Decandling Shibui Pines

[Shibui]

It's mid December down here which means hot weather, preparations for Christmas and the pines need attention.
It seems that early Summer is the right time for most decandling. Here, mid Dec seems to work well. Too early and the new shoots are too big and too vigorous = waste of time. Too late and the second flush is weak and many shoots only produce a single bud = weak trees for a year and no increase in ramification.
Remember that decandling is best on well developed pines. We use alternative techniques through the earlier growing and developing phase.
And for those newer to pine maintenance, the term decandling is a bit misleading. It should probably be called 'removing half grown new shoots' but I guess that's not cool enough for bonsai growers.

Shots of before and after decandling some I got through today.

This is my oldest JBP. It had a very slow development phase as I did not understand the techniques to manage pines. Finally approaching some sort of bonsai potential after many false starts and subsequent regrowing for around 40 years.




Japanese red pine

 

[Shibui]

More pine pruning today.

Tall JBP


JRP root over rock


Another of the very early JBP that needed years of remedial work to overcome early problems.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Some years really showing on that last one.^

 

[Shibui]

Decandling is not what the word implies. When it's time to 'decandle' here the shoots are way past candles.
New shoots are cut right at the base of the new growth. Usually there's a bare section between the older, brown section and the new needles. That bare section would cause problems in the bonsai branching if retained. Decandling removes the bare 'necks'. The subsequent shoots are generally more compact and won't usually have that bare section.

Cut at the base of the new shoot - stronger shoot.

Even remove weaker shoots as they are still growing. If the tree or that branch is weaker these can be left to grow and feed the tree/branch then dealt with next year but Leaving those now will allow them to grow and elongate.


Some shoots will be longer than desirable. You can see the previous year's growth has a cluster of needles and the characteristic bare neck because it was not cut last year. maybe I just missed it, maybe I though that area needed some extra strength.
Cut here for normal decandling.

But that would still leave a long shoot with no side branches. Remember that those older needles will drop off after 2 or 3 years leaving that entire shoot with just a cluster of needles close to the end. Need to look forward in time and work toward more compact ramification where possible. This one still has 2 year old needles so I cut at the base of the previous year's growth, essentially decandling where I should have cut last year. Hope that makes sense?

Pines will sprout new shoots reliably after pruning back to wherever there are healthy needles. This is part of development pruning rather than traditional decandling which is for maintenance of established pines.

 

[Shibui]

Some years really showing on that last one.^

Very first and the last trees were my first JBPs, purchased as 2 or 3 year old seedlings around 40 years ago. It has been a long road with a number of wrong turns to get to where they are now.

 

[Joelshack2362]

Very first and the last trees were my first JBPs, purchased as 2 or 3 year old seedlings around 40 years ago. It has been a long road with a number of wrong turns to get to where they are now.

Congrats on keeping them going for so long!