Scots pine evolution 2009 - 2015

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Spring 2009: dug in the mountain by a professional (clearly not me) Removed some needles to let light in and help balancing the tree. Removed a longer portion of the right branch (see stub).

2009 from mountain.JPG
Spring 2009: some buds grow, some die back. Not enough roots to sustain everything.
2009 not enough roots.JPG
2010 march: first styling
2010 first styling.JPG
carving of the stub on the left
2010 carving.JPG
Old needles from 2009 and before, New needles from 2010. Long needles, happy tree, backbudding begins.
2009 vs 2010 needles.JPG
More to come.
 
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2010 summer, tree is actually growing...
2010 summer.JPG
2010 fall: needle reduction to let light in the tree...
Removed the wire, branches clearly not ready to stay in position.
2010 fall.JPG
2011 spring: reaction of the tree. Some backbudding and more even growth.
2011 spring.JPG
2011: summer : still growing, note the repot (in spring!). As a reaction the spring flush is less vigorous.
2011 summer.JPG
more to come.
 
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2012, Spring. learning to set up a display. not easy. (and yes, i know, the tree is far from ready to be in an exibition)
2012 spring.JPG
2012 september, stonger growth than last year.
2012 sept.JPG
2014 spring, getting some ramification.
2014 spring.JPG
2015 January. rewired, still working on developing the base structure for the pads to come. Now we will change technique and try to fill in the pads. Long way to go.
2015 januari.JPG
march 2015 repotted in same pot. some of the roots where pulling to much and made an unbalance in the base of the tree.
 

nairb

Sapling
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wow! the transition from 2009 to 2010 is amazing, amazing what a bit of wiring can achieve! (photo 1 to photo 3), very inspiring!
 
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Thanks. My teacher set the big lines then, and i did the rest. I was doing bonsai for 2,5 years back then and it was my first yamadori.
 

klosi

Shohin
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Thanks for sharing, looks fgreat! Can't wait to see it in 2017.
 

armetisius

Chumono
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Really good start on something quite interesting;
as stated above, I would love to see this in a few
more years as well.
 

JudyB

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You have a really nice feel to all your trees, I'm so glad you started to share them with us. Obviously you have great technique as well, and it's very apparent in your progressions.
 
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Thanks, it's always nice to know people do like the "work" on the trees. Being allowed to "study" with a great master does help (a lot). Horticulture comes first and after that, it's just a matter of styling and making the decisions. The first years in development are always fast. The refining is the time-consuming and most difficult and interesting part. I've seen lots of interesting trees passing by here and it's time i jump in and share mine. Mostly i work on inexpensive material or develop them from scratch. The next weeks i hope to create some new topics. Thanks for the comments. Don't forget we are all here to learn things, so if there are remarks or things that could be done different, i'm glad to here them...
 

James H

Mame
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Very nice progression and a great looking tree. I, just like others here cant wait to see it next year.
 

jeanluc83

Omono
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Fantastic progress in a short amount of time.

The only thing I see that is a little jarring to the rest of the design is the branch on the right side. It appears that it was brought around to the front of the tree to fill in some space. It may be an effect of the photo too.

2015 januari.JPG

Thanks for sharing.
 

JudyB

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I have a question for you. You stated that you will now change technique to fill in pads. Can you please detail what this means please?
Thanks!
 
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Thanks Jeanluc83 and JudyB for the questions. The branch you talk about is a good question. In the beginning of this trees life (see first photo) it was an idea of me and some guys on the Belgian forum to make it a smaller tree with only the right part of the tree. You can see it in the third picture. That branch was used to make it the apex some day.

-My teacher doesn't make decisions for me, he just points out the options and you chose. I like that way of working. It makes you think about what to do. For example with a young maple, you can work it to become a good slender tree in 5 years. The other option is pot it up in a big pot, make a fantastic nebari, graft branches, create taper, closing wounds, and developing a very nice tree in 10 years. Or you can take a mediocre tree and develop it, or you can layer a portion off and create a super shohin.-

Back to the branch. Leaving options open in the first few styling sessions, is keeping the ability to grow with your tree. I agree this is one of the branches in the tree that is not following the same line. In 10 years time it might be a point in the tree where you can make a discussion and a decision about. It will be an important branch, or i will cut it off. I have a few trees i'm growing out, knowing i have important decisions to make, but nor me or the tree are ready for them. You can't grow them back once you cut them. Thanks for letting me think over this again, i appreciate your input.

JudyB,
until now we created the basic structure. So we cut back later and letting the tree to bud back. Last year was an exception to this. We made the choice of using the time in the pot and the slower growth to let the tree become slower creating smaller needles and smaller internodes without cutting so you have a more natural result. The effect was ok, but we saw this winter the branches are not strong enough to carry the weight of more ramification. We don't want to build ramification on a branch that will be to weak in 10 years time, so now we take a step back And meanwhile we will put ramification on in on the same time. This year we will feed and water more, giving it longer needles and cut back at appropriate time (now or next week) so we get ramification and the back budding will have time to develop. And i will let some branches grow out meaning the tree will be "ugly" for a few extra years. The extra growth will thicken the branches and help it to get fixated. So in 5 years time we could have a fixed branch structure and nice pads. The growth this year is quite slow (weather conditions and repotted) so this year will be a balancing exercise in not cutting to much or to little. I'm not an expert in pines and this year i have no time to book a workshop so i will have to do it myself. I think i know what to do, but we will know next year if it was the best option. Ah, you must like bonsai...
the pine tree lectures of Ryan Neil do give the basic idea we're after. Working with an actual tree makes it a bit more complex since you have to make big decisions and adapt the timing and technique. I'm still at the beginning of the learning process so we'll meet again in 10 years...
 

JudyB

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Thank you for the explanation Dirk. I appreciate hearing about your decision process. I am to the same point with several of my trees, and have the same types of things facing me. I have also learned to try to look at serious moves over a period of all 4 seasons before doing the work.
 

jeanluc83

Omono
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Thanks for the explanation. I hadn't thought of it that way and now that you point that out I can see it very clearly.

I think it was in one of Ryan Neil's demonstrations where he talks about the long term ramifications of styling a tree. An artist should be looking ahead 20 to 30 years or more. You explanation shows this is that kind of thinking.
 
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