AusBonsai

Good progress mate .

I want to purchase a black pine some time soon but for some reason it's the one species I find very intimidating. No idea why .

Thanks for the post and progression!

-Mo

Thank you Mo,

I sort of understand what you have said. The main thing with black pine is timing of the cutting/trimming. Once we get a handle on that, we should be able to have a black pine with short inter nodes on branches.

It is quite a strong specie. Get a young and not very expensive one, you will get used to it very soon

Cheers.

I finished on Sunday 02/June/2013. These photos were taken on the same day:


View 7 - 1


View 7 - 2


View 7 - 3


View 7 - 4


View 7 - From Top

I did remove and shorten quite number of branches, noteably on top, I removed three very strong branches.

I pulled one up, with a little wedge cut to make it a new leader. This new leader has two young branches only. I will trim them off later on to promote more shoots.

There is still a long way go for this pine -- the apex need to be built; ramification and etc. But overall, I felt that I have not made mistakes in styling this tree up to this point.

daiviet_nguyen wrote:Thank you Mo,

I sort of understand what you have said. The main thing with black pine is timing of the cutting/trimming. Once we get a handle on that, we should be able to have a black pine with short inter nodes on branches.

It is quite a strong specie. Get a young and not very expensive one, you will get used to it very soon

Cheers.

Thank you for the advice mate . Im trying to learn as much theory on these as possible before I buy any. I'm learning heaps on here and from my local nursery so fingers crossed I'll bite the bullet soon!

By the way, I agree! You have made very good choices with this tree so far. A great Bonsai artist named Suzuki (i forgot his full name) greatly endorses brining out the natural beauty in trees rather than using a lot of artificial bends etc. obviously this method is not good for all stock but in your pines case I think you have done this and done it well.

Thank you again for the progress shots .

-Mo

MoGanic wrote:

daiviet_nguyen wrote:Thank you Mo,

I sort of understand what you have said. The main thing with black pine is timing of the cutting/trimming. Once we get a handle on that, we should be able to have a black pine with short inter nodes on branches.

It is quite a strong specie. Get a young and not very expensive one, you will get used to it very soon

Cheers.

Thank you for the advice mate . Im trying to learn as much theory on these as possible before I buy any. I'm learning heaps on here and from my local nursery so fingers crossed I'll bite the bullet soon!

By the way, I agree! You have made very good choices with this tree so far. A great Bonsai artist named Suzuki (i forgot his full name) greatly endorses brining out the natural beauty in trees rather than using a lot of artificial bends etc. obviously this method is not good for all stock but in your pines case I think you have done this and done it well.

Thank you again for the progress shots .

-Mo

Take the plunge mate - they are not as difficult or mysterious as people think. I have one that has been growing in a bucket for a while and it is strong as an ox. Trick is to start with a young tree that does not need the fancy needle reduction, has good vigour etc and then it's a doddle to get used to them. The technical and fiddly bit is the timing and techniques on older more refined trees.

Cheers,

Andrew

Thank you for posting such a clear progression. For a small tree it already has dignity and grace. I was wondering if you had considered photo 7-4 as the front? The lines look more three-dimensional and sinuous to me. Of course, in the bark, things may look quite different.

Gavin

Good evening Mo,

Thank you for the compliment I believe the approach to styling you mentioned is naturalistic approach. Something that is associated with Mr. Walter Pall. But I remember reading that Mr. W. Pall himself pointed out that this approach has been mentioned in the Japanse literatures before.

But certainly I feel that Mr. W. Pall has been instrumental in bringing this approach to the attentions of the bonsai communities around the world again.

Regards.

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Good evening Gavin,

Thank you for your compliments too Regarding "View 7 - 4", looking at the photo, even before posting, I also feel like you do.

And I must admit also that in the bark, it seems to be the best view. Funny how it turns out.

"View 6 - 1" shows the arch pointing to the left, "View 7 - 1" is the same view, but arch is obscured by the downward branch.

"View 7 - 4" show the arch pointing away from us, that is "View 7 - 1" turns 90 degrees to the right, so that the "emtpy" space of the trunk line is pointing toward the viewers. I am not entirely sure if there is any rule on this? Having said that, the "empty" space, in time, would not be so "emtpy" as foliage will grow to cover it.

I understand your question, but I cannot answer it. I will not repot it this coming Spring 2013. I will do it in 2014. I have three possible pots for it. I do not know which one to pick yet.

Thank you and regards.

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Hi Andrew,

I have not been to Cape Town yet. I have just check Google for its weather -- around 16 degree centigrade at the moment?

So I imagine you have times where temperature are not too punishing? I am guessing that the weather is favourable for black pines also?

I have been reading some Vietnamese websites, where they experiment with growing Japanese black pines in southern Vietnam, they do well there. Both young imported trees and their imported seeds also do very well. And I do not remember temperature below 28 or 30 degree centigrade over there. But the humidity is high.

Please keep us posted with your black pine.

Regards.