Hey Judy
- Thread starter Littlejoe919
- Start date
![IMG_20170521_093101748[1].jpg](https://www.bonsainut.com/data/attachments/135/135957-1ef2045e3d8071c88f0a13f03d96bd63.jpg?hash=HvIEXj2Acc "IMG_20170521_093101748[1].jpg")
![IMG_20170521_114928215[1].jpg](https://www.bonsainut.com/data/attachments/135/135958-7ad6736fa847f346189d992faaae6165.jpg?hash=etZzb6hH80 "IMG_20170521_114928215[1].jpg")
![IMG_20170521_153952662[1].jpg](https://www.bonsainut.com/data/attachments/135/135959-4467ef67c605b2781a8710f331380731.jpg?hash=RGfvZ8YFsn "IMG_20170521_153952662[1].jpg")
Giga
Masterpiece
looks great, nice action shot of Bjorn!
namnhi
Masterpiece
So that is initial styling looks like? 90% of foliage is removed? I planned to remove quite a bit of needle on mine when I decandle them but not sure if I will go this far.
Littlejoe919
Shohin
Bjorn's a pro, I trust him. To be truthful, the tree was overgrown. I had pretty much let it grow freely for the last 2 years. You can easily see the classic shape of his styling. I really like it. There is actually another branch on the back of the tree that you can't see. So, there is a bit more foliage. He explained that we needed to take it down pretty hard to wire it correctly. He didn't seem concerned about its survival. It's a very healthy tree.
Cadillactaste
Neagari Gal
Are you viewing from a small monitor like phone? There is a juniper behind him...I too thought the tree had more foliage...until I looked at it from a different screen.
Anthony
Imperial Masterpiece
If you read Bonsai Today, one of the articles has a tiny sentence about, what happens when
the design is more or less set.
You remove all, but 3 pairs of needles per section.
We tested the idea. Leaves the tree looking like above, and with time the tree re-builds to
a dense state.
Because of our climate, we will do this again around October or November, as this ----- may -----
be the equivalent of what happens in Japan around late June to August.
Thus far our trees have the ability to stay lush.
Hope to see this tree in x months.
Thanks for showing.
Good Day
Anthony
the design is more or less set.
You remove all, but 3 pairs of needles per section.
We tested the idea. Leaves the tree looking like above, and with time the tree re-builds to
a dense state.
Because of our climate, we will do this again around October or November, as this ----- may -----
be the equivalent of what happens in Japan around late June to August.
Thus far our trees have the ability to stay lush.
Hope to see this tree in x months.
Thanks for showing.
Good Day
Anthony
Bjorn is not the guy with the beard, he's on the right in background.
M. Frary
Bonsai Godzilla
I thought he was the blonde sitting down.
Giga
Masterpiece
i know hence he's blurry and action shot....
namnhi
Masterpiece
No, I do see the juniper behind the black pine. If you look at it. At least 80% of the foliage got removed. It should be fine but that is a lot of foliage got removed at one time.
namnhi
Masterpiece
hahaha that is funny.
There are several ways to do an initial, drastic styling. Removing the needles certainly makes wiring easier! This is a bit early in the year to decandle, but it will work, and sometimes you have to do things a little off season to take advantage of having a Master like Bjorn available. Decandling time is a good time to pull needles, wire and style.
It will look a lot better once the summer candles grow out.
An alternate approach is to not pull quite so many needles of last year. Pull the ones growing downward, and upward. But leave some growing on the sides in hope they'll pop needle buds and you get new branches. It works sometimes, especially if the tree is very strong. Leave about 1/3 of the side needles. Of course, you then have to wire around them. Sometimes what I do is pull the top ones and bottom ones, and leave all the sides. Then as I wire, I pull the side needles that are in the way. And once the branch has been positioned, I can pull the side needles that would be on the inside of curves, and leave the ones on the outside, making it more likely to get back buds where I want them.
Littlejoe919
Shohin
To Adair M's point. Bjorn did say to leave some of last years needles going forward. That pulling all the old needles is okay to do every once in awhile, but shouldn't be a common practice. Going forward, I'll use Adair's practice of leaving the side needles while wiring. Makes a lot of sense in my mind. Thank you Adair. In Bjorn's defence (not that he really needs any) he styled about 12 tree's that day.
As the tree develops, the things you do to it will change, too. After you have decandled two or three years, you won't care about trying to force needle buds. That's more of a "rough stock" training method.
The best advice I could give you is to find out when Bjorn is going to be available in the fall. Then he can show you fall techniques to do with the. Tree.
Don't take the tree to different Masters. Stick to Bjorn for this tree and follow thru with him. There's things you do at certain times of the year. JBP should get worked on 3 times a year. Other than water and fertilizer, leave them alone during the rest of the year!
People mess up with Pines because they fiddle with them too much! (In my opinion!)
So, try to schedule a follow up session with Bjorn.
Littlejoe919
Shohin
Good advice, thanks again. Since he'll be US based going forward, that should be easier. He mentioned Knoxville Tn. A pretty good ride for me, but worth it.
JudyB
Queen of the Nuts
I would totally trust Bjorn to do the correct thing for the tree. Good job getting an expert early on in the trees development. Thank you for sharing this with me and us.
Littlejoe919
Shohin
Thank you @JudyB for your development of this tree, and documenting its history. They are both priceless.
1) Decandle in summer. Maybe pull some needles to balance. If the tree needs wiring, right after decandling is a good time.
2) Fall, after needles have hardened off. This is the best time to wire and style, particularly heavy bends. Pull old needles, thin summer candles to two. Perform soji to remove top 3/4 inch of soil off top of pot, and refresh with new soil.
3). Late winter/early spring is the time to repot. Don't repot JBP every year, but this is the time to go it. Balance tree by pulling needles on strong areas.
Those 3 times are when you "mess with it". Of course there's daily watering, fertilizing, checking for pests and so on that are continuously ongoing.
Anthony
Imperial Masterpiece
I found the image of the tree above fascinating, as we did that last year, the 3 pairs per branch.
The tree returned to lush.
We discovered that chances are. the cut the seedling's roots is probably more for a tree that can
start branching lower.
We use this technique on the Tamarind.
Additionally, observation on dead pines, show that it is natural for the tree to form attractive surface roots
so most of the trees we have have nice eagle claw formations, and you can guide gently a shape of a surface
root.
Still looking for the correct time for obtaining shorter needles.
But that is just a matter of doing later in the year.
We found that if you [ in our climate ] treat the J.B.pine as a tree, forget the term, needles, use the word leaves.
It is actually easier to handle the working on the pine.
So in order to obtain smaller leaves on our trees we depend more on quantity and sunlight.
J.B.pines produce very short to almost non-existent candles on our trees. The very young may have elongations,
but by 5 years, the candles are very short.
Around 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch.
I must say I am really enjoying the research.
One of the tests, is to let the candles fully develop and produce energy, before removal.
The objective ti work with the tree and produce no stress.
Since we noted that they didn't really fatten anything, plus you get more stuff for cuttings.
Are not J.B.pines wunnerful.
Good Day
Anthony
t
The tree returned to lush.
We discovered that chances are. the cut the seedling's roots is probably more for a tree that can
start branching lower.
We use this technique on the Tamarind.
Additionally, observation on dead pines, show that it is natural for the tree to form attractive surface roots
so most of the trees we have have nice eagle claw formations, and you can guide gently a shape of a surface
root.
Still looking for the correct time for obtaining shorter needles.
But that is just a matter of doing later in the year.
We found that if you [ in our climate ] treat the J.B.pine as a tree, forget the term, needles, use the word leaves.
It is actually easier to handle the working on the pine.
So in order to obtain smaller leaves on our trees we depend more on quantity and sunlight.
J.B.pines produce very short to almost non-existent candles on our trees. The very young may have elongations,
but by 5 years, the candles are very short.
Around 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch.
I must say I am really enjoying the research.
One of the tests, is to let the candles fully develop and produce energy, before removal.
The objective ti work with the tree and produce no stress.
Since we noted that they didn't really fatten anything, plus you get more stuff for cuttings.
Are not J.B.pines wunnerful.
Good Day
Anthony
t
