned out to leave more room for the more desirable branches to spread out and get more sunlight.
You can also see I've done a little wiring where needed to adjust the branch layers and spacing.

Fortunately these trees are relatively undeveloped. I managed to get through all of 5 trees today
The larger, better ramified trees will require a little more time in the coming days so roll on limited social interaction

Great info. Good time to get organised for sure!

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Unfortunately sole traders are not eligible to shut down Maybe gardening is an essential service like hairdressing?
Anyway I had to go out into the COVID infested wilds of Yackandandah this morning to pull weeds, prune and generally help out at the retirement village which meant I only had the afternoon to continue with the pines.

I chose to tackle one of the larger black pines but made sure it was an easy one to further ease my way into this work. After pulling the old needles and removing extra shoots from the new clusters I decided some shaping was in order. Those branches have been getting longer and more dense each year so some adjustments are in order.
A little wire - see how I'm gradually working up to the big ones - and some judicious pruning to thin out dense spots and this is how it ended up.
Still not happy with the lower left branch but I plan to separate the foliage into a couple of different level at some stage. Any thoughts?

That did not take all afternoon so I also raced through another 4 of the newer pines but not worth taking photos of those.

What's everyone else doing to keep hands and minds occupied at the moment?

Neil
Still working for now at a reduced capacity. Maybe stain the deck and do a few pines myself soon. Hopefully some rain forcasted this weekend.

I’m supposed to be in Japan right now for 4 weeks, I took a couple of weeks of annual leave off instead but now pretty much anything related to having any kind of holiday is banned so I’m keeping my head low.

I appreciate the content to read very much indeed!

Still working, home schooling, general jobs around home and perusing this forum for expanding my knowledge.
I bet you're bummed about not getting to Japan @TimS, I was there for 3 weeks this time last year, beautiful with all the cherries flowering

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Yeah I’m super bummed, I feel far more at home in Japan than I do in Australia and so I live in a perpetual state of planning to go back. Even so it’s been 3 years since my last trip, now it will have to be at least 4 I guess with all this business. Ah well, at least I get to plan all over again!

Took my first trip to Japan in Feb... came home seriously just days before this whole debacle became the incident it is. Learnt a lot about Japan while I was there, but even more about bonsai. Right now, this virus has the world in a sad state of affairs... hopefully that doesn’t become a permanent issue and we can get back to life as we know it ASAP. Predicting stuff like this is impossible so I just hope things get back to normal as quickly as they turned from it, but who knows.

That last tree is looking good Neil. I agree with separating out the main branch a bit and maybe bring the next left branch down a bit too?

I’m now working from home and the kids are home too, so work takes longer with more distractions, the house gets messier with everyone home and so I actually have less time to myself than I did before. However I still have a job and we’re all healthy so I understand I have it better than a lot of people. Plus during my work breaks I can go into the back yard and look at my trees!

I’m also really thankful I have a garden, I’d hate to be cooped up in an apartment.

Take care everyone and keep posting! Posts like this one are great for everyone’s mental health.

Matt.

It is good to share and talk so keep posting everyone.

LLK contacted me and pointed out that I have just been talking about 'pines' generically. I'm sure most of the active members realise there is a difference in maintenance techniques between the 'dual flush' pines like Japanese Black pines, Japanese red pines and some others and the 'single flush' pines like Japanese white pine and Scots pine.
Someone else might take a stab at defining the difference between single and dual flush or find a link to another thread that the less well informed can read all about the different strategies for growing the different types.

All the pines I'm working on in this thread are dual flush pines so these strategies apply to JBP and JRP.

This afternoon I tackled one of the older red pines. I've had this one for quite some time and the ramification is dense. Very dense. This is one of the ones I was not looking forward to just because of the sheer number of shoots that need to be done.
Here's the before pic And an hour or so later after plucking most of the older needles off all those shoots You can see that the weight of the tree has tipped it sideways in the pot despite my best efforts to tie it in last time I repotted. This more upright angle is what I've been styling for.

This one is old enough to have grown a bit since it was first designed. For those who are not fully up with pine growth we need to let pines grow a little each year. Even when we decandle the spring shoots the second budding, even though they are shorter, will still add a few cm to the tree every year. Over a couple of years those cms add up to size creep. A couple of cm every ear is not sustainable for bonsai so every few years we need to do a length reduction. The key to this is to always maintain some shorter shoots or small branches closer to the trunk and then remove some of the outer branches.
I've already taken a few branches of this one but the back branch can give you a better look at the reduction I've used here. Now comes the dreaded wiring to realign the remaining sub branches. After thinning, pruning and wiring It looks a bit flat for a start but as the new shoots grow in spring it will look more like the other branches

I only managed to get those 2 branches pruned and wired this afternoon before I got totally fed up with the tedium. I can see a couple more branches that I really need to do so I still have something to keep me occupied tomorrow.

Spent some more time on these 2 trees over the last couple of days.
I wired a few more branches on the red pine.
Discovered that the lower branch was way too big and removed some more. That also saves on wiring time Still the apex to go - some other time

pruned and wired a few more branches on the black pine too Took a small branch off the left branch and tried to put some more shape into it. Not really convinced I've got it right yet. Again, apex still to be done.

Some shots of reducing shoots: Please ignore the old needles I've left on that shoot. It was a nice long one so easy to get clear shots but because it is so long I will probably prune right back to those older needles to shorten the overall length and get shoots closer to the trunk.


Today I finished off another smaller black pine:
Not sure whether that one falls into any of the accepted styles but I kind of like its difference anyway. I've only been building the ramification for a couple of years so should look better in a few more years.
There's a conflicting small branch on the right of the larger trunk that runs into the top of the minor trunk foliage. Removing that branch would probably better define the 2 areas but I'm not ready to take it right off yet.

Then I started work on my larger black pine. Have not really been looking forward to this one because I know there's a lot of shoots to tidy up. Also some difficult decisions to be made.

Neil
I really got to try and do mine this weekend .Im still working atm at a limited capacity and dressed up like biohazard4 . Hopefully we will see a few days rain starting late tonight . At least you got a lot of trees to keep you occupied .

A bit more wiring on the tops of 2 earlier pines

The red pine is now entirely wired out and the apex flattened a bit.
It still has long and short needles and some untidy pads but I'm hoping that will gradually come under control over the next couple of growing seasons.

The taller black pine is also now fully wired out. Fingers (and brain) well and truly over wiring now.

Then I decided to take the sacrifice branches off a smaller JBP to start building the branches. Of course that meant some more wiring and some pruning. I'll leave the stub of that large sacrifice branch for a while so the tree can reroute sap flow to the remaining live areas and prune it flush sometime later in winter.

What a great thread. Thank you for all the pics and information.