AusBonsai

Hi Everyone
I got this black pine about 9 months ago. I have potted it in a bonsai pot about 6 months ago. Pot size is 220 X 160 and height is 350mm. Is there some kind of beginners guide to candling, needle plucking etc. I have read a lot online, but most of it is from O/S and doesn't relate to Brissy i.e. timing of doing everything. I do know they are apically dominant, and I have some growth down lower which is a good thing. Any advice on care and styling ?


thanks


Tony

I am interested in any advice about this topic too. I have a JBP with what I think are called 'candles' - what do you do with them?

Glenda

I guess you got to ask your self first is this tree ready to be refined or do you still want to thicken and grow? What size are you going for? Then we can get serious about what technique is used.

Because of the way it had grown (it was that way in a 100mm pot when I bought it ) I was going to keep it this size. So are there 2 different approaches - one until it is the size you want and then a maintenance regime ?

check this thread about Growing JBP in Sydney
viewtopic.php?f=103&t=3207&hilit=+jbp


It is a growing guide written by Denis Mcdermott from The school of Bonsai with info he had gathered. He has used this on all his trees

Ken

Hi Ken
Thanks - very informative. What about needles - I have read differing articles on plucking or cutting and am a little confused ?


Tony

Bougy Fan wrote:Hi Ken
Thanks - very informative. What about needles - I have read differing articles on plucking or cutting and am a little confused ?


Tony

If you pluck the needles you remove all chance of having a bud at the base of the needle pair.

If you trim them short, the needle sheath will dry up and fall off in a few weeks/months and leave any possible buds intact at the base. We tend to leave all needles on when the tree is developing for extra growth (fattening) and start trimming old needles when we are in the refinement stage.

It depends which stage the tree is at or mode of growth you are pursuing.

It is said there are 88 ways to handle a black pine.(something to do with 88 sacred shrines around Japan I believe)

Candle snapping is what it sounds like. You snap the new growth in spring(the candle) to shorten the growth. You can also completely remove the new candles; you can also .....

Grant

An old comment re Needle trimming on any pine i think is worthwhile mentioning

when you cut a needle, it will look good fro a week, and then crap for 18 months
This means that when you cut the needle the end will brown off after a week and then uti.l it gets plucked or dies off it will look bad.

I only Pluck needles on my pines, and leave only 2 on each stem to grow in the future. all the rest I remove
I will cut the candles at the required times to control growth as needed.


Here is a nice article I found a long time ago, about developing the trunk of the pine, http://bonsainurseryman.typepad.com/bon ... al_pi.html

2 other really good articles by Brent Walston are here
http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/pines.htm
http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/pines2.htm


Ken