Scots Pine styling

[Sthlmbonsai]

Hello,
Would love to get some feedback on this Scots Pine styling. Not sure about the jins and ”hanging” branches. The top jin has character but maybe too much.
Let me know your thoughts.

 

[petegreg]

Nice, you don't have to worry about jins for now. That right branch might have to go in my opinion.

 

[Sthlmbonsai]

Nice, you don't have to worry about jins for now. That right branch might have to go in my opinion.

Thanks Pete, appreciate your comment and will take the right branch under consideration. It’s my second styling ever so keen on all feedback I can get for sure.

 

[Cosmos]

If this was a tree in Sweden, the top jin would receive, over a single year, heavy rain, snow, freezing rain, hail.... which is to say it would break very quickly. Just a thought.

Otherwise, interesting tree, looks happy in a very small pot, kudos.

 

[Bonsaicarpenter]

I agree about the right branch. It doesn’t flow with the rest of the tree. I think the top Jin is interesting but shortening it might be a good idea. I also think you could possibly rotate it a bit clockwise from the first image.

 

[Sthlmbonsai]

If this was a tree in Sweden, the top jin would receive, over a single year, heavy rain, snow, freezing rain, hail.... which is to say it would break very quickly. Just a thought.

Otherwise, interesting tree, looks happy in a very small pot, kudos.

The tree is in Sweden, I get your point though. Not sure about the jin. I’ll let stay for a bit and see how I feel about it. Thanks for commenting.

 

[sorce]

The jin falling in front of the trunk is very distracting.....so much so I would remove it and have a fresh new look.

Pics please!

It is causing a seperation between the left and right that makes for easy decisions now. But severely haults a thirty year outlook.

I love the right branch.

By the time this tree is "finished"..or "refined" 5-10+ years...
I sure would want to know what that right branch might look like!
It could be amazing.

Mature with it...allow that time....

But without that one JIN.

The rest is set Nice to enjoy.

S

 

[Hartinez]

Second styling ever?!? Great job!! I think you’ve done some very nice things here. I’m also unsettled about that right branch. Will you take a daytime pic on a solid background? Hard to make everything out in the dark. Great start regardless.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

Nice job so far. The main foliage mass is wayyy to large for the size of the tree and the size of that trunk. You barely notice the lower trunk is there at first because of the disproportionate foliage mass. Good second styling, I would work on cultivating interior growth to cut back to to start shrinking that big green mop.

The other thing is that I would remove all of the jins I can see in that photo, none of them really make sense with the overall design.

 

[Adair M]

Take a photo from farther away, and zoom in. It gives a better perspective.

The upper foliage is too heavy for the trunk. It looks like you could shorten a lot of the branches up there.

Literati style is usually rather sparse. It’s a “less is more” kind of thing.

Also, you’ve wired the tips up. That’s a common mistake almost everyone makes. At first. I have a thread in the advanced techniques section where I show in detail how to wire pines. Search for “fishhooks” in the title, and “Adair M” as the author, and you should find it.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I was going to say something about the tips too.
As for that right branch, that's what scots pine do in the wild here. I would definetely keep it.

 

[Sthlmbonsai]

Thanks for all the great comments. I've removed the jin in the middle of the trunk. Also I moved part of the lower pad to below, feels like the right branch now fits better into the styling. I agree that the top foliage is too heavy even though it's hard to show how long the trunk actually is, it's leaning towards the viewer so it's longer than it looks. I'm a little hesitant towards cutting of foliage at this point so might hold on to it to see how the tree reacts to this styling before I remove.

 

[Adair M]

Thanks for all the great comments. I've removed the jin in the middle of the trunk. Also I moved part of the lower pad to below, feels like the right branch now fits better into the styling. I agree that the top foliage is too heavy even though it's hard to show how long the trunk actually is, it's leaning towards the viewer so it's longer than it looks. I'm a little hesitant towards cutting of foliage at this point so might hold on to it to see how the tree reacts to this styling before I remove.

Perhaps some needle thinning on the left side? There are sections that appear to be too dense.

I’m not a fan of the blue pot either.

It’s a very interesting tree, and literati is very difficult to do. Take your time before making any major decisions. (Lol... I don’t consider pulling some needles a major decision! But pruning is!)

 

[Sthlmbonsai]

Perhaps some needle thinning on the left side? There are sections that appear to be too dense.

I’m not a fan of the blue pot either.

It’s a very interesting tree, and literati is very difficult to do. Take your time before making any major decisions. (Lol... I don’t consider pulling some needles a major decision! But pruning is!)

Thanks again for further input, I'll give the needle pulling a try. No, I'm not really a big fan of the blue pot either. I haven't built up any kind of collection of pots to choose from unfortunately.

 

[Adair M]

Thanks again for further input, I'll give the needle pulling a try. No, I'm not really a big fan of the blue pot either. I haven't built up any kind of collection of pots to choose from unfortunately.

Start with the needles pointing down. Do those first, and see if that’s sufficient.

 

[Sthlmbonsai]

Start with the needles pointing down. Do those first, and see if that’s sufficient.

Here we go, cleaned it up a little in the foliage.

 

[petegreg]

Much better, I like it. What's the story of this tree?
Maybe if it were mine I would bend the lowest left branch to the back and right to have something there and it could replace that hanging right branch very well.

 

[Sthlmbonsai]

Thanks Pete. I collected this tree a while back locally, it was on a rock so virtually all roots were intact and the root base was small so I actually decided to plant it straight into this pot.

Actually the lowest left branch doesn't reach around the trunk even though it looks like it. The tree is leaning forward so it's not long enough. I get your thought though and I like the idea.

 

[Meh]

Great job! Before reading any of the comments I concluded that the right branch should go. Having read both the for and against...I still think it should go. But that is also a decision you can wait to make.