Pencil pines for Bonsai

[senseijames]

G'day all, has anyone tried Bonsai on the common Pencil Pine, if so have you got photos or advice on Bonsaing them, do they get a lot of die back, or do they bud well after heavy pruning ?? Thanks
James

[Taffy]

I don't know too much about them James, but if you want to see some growing as Bonsai, type into Google: Cupressus Sempervirens + Bonsai, then go up and click on 'images'. There are some interesting looking trees there.

[Asus101]

I was working on one, but things happened and its no more.
Collected a few, they are not as easy as thought, even after extended rain.

[MattA]

James,

I am also going to assume that you mean Cupressus sempervirens as pencil pine is a common name for a several plants. This is the cultivar 'Swanes Golden'. Tman... interesting is spot on.

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I found it on the nature strip outside a house about 4yrs ago, I spoke to the owners, they had wrapped nylon strap around it & ripped it out with a 4wd. It was about 8ft tall & even tho it had been ripped out had a decent amount of soil & root. I replanted into the ground in a raised bed with good drainage & full sun. I ripped (literally just yanked) out 12mths later and put into a big pot of super well drained mix. Was sold to a mate but his watering regime & my potting media didnt mix well & it returned to me in a very sorry state. Repotted into the foam box in that photo about 18mths before it was taken. All the earlier photos were lost when my old HD went AWOL. When repotting I am not gentle on it either.

Super tough trees, not fussy about anything as long as they get as much sun as possible. The wood is super brittle so any bending can only be done with young wood, the bark is also thin so needs protecting if you wire. It takes along time (several years) for the live veins to become distinct, this tree still had a large section of wood that was retreating after 4yrs, you can carve shari & jin on them easily but I prefer where possible to let time & nature do that work for me. The colour of different areas of wood correspond to when the work was carried out, 4yrs ago, 3yrs ago or 6mths ago.

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When making shari, simply grab a strand of bark at the top & start pulling, it naturally twists around the trunk as you go, not a straight spiral but adjusting its course around other stronger energy lines. This makes life difficult when you want a different line to its natural one and takes a while to redirect the flows going slowly slowly. They rarely bud on old wood but grafting is always an option.

Matt