Small, old, JBP

[DirkvanDreven]

I'll start one in a pot next year. Will be great when I am 130 years old...

 

[Adair M]

Great tree, do you feel some branches on the viewers left are a bit too vigorous, comparatively speaking?


Heck of a tree regardless.

Well, when you get an advanced, highly refined tree, a lot of effort is put into balancing it. That effort is ongoing. Also, when a bonsai gets old, like this one, change happens slowly. That branch, incidentally, used to be 50% longer than it is now! I cut it back about 4 years ago.

 

[Adair M]

I'm just stunned that it has such a beautiful taper (I thought i saw a bit of inverse taper on the upper 3rd but I think that's one of the back branches) with the ridiculous amount of bark age in a 12 inch tree. The only thing that bugs me is that piece of bark/something that is sticking out from the trunk just above the nebari on the left side.

Oh, that’s just a little flake of bark. Probably not even attached.

 

[bonsai45]

@Adair M thank you for sharing!

can i please ask a question - i am fairly new to pines!

I have been learning from Mirai, and Ryan recommends fertilizing (for example), march 1st, april 1st, and may 1st, and then stopping fertilizer then, which is 4 weeks before he decandles and needle-plucks his Japanese Black Pines (on the branches where it is appropriate, of course). I was wondering if this is standard practice for you as well? and if so, how long after the decandling/needle plucking do you resume fertiization, or are you done for the season?

Thank you

 

[Adair M]

I don’t go by dates for fertilizing. I start fertilizing when the buds swell. I use organic food in teabags. I add some, then add more a week later, then more a week later. By the 4th or 5th week, replace the original teabags with fresh.

I remove all the teabags when I decandle, early July. Then ramp back up a month later. And keep fertilizing until winter.