penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
It is an amazing work opf art but much less literati style than when you started IMHO.
Japanese White Pine JWP Literati progression
- Thread starter Adair M
- Start date
I agree with you. It’s much more dense now.
But it’s too young to be a literati anyway. Literati need to show genuine evidence of old age. (At least, IMO.) this trunk is only about 20 years old. And it’s just beginning to shed the juvenile bark down at the base. It will take it a decade to get flaky bark all the way up to the apex. THEN, it will be more “literati”. For now, it’s a slant. But, I’m setting the stage for its future.
PiñonJ
Omono
I love what you’re doing with the pads. I’d also love to see the apex more sparse (maybe with a jin) and with movement continuing to the left, rather than returning to center. Just my style preferences!
Potawatomi13
Imperial Masterpiece
. Quikest way to do.
bwaynef
Masterpiece
Is this one grafted? (The trunk, an inch or two up from the base.)
Cleaned up:
There are lots of twigs with no wire. Last fall, they were ok. But now, with a year’s growth, they’re growing straight up! Some places, the new shoots outgrew the wire. And there’s s lot of “chicken foot” branches to thin.
I have my work cut out for me!
There are lots of twigs with no wire. Last fall, they were ok. But now, with a year’s growth, they’re growing straight up! Some places, the new shoots outgrew the wire. And there’s s lot of “chicken foot” branches to thin.
I have my work cut out for me!
No graft. It was created by an air layer.
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
This tree is a slice of heaven.
Any update on this tree @Adair M? And would you mind specifying your technique for "cleaning" up the needles? Are you only removing previous years' needles that are about to fall off anyway? Or also removing this year's needles in the event they are growing downward/growing on an overly strong shoot? If so, are you cutting them at the base of the needle cluster (leaving a miniscule amount)? Thanks!
EDIT: Just went back and re-read your first post: "But some shoots grew out significantly stronger than others. We want them all to be at about the same strength. The ones that were stronger grew longer, and produced more needles. So, I’ve pulled extra needles from the stronger shoots to weaken them somewhat." To clarify, when you are reducing the needle mass on these stronger shoots, you are using scissors to cut the needles at their bases, and the needles you are cutting are the "furthest back" on each shoot, so there remains a tight cluster of needles at the end of each shoot, correct?
EDIT: Just went back and re-read your first post: "But some shoots grew out significantly stronger than others. We want them all to be at about the same strength. The ones that were stronger grew longer, and produced more needles. So, I’ve pulled extra needles from the stronger shoots to weaken them somewhat." To clarify, when you are reducing the needle mass on these stronger shoots, you are using scissors to cut the needles at their bases, and the needles you are cutting are the "furthest back" on each shoot, so there remains a tight cluster of needles at the end of each shoot, correct?
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Here’s an update:
I repotted it last March. I haven’t updated the wire, although there are a few twigs up in the apex and on some of the branches that I could wire if I going to show it. I keep it in full sun, so last spring’s needles are really short!
I do pull the needles when I remove them on this tree. I grab the needle clusters with sturdy tweezers right at the base. Zuisho needles are not very tightly attached, and pull off easily. I’m careful not to tear the twig in the process.
The juvenile bark on the trunk is just beginning to crack with age. It will take about 10 years to lose that juvenile look, and become flaky.
Gorgeous JWP. I really appreciated seeing the top-down shots of the wired branches a few pages back, as well. Thanks for the update and tips!
Here’s a new top down photo:
As you can see, the wire is dark brown. Which means it’s old.
When I look at the photo in the previous post, I see a lot of vertical twigs, which would benefit from a bit of wire.
Those twigs didn’t need wiring last year, but now they do. I’ll update this thread after I add some wire, and you will be able to see the difference, and have an idea of how it’s done.
When I wire, I try not to “overwire”. In other words, if a branch is naturally in a good position, I don’t wire it. But, a year later, it might have grown out. And then, it needs wire. Such is the case with a lot of those vertical twigs.
Johnathan
Omono
@Adair M I hope you know how much you are respected and appreciate on this site.... and I know that it's not in your nature to lash out......
Now that the preface is out of the way, I was looking at the latest shot and this area I circled just rubs me the wrong way lol
Of course I would never question your vision, but I guess my question is this... would this particular "front" not have benefited from being slightly turned as to hide that awkward shar bend down?
In the initial photo it looks as if this bend was hidden behind foliage, and obviously there is less foliage currently so its more visible. Are your intentions to let the foliage grow out and hide that?
Sorry, absolutely not judging your work, just trying to learn your thought process is all.
Now that the preface is out of the way, I was looking at the latest shot and this area I circled just rubs me the wrong way lol
Of course I would never question your vision, but I guess my question is this... would this particular "front" not have benefited from being slightly turned as to hide that awkward shar bend down?
In the initial photo it looks as if this bend was hidden behind foliage, and obviously there is less foliage currently so its more visible. Are your intentions to let the foliage grow out and hide that?
Sorry, absolutely not judging your work, just trying to learn your thought process is all.
Actually, that branch is too big and too heavy and long. It forks pretty close to where it comes off the trunk, and I have considered removing the heavy fork, and just keeping the smaller fork. I’ll do that someday.
For now, I consider this pretty much as “a tree in training”, and it’s final form isn’t set yet.
Zuisho tends to form dense pads. Not the sparse foliage typical of literati. So, I’m waiting on seeing how this develops before I make any decisions.
It’s a fun tree, though.
For now, I consider this pretty much as “a tree in training”, and it’s final form isn’t set yet.
Zuisho tends to form dense pads. Not the sparse foliage typical of literati. So, I’m waiting on seeing how this develops before I make any decisions.
It’s a fun tree, though.
I updated the wireing. I didn’t see any places where wire was cutting in, so I didn’t have to remove any. But there were places where the tree outgrew the wire, and some twigs that didn’t need to be wired last time now had grown to the point they needed some wire.
Here’s how it looks now:
It’s “tightened up” a good bit. There’s probably still a few twigs that need a bit of wire, but it started getting cold! Lol!!!
To show what I did, here’s a view from above:
You can see the bright red copper, the new wire.
As I was doing this, I realized there’s a technique I use when adding on wire that I should share:
Here’s a twig that was previously wired, but the end has grown out and the wire is too short to control the tip, and there’s a little vertical back twig that wasn’t long enough to wire last time, but needs it now:
I could simply add a new piece to wire the twig and the end. But that would make it look “over wired”. So, the first thing I do is unwind a bit of the old wire like so:
I unwound one turn, and turned it up. Then, I cut the end off:
Finally, I added the new wire:
If you look carefully, I chose to intentionally cross over the old wire with the new wire under the branch. This locks the new wire in place really well. I actually didn’t need to cross over, but chose to do it for this demonstration. Crossing over works really well to anchor the new wire to the old wire and doesn’t create a weak spot. It’s particularly useful when the new wire is significantly thinner than the old wire.
I used this technique of shortening the old wire a turn or two and replacing with new, longer wire about a dozen places all over the tree.
Here’s how it looks now:
It’s “tightened up” a good bit. There’s probably still a few twigs that need a bit of wire, but it started getting cold! Lol!!!
To show what I did, here’s a view from above:
You can see the bright red copper, the new wire.
As I was doing this, I realized there’s a technique I use when adding on wire that I should share:
Here’s a twig that was previously wired, but the end has grown out and the wire is too short to control the tip, and there’s a little vertical back twig that wasn’t long enough to wire last time, but needs it now:
I could simply add a new piece to wire the twig and the end. But that would make it look “over wired”. So, the first thing I do is unwind a bit of the old wire like so:
I unwound one turn, and turned it up. Then, I cut the end off:
Finally, I added the new wire:
If you look carefully, I chose to intentionally cross over the old wire with the new wire under the branch. This locks the new wire in place really well. I actually didn’t need to cross over, but chose to do it for this demonstration. Crossing over works really well to anchor the new wire to the old wire and doesn’t create a weak spot. It’s particularly useful when the new wire is significantly thinner than the old wire.
I used this technique of shortening the old wire a turn or two and replacing with new, longer wire about a dozen places all over the tree.
Johnathan
Omono
I didn't even consider the size of the branch, and I thought the branch looked good at that length. After your response, literati popped into my head lol Clearly this is why I am on these forums. As always Adair thank you for your wisdom it has and always is a pleasure to learn from you. Do you think going in a different direction that branch could ever be used in a final design or is the heft of it just a deal breaker all around?
The updated photo looks great. I can't wait to see photos of this tree in summer.
Well... I think this tree has potential to be a “future” literati. For now, it’s a slant.
For me, a literati has to be a mature tree. Maybe even past “mature”... “elderly” would be more accurate. An old tree that shows it has survived many decades (if not centuries) of weather. My tree still has the smooth juvenile bark. It will be 20 years before it will look mature.
That’s the thing about JWP. They take 40 years or so to develop mature bark. JBP can do it in about 8. And literati... they’re supposed to look old, so smooth bark on a JWP ruins the “literati” image.
Then, there’s the heavy branch on a relatively thin trunk. The heavy branch is just out of place. Pines tend to not make heavy branches. They break and fall off. (Their wood is soft.) Occasionally, there will be a pine with long cascading branches. But, the branches will be slender, not heavy.
I have a picture of a tree that is my inspiration for this tree:
If you notice, the branches are rather long, but they’re slender. They also mostly seem to come from the apex, and hang down. The foliage is about where “a branch ought to be”, but isn’t! I’m hoping that perhaps my tree will develop a similar character some day.
