Wulfskaar's Japanese Black Pine #3

[Wulfskaar]

I think this tree is either one of my original batch from fall 2020 or the next batch in spring 2021. Either way, they are close.

See it grow from a seed here: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/damping-off.46132/

Now it will have it's own thread, since it's starting to look like something.

May 2023
It was potted a couple months earlier into that training pot.


June 2023
Candle cut and wired. (Not ideal time of year for wiring)



July 2023
Buds growing out.


October 2023
Buds reduced to two.


May 2025
Candles pruned.


November 2025
It's finally starting to look like a little tree! It's been fun building this step by step, and it grows so fast, it makes it easy.
Ready for a little wire and pruning down to two shoots. It's grown very nice this year.
I plan to keep that tallest part for a while as a sacrifice. I also plan to put into a larger pot in spring 2026. It was tiny when I put it in this pot, but I think it might be ready for something a bit bigger.
Any suggestions or critiques are always welcome.

 

[Wulfskaar]

Pruned nodes down to two branches and wired a little. I'll mess around with the wire a bit more as I get more time to look at it.

 

[RobertB]

Why are you decandeling the sacrifice branches every year. What are you trying to accomplish doing this? You are slowing tree down big time.

 

[Wulfskaar]

Why are you decandeling the sacrifice branches every year. What are you trying to accomplish doing this? You are slowing tree down big time.

1. My strategy was to try to get an interesting structure before choosing a sacrifice that will grow a while. The sacrifices won't be cut every year. I think I only want one sacrifice on each tree so that the weak lower branches don't die off.
2. I'm still learning and have made a ton of mistakes along the way.

I am not going for a big, fat trunk on these. They will remain relatively small.

 

[Lara_Ericacious]

Heya I hope you don't mind me pointing this out, but the first thing I notice on this structure is the honeycomb-hexagonal like pattern, which is quite jarring to my eye.

Its nice to see the progression of this tree though!

 

[Wulfskaar]

View attachment 620371
Heya I hope you don't mind me pointing this out, but the first thing I notice on this structure is the honeycomb-hexagonal like pattern, which is quite jarring to my eye.

Its nice to see the progression of this tree though!

Thank you, I appreciate honest opinions! I agree 1000000%. I also do not like what is going on there at all.

I spent a few minutes bending it around yesterday (after the pics). I think I will just flatten the right branch, twisting it back to make a pad there, trying to keep growth back as much as possible on those particular branches while the trunk fattens up over the next few years.