Ryceman3's 6yr JBP Contest Entry

[minkes]

I envy you your zone . I am 6B zone and my JBP seeds just arrived . After reading this contest posts, I think I made mistake with JBPs and should stick only with my local Pinus Silvestris, Mugo or Nigra ))). But seeds are here, so I will see, maybe miracle happen and global warming will push me to some better zone here

 

[Ryceman3]

Updates on a few that have been through a bit of summer maintenance. Looking to get the branching/ramification/needle size all coming together from this point, happy enough with the trunk girth. I'll update with others as I go through them in the next few weeks. They'll need some wire etc I think, but I'll leave that until Autumn I think ... I have enough to do right now!

 

[LuZiKui]

Crazy progress on these, thanks for the updates! Quick question, on the first tree, what's the thinking with the long branch coming off the lower right part of the trunk? Are you trying to thicken the base in that area?

 

[Ryceman3]

Crazy progress on these, thanks for the updates! Quick question, on the first tree, what's the thinking with the long branch coming off the lower right part of the trunk? Are you trying to thicken the base in that area?

Yes, I want to see if I can’t gain a bit of extra girth with that branch as a sacrifice. by the end of this summer it should become the tallest part of the tree, and will hopefully then take off. I think I’ll leave it on for 12 months or so from that point to see if I can’t get some extra thickness low down on the base.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Really nice to see! You are way ahead of me! I've now moved twice since the contest began, so I was only to keep a handful of my best candidates, while the rest went into the ground at my vacant property. Sadly my "candidates" are looking leggy and weak, while the trees that went into the ground and got NO fertilizer and NO water all summer look great!

One thing that I am appreciating is that I was a big fan of pond baskets when I lived in Southern California, but I don't think they work as well here in NC.

 

[Ryceman3]

A couple more as promised. I didn't bother with the before shots ... you get the gist.

I need to look at doing some stuff to the ones I removed from the grow beds in July.
They have all recovered pretty nicely and are growing well, so I'd say they will be the subject of my next update.

 

[Ryceman3]

Managed to get to one of the pines I pulled out of the ground last July and pruned/decandled in places/thinned needles whilst looking for a guide as to how I will progress this tree from here. I have somewhat settled on a semi cascade as I think the base lends itself to that well, and I don't really have a semi cascade pine so that will make it a bit different for me, but we'll see if it ends up that way.

 

[Ryceman3]

A couple more of the ones that were ground grown and pulled up in July this year.
Good progress and none of them skipped a beat after being uprooted and stuffed into a little plastic container. Happy with these.
The second one in this post particularly is the stand out candidate for me at the moment. If this was a 4.5year competition, this tree would have been the one I focussed my attention on for a final submission. Still a little way to go, but it may still be the case when this comp draws to a close.

 

[Ryceman3]

Some autumn JBP work that I have done recently.
These trees had their needles cleaned out and then some branch selection to remove multiples that developed after decandling. The summer shoots are still a bit fragile though so I'll leave wiring them out until they have hardened off a bit more.
There are still more to do, but I feel like my final entry is most likely going to be one of this group, still a bit of time to figure it out though I guess ... just over a year to go!

 

[misfit11]

These are fantastic. I think these are some of the nicest people have been able to create in this contest. Nice work!

 

[Mike Westervelt]

Can anyone say "Winner" very nice work Ryceman and thank you so much for the detailed progression.

 

[JeffS73]

Really impressive! Well done

 

[Stella]

When did you cut the big sacrifice branch? What season, when in the season?

 

[Ryceman3]

Yo

When did you cut the big sacrifice branch? What season, when in the season?

You mean like this?
Post in thread 'Ryceman3's 6yr JBP Contest Entry'
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/ryceman3s-6yr-jbp-contest-entry.34349/post-893589

Any big moves (including sacrifice branches) I think are all pretty much documented in the thread… there were also a few that were taken off while these trees were still in the ground prior to that post above. Hope that helps!

 

[Stella]

Yo

You mean like this?
Post in thread 'Ryceman3's 6yr JBP Contest Entry'
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/ryceman3s-6yr-jbp-contest-entry.34349/post-893589

Any big moves (including sacrifice branches) I think are all pretty much documented in the thread… there were also a few that were taken off while these trees were still in the ground prior to that post above. Hope that helps!

Thanx. Been through your thread and learned so much.
Notices this specific one was September so that's early spring.another post looked liked you cut it in December, summer.
What would be the best time, spring or summer?

 

[Ryceman3]

Thanx. Been through your thread and learned so much.
Notices this specific one was September so that's early spring.another post looked liked you cut it in December, summer.
What would be the best time, spring or summer?

A lot of stuff will influence what you do and when. Sure, basic timeline is one of these things - decandle in summer for JBP etc… but like most (all) things with bonsai, the answer is generally “it depends”.
Best time to cut a tree in my experience is when it is at its strongest. Throwing out new growth and looking super healthy. If you cut a tree then (elm, pine, maple, melaleuca… whatever) it will respond and generally new buds/growth is the reaction. Timelines and seasons give you a guideline but the growth of the tree is the driving factor for me, because growth helps to cancel out other factors. Example : if you repot and cut roots heavily, a tree might take a bit to recover. If you assess the growth (rather than the season/timing) you’ll see it is slow and leave it until it strengthens. If you cut on a timeline irrespective of what the tree is showing, in the long term I would say that is going to be bad for the tree.
Probably not the answer you want, but the answer I give nonetheless… apologies!

 

[Ryceman3]

In the spirit of keeping options open, this neagari experiment could theoretically make it as my final entry so best I share some pics!

 

[LuZiKui]

In the spirit of keeping options open, this neagari experiment could theoretically make it as my final entry so best I share some pics!


View attachment 480435

View attachment 480437
View attachment 480438

Awesome tree... Just curious do you do any work to the roots like trimming or cleaning out in between all of them?

 

[Ryceman3]

Awesome tree... Just curious do you do any work to the roots like trimming or cleaning out in between all of them?

They‘ll get a bit of a spruce up at next repot to clean out the old mix and any small shrivelled ones. The long roots actually go quite deep in the pot so more length will be exposed over time and I plant to twist/bend them a bit… we’ll see what happens.

 

[Ryceman3]

Finally got around to refining some of the initial work I did in March on one of these pines.
I would say this one is the front runner as my final entry, but I haven't done any real detail work on the others so that might change.
The trunk is pretty nice with good taper and lots of branching so I am super happy with how it is turning out.