Japanese Red Pine Progression -Bday tree!

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I just realized this morning that I have never posted pics of this tree here. I bought this for myself for my birthday back in 2020 and been developing it since. Hope you enjoy the progression!

The tree as I brought it home back in June of 2020:


I didn’t much know what I was doing with pines at the time and my first attempt at styling…wasn’t great:


In 2021 I started getting help from my clubs pine guru and it grew along so nicely I barely took pics. These were both taken in ‘21 after I had help in styling it and a bit more practice with pines:

 

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All of the pics below are from 2022-2023. I started growing it buried in bonsai soil in a grow box to help energize the tree and keep it from drying out as much as it was. I fertilized heavily following common sense seasonal timing and continued the process of wiring and decandling and branch selection. I go back and forth a lot about the front.

 

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Finally brings us into 2024 and today. Just turned 45 today and figured I’d give this guy some love and a really good pruning. This past year and a half has been so busy I haven’t been able to give my trees the attention they deserve. It’s coming along well though.



We are almost to the point with the trunk that the bend has stuck and it doesn’t want to flatten out. I’m hoping I can stop the trunk wire this year or next but the damn thing is like a spring.




Thanks for looking!

 

[tanlu]

This is a nice progression. I like where you’ve taken the branching silhouette. I’m only just getting started with my red pine, but because I’m bending it much later in the game than you have here, I have to settle for more gradual bends. It’s good to know that you’ve had to keep the guy wire on for the past 5 years. I’m thinking of starting with some guy wiring this year and then start a more aggressive feeding regime so that the bends take hold in 5 years. I read that it’s the vascular tissue that’s formed during this time that will ultimately keep the bend in place.

 

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Thinning out and branch selection for fall with a bit of wiring. I wish I had taken a before pic as this guy had gone crazy with the foliage. I was cutting back to two from as many as 5 buds coming out one spot.