Shout out to Adair

I first met @Adair M here on B'nut close to a decade ago. I eventually met him in person at An Atlanta Bonsai Society Spring Show and we've been friends ever since. Along with bonsai, we share an affinity for horses and goats, IPAs and red wine, nice cars (his;)), trying to figure out how to beat the stock market, and bragging about our kids (his two are ALMOST as good as my two). Anyway, he has always been very generous with his time and knowledge- to a fault, really. If I had more free time to make the 4 hour round trip to his house from mine, I'd be spending much more time in his yard working on trees.
Adair has been studying with Boon out in Cali for years, and I was lucky enough to be out there during this year's BIB show. Going back to Boon's house after the show, Adair gave my wife and I a personal tour of the nursery, and helped me pick out a very nice shohin olive stump. That olive came home to GA last month in Adair's carry on bag after sitting on the bench that Adair rents in Boon's nursery since January. I don't know how he did it, but the tree looked great! I've done a little pruning, reduced the number of smaller trunks, and am using some wire and chop sticks to create more movement. This will be a fantastic clump in a few years, I think.
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@Adair M is the man! @Dav4 not too shabby either:)
 
I'm just shocked at the realization that I think I'm closer to Adair's place than Dav4 is. I thought you guys were neighbors or something.
 
I'm just shocked at the realization that I think I'm closer to Adair's place than Dav4 is. I thought you guys were neighbors or something.
Are you kidding me? No way would I be allowed in Dave’s neighborhood! They have standards!

I’m sure his HOA doesn’t allow goats, for example! (Although they should, seeing as his driveway is so steep that’s about the only thing that can climb it!)
 
The neagari pine was re-potted this spring. I wired it out last September before the needles hardened off, and the original soil was collapsing, so the tree is/was weak. It wasn’t re-potted at the tilt I wanted because the roots wouldn’t allow it, but I can work with it as is. I lowered a thicker branch in the back via notching the trunk with a chisel... the branch leaves the trunk at a much better angle and it’s not dead!! No decandling this year.
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Then this happened... that’s not lemonade... didn’t get very far??...
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Since you’re going clump on that olive, let the central leader go long to build girth.

The JBP is looking good. Since you’re not going to decandle it, you could pull the old needles. Especially the hanging ones, and any showing needlecast. Did you treat with Cleary’s or Bonide Infuse Granular Fungicide?
 
Since you’re going clump on that olive, let the central leader go long to build girth.

The JBP is looking good. Since you’re not going to decandle it, you could pull the old needles. Especially the hanging ones, and any showing needlecast. Did you treat with Cleary’s or Bonide Infuse Granular Fungicide?
Yep... gonna get some mancozeb tomorrow too
 
No decandling this year.
People talk about this, but there's a whole cycle that gets thrown off when you actually do it. What are your plans for bringing it back in the fold (...of the cycle of care)?
Since you’re not going to decandle it, you could pull the old needles. Especially the hanging ones, and any showing needlecast.
Interestingly, the JRP you recommended I not decandle LAST year, I'm choosing not to decandle this year (even though its the most vigorous its ever been), but I just plucked old hanging needles this weekend. It looks worlds better.
 
People talk about this, but there's a whole cycle that gets thrown off when you actually do it. What are your plans for bringing it back in the fold (...of the cycle of care)?

Interestingly, the JRP you recommended I not decandle LAST year, I'm choosing not to decandle this year (even though its the most vigorous its ever been), but I just plucked old hanging needles this weekend. It looks worlds better.
It just needs to get stronger. So, my plan is to feed it through the summer, Pull needles as needed, then hopefully decandle next year, assuming it grows strongly next spring.
 
People talk about this, but there's a whole cycle that gets thrown off when you actually do it. What are your plans for bringing it back in the fold (...of the cycle of care)?

Interestingly, the JRP you recommended I not decandle LAST year, I'm choosing not to decandle this year (even though its the most vigorous its ever been), but I just plucked old hanging needles this weekend. It looks worlds better.
It just needs to get stronger. So, my plan is to feed it through the summer, Pull needles as needed, then hopefully decandle next year, assuming it grows strongly next spring.
Check this out @bwaynef. This one wasn't de-candled last year to build strength, which it did. It unfortunately suffered from a pretty bad case of spider mites last fall and into winter after having it's old needles plucked, but was deemed strong enough to de-candle this spring... look at that back budding!! Mind you, these shots are from the lowest cascading branch. I think this proves that letting a tree grow out every few years, then applying the proper techniques at the right times won't really set the tree back much, if at all.

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Interesting. Do you notice a lot of single-buds bursting at the decandling site? That's what it looks like in the photos. I'm seeing that on my JRP (referenced in your quote) after decandling it this year. When did you decandle?
 
Interesting. Do you notice a lot of single-buds bursting at the decandling site? That's what it looks like in the photos. I'm seeing that on my JRP (referenced in your quote) after decandling it this year. When did you decandle?
Most of the de-candled sites are pushing multiple buds... the angle of the close up shots above wouldn't allow all of them to be seen in focus. On Tyler Sherrod's advice, I de-candled my medium and larger JBP the last week of June, which was 7-10 days earlier then I normally would have.

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Would you say that your happy with the results? More of a reference towards the earlier in the season than usual de-candle/prune timing?
 
Would you say that your happy with the results? More of a reference towards the earlier in the season than usual de-candle/prune timing?
Ultimately, I won't be able to say yay or nay until this fall. I don't think the slightly earlier de-candling would change the amount of back budding produced, but may ultimately influence needle size and, vigor... just spit balling here, though:p. So far, so good... can't beat the back budding I'm seeing:cool:.
 
As soon as I clicked post reply, I wanted a re-do! Growth further back is nice to see. So it seems in that sense, excellent response!!!

My question is hard to express via the keyboard.... 🤔 :(

I talked to Michael at BonsaiWest this past weekend, or tried to. After all these years and the thousands spent, stop "hemin' and hawin" me and steer me to a workshop...so I'm frustratingly figuring a way to express my rather wordy query.....

.....but I'm certainly not afraid to experiment...
 
Interesting. Do you notice a lot of single-buds bursting at the decandling site? That's what it looks like in the photos. I'm seeing that on my JRP (referenced in your quote) after decandling it this year. When did you decandle?
My JRP is doing this as well, is that indicative of a problem?
 
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