🏆 Mastering Shohin JBP
A Complete Guide from Seedling to Show Tree [credit: Bonsaify]
Unit 1 - Japanese Black Pine Care
Unit 2 - From Seed to Two Years Old
Unit 3 - Years 3+ Early Development
Unit 4 - Middle development
Unit 5 - Late Development and Maturity
Maintenance of 2nd/3rd Yr:
Repot in spring to a pond basket (~6”) to encourage growth—if not already done so.
Remove needles to allow light to buds for potential branches. Use care as very small buds can be hidden or attached to needles.
Selectively leave small buds, then remove some buds if too crowded.
Sacrificial branch: can remove side branches if shading below. In fall, candles can be reduced to - main and possibly 1 smaller back up. Doing so tells the tree that upper growth will be reduced and so lower growth will redirect energy to.
Fall/Winter Work for 2nd/3rd Yr:
Reduce number of top candle or growth—to prevent shading out or future whorls
Reduce needles to allow for wiring
Inspect for nebari, remove or clean up encircling or crossing roots, return to pot
3.5mm wiring, build lower twist for bark—cork screw, then bend irregularly
Managing Growth in the 3rd Year
Repot to a pond basket, if not already. Clean up nebari and pot lower in the basket to allow finer roots to develop from the larger top roots. When mature, they can be more exposed.
Year 6 Spring Pruning
Sacrifice branch was removed and lower section side branch was decandled early last summer.
Start by doing same work as with a 3-year-old and 4-year-old pine. Thin out buds on lower branches so they have more light. More branching due to multiple cutback rounds the tree has gone through, but bud thinning process is no different.
Three branches all coming out from same place. Evaluate each of them and remove one.
Choose at 2 year node which buds to keep and which to remove. Option to remove 2 year node altogether. Eric removes all of the buds at the node point, giving an even clearer view of future tree in terms of size and rough shape.
If you cut at the last node, it is chosen for weaker branches to have a 2 week head start over others.
If you cut behind the node, it is chosen for being stronger than others and should balance out. Will catch up to
Select the branch with more divisions and short internodes over fewer.
Thought process to decide whether to keep sacrifice so trunk and roots can continue to grow or remove sacrifice and stop that growth.
To stimulate trunk to grow faster (in terms of wood production), tree can be set on the ground and roots allowed to escape. Pond basket can also be nestled on top of another container that has additional soil in it. Roots will growth through pond basket, same as they would if tree were placed on the ground.
Process of fattening up trunk can actually take a long time. Be patient until the trunk reaches the size you want! Note: you can curate a second sacrifice branch
When removing large sacrifice branches, it's also time to pot down from a colander or large container into a smaller container and do root work.
Will trim some needles shorter to allow more light below to strengthen branches—as opposed to pulling needles that reduce potential budding.
6-7yr Decandling & Secondary Sacrifice Branch
Secondary branch will help blend trunk taper where the first sacrifice branch was removed.
Keeping height low, start angling lower branches downward. New buds on top will next develop into canopy ramification.
14 yr End Of Middle Development
Potting down at the end of Development
After tree is out of pond basket, turn it on its side for the first step - saw the bottom half of the root ball off using a sickle. Look at spread of roots that need to be reduced. Start combing out top and sides of root ball to assess condition of the roots.
Continue combing out soil and trimming off exterior roots.
Assess whether tree will fit into the container nicely. Need room to grow on all sides of the container. Also assess any crossing roots to improve the structure of the nebari.
Examples of roots that need correction: crossing or circling roots. Large root with side root going back into center of root ball. Needs to be removed. Start by cutting them and excavating to move others. Be careful to not scratch the bark!
Assess how you can improve the root ball for aesthetics and size (fitting into small bonsai pot) during each session.
Using raffia rope to wrap root ball and bring roots in and around to wherever desired.
Fall and Winter work you might need to do through middle development (6yr)
A little needle reduction and wiring, in development of eventual finished branching. This is Fall/Winter work.
Examination of potential front of tree and how potential branching could effect the tree.
If branches will eventually be bent lower, then needle removal on the outer side of a branch may end up as the bottom of the branch.
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Fall/Winter Work for 2nd/3rd Yr:
Reduce number of top candle or growth—to prevent shading out or future whorls
Reduce needles to allow for wiring
Inspect for nebari, return to pot
3.5mm wiring, build lower twist for bark—cork screw, then bend irregularly
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