Pinus Sylvestris yamadori - First styling

[HandyGringo]

Hey guys. I'm not sure if this should have been in the styling sub-forums, but they don't seem to get used a lot. I just wanted some critique of this first styling. Two guy wires were applied to make the bend tighter on the trunk, one of the major branches was turned into deadwood and the angle was changed. (Will repot it next year) Hoping for back budding to fill out some of the longer branches.

Attached are before and after pictures.

 

[August44]

Hmmm. What was wrong with it before all the bending etc, etc?

 

[HandyGringo]

Hmmm. What was wrong with it before all the bending etc, etc?

I wanted a tighter bend on the trunk and to move the end of the trunk closer to the foreground. There were a few design options, ended up going with a semi-cascade or whatever you'd call it. What design would you have gone with?

Attaching a photo of how it looked from the back.

 

[August44]

Ok. I didn't look at to closely before. I like the trunk for sure but see the branches are real leggy. I would have thought that those branches would have filled in more. How long have you had this, collected or nursery? It reminds me of the leggy Lodgepole I have around here. Really have to pour the fertilizer to them to get them to back bud.

 

[HandyGringo]

Ok. I didn't look at to closely before. I like the trunk for sure but see the branches are real leggy. I would have thought that those branches would have filled in more. How long have you had this, collected or nursery? It reminds me of the leggy Lodgepole I have around here. Really have to pour the fertilizer to them to get them to back bud.

Yeah, the branches are long and bare sadly but I am seeing some backbudding, hopefully, it fills out eventually. I've had it for less than a year, collected by a friend a few years ago. I have increased the fertilization a good bit after styling it, already seeing a lot of growth. I'm hoping the wiring and pruning will force it to backbud even more.

I'm not sure if there's anything else I can do to encourage backbudding, other than lots of sun and lots of nutrients

 

[August44]

Yeah, the branches are long and bare sadly but I am seeing some backbudding, hopefully, it fills out eventually. I've had it for less than a year, collected by a friend a few years ago. I have increased the fertilization a good bit after styling it, already seeing a lot of growth. I'm hoping the wiring and pruning will force it to backbud even more.

I'm not sure if there's anything else I can do to encourage backbudding, other than lots of sun and lots of nutrients

Where do you live that you can collect Pinus Sylvestris in the wild?

 

[August44]

I missed that u lived in Denmark.

 

[Albas]

I like what you did.
I mean when the material is from Yamadori is always a challenge to fit a style.
I would choose something close to that, it's a good material for Bunjin Literatti.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

I like the change in trunk direction but the branching after the deadwood feels combombulated and confusing. I think you could have had a more elegant design with less chaotic wiring.

On a technique level, I dont know if I would have used that root as an anchir point for your wire.

 

[Shogun610]

Cool tree and mmm but I really think you shoulda went for more extension hard to describe but you coulda had a taller elegant literati

 

[leatherback]

I have looked at your styling but find it hard to see what you have done. I *think* there has been too much focus on keeping all the length that you had and too little on a clean organizing of the branching.

Is the blue line your main trunk?

 

[HandyGringo]

I missed that u lived in Denmark.

Yessir. Collected in Sweden though, just a short drive.

I like the change in trunk direction but the branching after the deadwood feels combombulated and confusing. I think you could have had a more elegant design with less chaotic wiring.

On a technique level, I dont know if I would have used that root as an anchir point for your wire.

I agree that it's a bit spaghetti but I wasn't sure how to solve the long branches :/

Cool tree and mmm but I really think you shoulda went for more extension hard to describe but you coulda had a taller elegant literati

I wish I knew what you meant, do you mean the opposite of compressing the trunk bend? Like elongating it?

I have looked at your styling but find it hard to see what you have done. I *think* there has been too much focus on keeping all the length that you had and too little on a clean organizing of the branching.

Is the blue line your main trunk?

Yes sir, blue line is main trunk. I did struggle with those branches quite a bit, they're very long and bare. I'm very much open to ideas! Because I'd agree it's not cleanly organized. I added a picture from the back to perhaps make it a bit more clear.

Thanks everyone for your inputs!

 

[HandyGringo]

Any other input? I still have no idea how to move forward with this or what I could do differently.

 

[August44]

You need back budding in the worse way to be successful with this tree. My suggestion would be to slow down a bit on all the wiring and bending (a little late now of course) The tree is very much affected by that and back budding will be slowed way down because of what was done and the degree of what was done. Not sure that removing all of the wire and bending at this point would help, but the tree needs time, along with good health, and major fertilizing to get it to back bud. I my opinion, you would have been way better off to work on the back budding BEFORE the wiring and bending and then take it easy on the wiring and bending. Little here, little there so the tree is not negatively affected. Just my opinion of course.

 

[leatherback]

As @August44 sais.. The stress of wiring and bending is now enought; Leave it alone.

For next time, thing styling for the future. This might mean that you take a well-placed branch with good side-branches and create the base for your bonsai from that. The rest you partially prune of, and leave the rest on, wire our broadly so that they get lots of sun. And a year later you reduce the rest even furthre, allowing the tree to make that one small branch the main tree.

The best bonsai have clean straightforward branchelies and door not really loop around multiple times. Ofte this requires multiple years of work. Do not take live stylings as an example of good bondsai. Some are, some are horrible causing trees tod y

 

[HandyGringo]

You need back budding in the worse way to be successful with this tree. My suggestion would be to slow down a bit on all the wiring and bending (a little late now of course) The tree is very much affected by that and back budding will be slowed way down because of what was done and the degree of what was done. Not sure that removing all of the wire and bending at this point would help, but the tree needs time, along with good health, and major fertilizing to get it to back bud. I my opinion, you would have been way better off to work on the back budding BEFORE the wiring and bending and then take it easy on the wiring and bending. Little here, little there so the tree is not negatively affected. Just my opinion of course.

As @August44 sais.. The stress of wiring and bending is now enought; Leave it alone.

For next time, thing styling for the future. This might mean that you take a well-placed branch with good side-branches and create the base for your bonsai from that. The rest you partially prune of, and leave the rest on, wire our broadly so that they get lots of sun. And a year later you reduce the rest even furthre, allowing the tree to make that one small branch the main tree.

The best bonsai have clean straightforward branchelies and door not really loop around multiple times. Ofte this requires multiple years of work. Do not take live stylings as an example of good bondsai. Some are, some are horrible causing trees tod y

Gotcha. Thanks both of you. I will keep that in mind for future trees. Patience has never been my strong suit, I guess that will be one of the things I need to learn.

 

[August44]

Maker patience your middle name!

 

[August44]

I think the learning lesson here for you, and a lot of us, is that if we have a nice tree and want to do the best thing for the tree, keeping it healthy and turning it into a nice bonsai, and you are inexperienced, is to get advice from knowledgeable people from your local club or from this site before you start doing anything. That way you won't do something that is going to be a negative and you won't get bashed after the fact on this forum. I know it's hard not to just tear into the project thinking all of this bonsai stuff is just common sense, but it truly is not that at all. We all do stupid stuff and some continue to do it along the way. Don't feel alone here my friend. We all want you to be successful!