How to develop/grow a baby sapling JBP into Niwaki? What are the correct Steps?

[エドガー]

I started working on my first niwaki black pine about 7 or 8 years ago and what appeared to be good movement at the time in a thin trunk (quite similar to the leaders in yours at the moment) has slowly become less and less noticeable as the trunk and branches have become bigger and bigger.

I re-bent them a little today (actually, straightened them more, into a slant, but only to follow a much larger visualized curve).

Do you think these curves/bends/slants are prominent/aggressive/big enough for a 5-7’ niwaki?

 

[エドガー]

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[fudo133]

Those should work pretty well if you're after more of a gentle look to your trunks, just make sure that any bends you put in are strong enough that they'll still be noticeable once the trunks are about 3 or 4 inches thicker a few years down the line
If you want a more wild look to any of them i.e - the sort of shaping you'd see at ritsurin or ginkakuji you'll want to get some really sharp kinks and bends in at this point so that as they thicken up they form those 'knuckles' of growth that give you a more gnarly look - more like the pine on the right


As for where to cut back to - in niwaki in particular there arent too many firm 'rules' as far as branch spacing is concerned so i'd just chop it back to wherever you think you want another whorl of branches....as long as last years needles are still there and the trees are growing strongly you should get an explosion of new budding in that area and further down. At the apex of a jpb you'd be pretty unlucky to only get one bud regrowing after a chop back into old needles - more like 4 or 5 if its growing strongly

For trees as young as yours i'd be feeding them lots to get the strongest growth possible and cutting branches and candles back hard every spring to really build up that structural branching as quickly as possible
Once you've got the basic shape going you can always decandle the lower branches while letting the top candle grow to build the trunk up higher.

 

[エドガー]

you'll want to get some really sharp kinks and bends in at this point so that as they thicken up they form those 'knuckles' of growth that give you a more gnarly look

...feeding them lots to get the strongest growth possible and cutting branches and candles back hard every spring to really build up that structural branching as quickly as possible

I plan to return to removing the center-candle of the leader/apex again and from now on for "kinks" (esp the current long-leader's whorl... that should introduce a nice kink/sharp movement in them, in the next round of leaders).

Their current leggy and long leaders is actually the first time I let the center candle grow ...I think that is why it grew extra long this time around.

If you look further down the trunks (where I either trunk-chopped it or removed the central-candle in the past), there are tiny sharper kinks... and the trunks indeed thickened; but also kept those nicer kinks as it thickened (but yeah, they will probably disappear when 3-4" thick lol).

 

[エドガー]

Pruned my 4 young/developing JBPs this weekend.

Just a simple candle reduction to 2 (bifurcation) and also removed old/bushy needles (momiage).

Typically, for SoCal, for a developed/mature/refined/old JBP, since our growing season is super long… we would remove all new spring candles/growth around July 4th, to get a 2nd flush of shorter “keepable” shoots. Then return to it again around Fall/Winter (or before next spring) and reduce those shorter 2nd flush candles into 2 and also momiage).

But, since I am still developing these trees and elongating the side branches and setting the bones/structure, I do not cut all of the spring candles/growth; but instead reduce to 2 in summer. Of course, I will reduce again to 2 this Fall/Winter of any new whorls.

Also, pruned a guava.

 

[エドガー]

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[Viridian Bonsai]

Any updates?

 

[エドガー]

Any updates?

They look about the same... just about a foot taller and more ramification. Maybe I'll take pics soon.

Around 4th of July (mid summer) I reduce the dense whorls into 2 ideal laterals, since I am still growing them longer/extending.
Otherwise, if they were much older, bigger, size/shape/design established, then I'd just decandle all the candles around this time to "maintain" the pads... but, it is still in development.

 

[エドガー]

Any updates?

Here's a photo-montage video I recently made:

The 4 baby JBPs are at the end of video.

Studying them recently and as time goes on, the apex/leader central candle grows about 6-8" per year. And, since my targeted and desired height is about 5-6' tall, I guess it'll reach my desired 5-6' height during next-year's whorl.

From next-year's whorl when it reaches 5-6' tall, I will then start developing the apex (prolly take 2-3 years) - train & Splay all the side candles laterally to form the apex (around 4 splayed branches; kinda like an X when viewed from above), and then either cut off central leader or let it grow as a tall sacrificial leader to make the trunk fatter.