AusBonsai

Hi again everyone sorry for all the questions but everyone has been very helpful thus far.

I'm selecting the first branch and i'm wondering if the second branch on the right hand side is too much on the underside of the reverse taper? the first branch is too low and i'll remove that but is the 2nd branch too much on the inner bend?

Hi,

Is that a Radiata.

Regards

Hi Rudy,

thanks for the reply, its a japanese black pine.
the needle length is a bit long as im assuming it had been left to grow out

regards

dan

I am assuming you are looking at a taller tree eventually?
The second branch is OK for me especially if you tiled the tree to the right a little.

The entire tree needs to be looked at as whole to determine the correct branch selection tho.

Ken

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the reply, yeh its already quite a tall tree over 60cm so somewhere between 50-60cm final height most likely.

I would imagine seeing the whole thing would help haha! silly me here they are...

Many ways to go and I would probably keep most of it as I Prefer taller slender trees.

I would cut at the red line but in your earlier pics is the section circled a big nob? Is do may be better to cut below it to remove it.
Keep only 1 branch at each whorl to avoid reverse taper, if there are 2 then remove the "inside one"
Wire them all to give shape now and when you place them you will get a better idea of where they are and can then decide to remove any you do not want

Ken

Hi Ken,

Awesome !!! thats what i was after

The circled portion has a few branches coming from the same place but its not overly large to take away from the natural taper of the trunk.

I was thinking of chopping a bit further up as it has quite good branching far up that that i wanted to take advantage of.....i guess worse case i can always chop it further down a bit later?

badabing888 wrote:Hi Ken,

Awesome !!! thats what i was after

The circled portion has a few branches coming from the same place but its not overly large to take away from the natural taper of the trunk.

I was thinking of chopping a bit further up as it has quite good branching far up that that i wanted to take advantage of.....i guess worse case i can always chop it further down a bit later?

Ok re the swelling and yes you can always restyle a tree later if you wish
9 times out of 10, we will restyle an early tree after a few years

Ken

The initial branch selection is now done or butchering depends how you look at it.
looks like one side of the tree had much stronger branching and a number of branches pointing directly forward had to be removed
I'm going to cut the branch with the line, grow the circled branch to be the 2nd main left hand side branch and make the arrowed branch the new trunk line, and slowly wire the branches to a lower slant i'm just trying to be gentle......

would it be too much to use a trunk / branch bender to introduce a larger curve between the two right hand branches ? or would this be too much too soon?

it feels like the tree is lacking density...

Have a good look at branch number 5 which is on the right hand side.
IMO you can introduce taper and a more compact apex / future branch options via using this rather than your chosen grouping.
This will also keep the tree a little more compact during these early stages and mitigate risk of swelling via the junction with branch 4 and the main trunk.

N.b. My branch numbering is from the bottom up (no.5 is 2nd on the right).

You can certainly get a lot more movement into the tree is you desire.
Wrap it with Raffia/ tape etc, and then wire. Bend your heart out

Hi Boics,

Thanks for the reply interesting i hadn't considered making the new trunk line start that low, as i was going to cut off the branch that has a line through it , i was hoping to make the new trunk line the one numbered 2? and leave the one number 1 as the 2nd main branch on the right

thoughts?

Ohhh and thanks Ken yeah i've decided i'm going to put a deeper curve between the first 2nd right hand branches to close the gap and make it more dense

Hi Everyone merry xmas!

I worked up the courage for the big chop last night

Here is the result any thoughts ?
I'm undecided which should be the first rear branch or both? does the upper one numbered two , form too much of a strait line with the 2nd right hand branch?

This is the other thick branch at the same level as the new apex i'm planning on removing this, so there is only 1 new lead trunk line

The top left hand branch will be grown out to form the next left hand branch and the right hand forms the new trunk line.

Thanks guys!!

I would be hesitant to remove so many branches, seeing as your tree is very young and once you cut em off that's it. If it were my tree, I would let it rest over the hot weather and do some serious bending when the weather becomes cooler. Then you can make branch selection. I lost a really nice pine once by fussing over it during the heat of mid summer.

Or you could even stick it in the ground to get it nice and thick and buy another in autumn to play with whilst the other grows in the ground.

As for the order of branches and number etc, one thing I have learned is to be careful as sometimes adhering to the standard text book branch selection will leave you with little foliage or branches, but that is my opinion from only a couple of years experience and still pretty new to the art.

good luck