AusBonsai

So I got this Japanese Black Pine, haven't seen one before around here so I had to grab it.
I was just wondering is cutting it down low the only way to force branches down there? Because really I'd like to do an informal upright, but if I can't get branches started low enough, I'll just go literati.

JBP will (mostly) only shoot where there are needles, and you must not cut off all the foliage as they require Green foliage for a branch to survive.
The only way to get branching down low is to chop it back tho, and force the buds down lower to shoot.

I would cut about 1/2 way long the new growth where your candle was, and hope you get lower shooting. I have never cut back a long trunk like this and thus not leaving any large amount of green. maybe soemone more experienced with JBP will chime and say its OK tho.
Once you have that lower growth, you can then cut back to it.

Ken

On a second look, I wud actually cut back to below this years growth starts. 1/2 way along the denser lot of needles, below the bare section of this years candle

Ken

Im hoping to get something like this soon as ive never had a JBP if this was mine i would wire it up an get as many bends into it an plant into a bigger pot

If it were mine, I wouldn't cut just yet but I would wire in some curves. Wire tight curves for small shohin, and loose curves for larger trees.

Fertiise weekly and let it grow this season. In autumn, cut to promote back budding, but keep in mind that wiring the trunk will also induce back budding.

I have a few of these guys and I would also wire in some shape that in itself will reduce some of the overall height and I have cut the top to promote budding lower down. My seedlings are about a year old now and have shoots right at the base from this treatment.

My vote.
No cut.
Wire tight, stout and short now.
Keep the feed up and the sun.
Even if it doesn't bud back; due to your compact wiring it won't be an issue. Leave all needles on.

Thanks heaps guys, looks like wiring it is.
So glad I found this site, pretty new to bonsai, and all my questions so far have had great feedback, so thanks heaps to whoever got this site up and running.

Ok so here it is wired, not looking to make it a shohin, so I kept it relatively subtle. Now, keep in mind that this is my first wiring job, so don't go to hard on me if it's not great.

Guess I'll just update this thread as I go. It's going to be a long but fun process, and a great way to learn a lot.

At the moment your bends are almost non existent.
In time they will be (non existent).

As trees thicken bends lose their prominence.
I also believe you should be reducing your trees height with your style.
By this I mean compress the whole shape and bend down and sideways as well as left to right.

If I'm not mistaken a seedling like this could probably be tied in a knot. Which is near on what I recommend.

Don't be shy.
Cheers!

These are a little older JBP seedlings, but show what can be done as far as bending.

viewtopic.php?f=148&t=14734&p=154779&hi ... ip#p154779
viewtopic.php?f=148&t=14737&p=152227&hi ... ip#p152227

You don't have to go that extreme if you don't want too, but Boics is right, you need more than what you've got now, or you won't even really see the movement in a few years. The bends will become more subtle, so think of how you want it to look, and then exaggerate that a bit when bending.

Wow, you weren't wrong saying you could probably tie them in a knot. Guess I'll have to do some bending when I get home tonight. Thanks heaps guys.

I agree that the curves are not defined enough, if you want a large tree go subtle but more than what you have.

Here is an example: Left is a future large tree, right is a future shohin.
More here:
http://bonsaitonight.com/2013/03/29/wir ... ack-pines/

How tall do you envisage the final tree? Perhaps wire in bends up to the first branch and compress it down. Then grow the rest of your trunk?

Ok, so I want it to be somewhere around 30/40cm in height at its "finished" stage.
Ideally, I'd like it to look something like this one of PeterH plant So, maybe Bend it like this instead? And cut at the blue?

If you want it to be 30-40cm, just one big bend.

You also want as much thickening as possible on such a young tree, so I wouldn't cut.