A story of ramification development

[Bonsai Nut]

When we moved here to NC in 2020 I met a guy in Winston Salem who had some nursery trees for sale. He was a retired professional who sold trees on the side as a hobby/casual business. When I visited his house (which has amazing landscaping) I noticed two sad Japanese black pines tucked away in the corner. I asked him if they were for sale and he made me a deal... "you can have both trees for free, but you have to bring one back to me after five years".

Jim's tree 6/2020 (after I repotted into an Anderson flat)


Jim's tree 10/2024


I still have six months to clean it up

 

[Applicative]

really interesting how little trunk thickening occured and what a few candles can grow in to. Exponential growth

 

[MSU JBoots]

really interesting how little trunk thickening occured and what a few candles can grow in to. Exponential growth

I was thinking the same thing about the trunk. Makes we want to plant some stuff in the ground. I don’t have any trees in the ground at all.

 

[Adamski77]

When we moved here to NC in 2020 I met a guy in Winston Salem who had some nursery trees for sale. He was a retired professional who sold trees on the side as a hobby/casual business. When I visited his house (which has amazing landscaping) I noticed two sad Japanese black pines tucked away in the corner. I asked him if they were for sale and he made me a deal... "you can have both trees for free, but you have to bring one back to me after five years".

Jim's tree 6/2020 (after I repotted into an Anderson flat)
View attachment 571758

Jim's tree 10/2024
View attachment 571759

I still have six months to clean it up

where is the other tree?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I said as much to Jim. I can't say the trunk has thickened much, if at all, despite the increase in foliage mass.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

where is the other tree?

I need to take more photos. The other tree I didn't cut candles on this year so it is a big mop of needles! You can see part of it in the left of the 2nd photo - the needles are 2x as long.

 

[Applicative]

Dan Robinson made a point in a video I saw that it's about the total number of candles on the tree that increases trunk mass (and why he doesn't chop). I guess it's possible there's so much decandeling that the larger vascular ,structure / lignification is greatly diminished.

or just the pot

 

[jevanlewis]

First off, nice job on getting the tree so healthy and developing such great ramification!

I'm also wondering why there isn't more thickening with that much foliage mass. I wonder if it's not just foliage mass, but also having a meaningful amount of foliage mass that isn't new growth (i.e., not as much cutback / decandling). I think you get this scenario with a sizable sacrifice branch, as long as you let the sacrifice grow unrestricted. Combined with a rigorous sacrifice branch, growing in the ground probably helps a lot, too. In an Anderson flat, you can get this effect somewhat by letting roots escape out the bottom. I have a JRP that had a similar trunk diameter to your JBP in 2020 and also is growing in an Anderson Flat. I went a little overboard with the sacrifice, but it thickened the trunk nicely. I also had the flat directly on the ground from 2020-2023, allowing significant root mass to develop outside of the pot (this year, however, I elevated the pot because I think the escape roots where preventing the tree from creating as many surface roots).

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I'm also wondering why there isn't more thickening with that much foliage mass. I wonder if it's not just foliage mass, but also having a meaningful amount of foliage mass that isn't new growth (i.e., not as much cutback / decandling)

I probably should have added that I was focused on getting the tree as healthy as possible - without growing it taller or putting it in the ground. If I was focused on caliper development, I would have stuck it in the ground and let a sacrifice branch run until it was 10' tall

 

[jevanlewis]

I probably should have added that I was focused on getting the tree as healthy as possible - without growing it taller or putting it in the ground. If I was focused on caliper development, I would have stuck it in the ground and let a sacrifice branch run until it was 10' tall

Yeah, I definitely know that had you intended to increase trunk size, you would have increased trunk size! A few questions for my learning:

1. How much of your pruning was decandling vs. cutting back into old wood?
2. How much wiring did you do over the last four years?
3. What are your plans going forward, and what design are you targeting?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

1. How much of your pruning was decandling vs. cutting back into old wood?
2. How much wiring did you do over the last four years?
3. What are your plans going forward, and what design are you targeting?

(1) In the first photo you can see a lot of small cuts where I removed as much leggy outer growth as I dared. After that the work was only structural - removing bad branches and cutting back anything that extended beyond the outline. I did not start decandling until last year - the tree was very weak and probably would not have done well earlier.
(2) I did very little wiring. In the first photo you can see very rough wiring to lay out about half of the primary branches as well as secure the line of the upper trunk. That was it.
(3) I have to return the tree to the owner in six months, at which point I think he will put it in his landscape I was not styling a bonsai, rather using bonsai techniques to bring an unhealthy tree back from the brink

 

[Dav4]

The way to get a pine trunk to thicken is to develop an upper sacrifice branch with only one or two candles that are allowed to grow unhindered year over year. The act of creating ramification actually will slow down trunk thickening . @Bonsai Nut, those before and after pictures are fantastic!

 

[Paradox]

@Bonsai Nut
I think it would be useful to newer folks if you described what you did and didnt do to get these trees healthy again.
Im assuming, regular application of fertilizer, good sun placement and largely leaving it alone to grow other than what you described here

(1) In the first photo you can see a lot of small cuts where I removed as much leggy outer growth as I dared. After that the work was only structural - removing bad branches and cutting back anything that extended beyond the outline. I did not start decandling until last year - the tree was very weak and probably would not have done well earlier.
(2) I did very little wiring. In the first photo you can see very rough wiring to lay out about half of the primary branches as well as secure the line of the upper trunk. That was it.