Autumn work on 6 seed grown Japanese black pine bonsai 

Thanks so much. You will pick up the skills and art as you go along, it’s a long road which is walked and not run. Enjoy it at all time. Thanks for watching.

Thanks Andrew, that’s a bit compliment. I do encourage you to view my black pine playlist as in my opinion there are more educational ones than this which I believe will help you.

Thank you so much Roberto! Thanks for commenting as always. 🙇🏼‍♂️

Gracias por ver y comentar. Te lo agradezco.

Great! Glad to hear it. Good luck in finding something nice.

Thank you so much I really appreciate it

Thanks so much. Yes, they deserve a rest 😉

Thanks so much! Appreciate the feedback.

Thank you Nerina! 🙏🏻

Thanks so much Antonio 🙏🏻

Thanks so much Graham. I almost worked some of yours but decided I did not want to deprive you of that 😊

Glad you like them Jeffrey!

Thanks for watching Christian!

Thank you so much Sue, always enjoy reading your comments. Yes, you are 100% correct, the branch thickness is difficult to control when you are building pines which is why making sure you have buds to cut back to is so important. I am not an expert when it comes to pine shohin so I am not sure just what is possible, however as the canvas is so much smaller (as you point out too) most times, from my observations shohin pines are super dense and the needles obscure a lot of the structure. Its certainly easier to manage this on larger trees. However I think if you are working with healthy trees and allowing sunlight into the structure you should always be getting some budding on the interior which to build the tree with. On a couple of these the available branches were not in the ideal position or were a little heavy for my liking. I am trusting that I will get more options in the future to work with. Grafting is an option but I dont think necessary at this point. Yes, I love the root over rock style with these pines and I think once the roots develop more and more character they will be even more appealing. Thanks so much for watching and commenting Sue.

@@TerryErasmusbonsai Thank you so much for your very interesting insights and observations. Living in the northern hemisphere also makes it nice for learning and applying these techniques in the next growing season. Much appreciated Terry!

@@sueb1317thank you. Much appreciated

Thank you Matt. As long as I am able I will. 🙏🏻

Thanks for the compliment Gora!

Thanks Gerrit! These pines have only had their trunks wired to fatten them up. I have done some pruning to encourage back budding. I’ve never worked on them to date with styling in mind. Thanks for your vote of confidence but to be honest Gerrit, if I struggle to fill a class at a few hundred bucks I doubt I will be able to sell a book.

Two years ago you uploaded yourself working on four of these pines in separate videos. It has been hugely beneficial to me as someone who is trying to break into the Bonsai world with Ponderosa seedlings. Thank you! I'd read your book!

@BraceExperience thanks so much for that feedback! I’m curious how you have adapted the techniques from this double flush to a single flush pine?

Thanks so much Dan 🙇🏼‍♂️

Thanks so much Cobaas! Most appreciated

So nice of you Stephen. I feed heavily as i use a very dry mix so I can water a lot. 80% silica stone and 20% Akadama. I use BonsaiBoost throughout the season, replacing it every few weeks, the surface is covered with it. Thanks for watching and commenting. I hope your pine week goes really well. Great idea.

Good question. Please watch this video I did on the topic How to make Japanese Black Pine seedling cuttings ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0RpPCofdIFM.html

Thanks for the compliment! Yes, for sure. I already have one. Enjoy! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--qTPEy4PAwE.html

@@TerryErasmusbonsai Fantastic! Thanks very much!

@user-oc7kz3iv2b no problem Cobaas.

Thanks so much. Well you can see how I make root over rock pines in this video: Unveiling the Secrets of Creating Bonsai with 2-year-old Japanese Black Pines ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--qTPEy4PAwE.html

Ha ha ha, I knew when I did this I was going to have to explain. So thanks for asking! To be honest I am experimenting with this technique. In other videos such as this one ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G7pa6_HGf0w.html I nibble the bark off but I leave the entire branch on. Interestingly enough the needles remain green for months after that. I believe the reason for doing it that way is to encourage healing at the base of the branch before removing it, and also is not as much of shock to the tree. What I did on the tree you refer to is to cut the sacrifice much shorter but keep it on, and nibble around the base. I want to see if it makes much of a difference. On a tree later in the video I remove the sacrifice entirely in one go. I want to see what this results in compared to the other trees where I nibbled and left the sacrifice on for 6 months or even longer before removing it. The risk with removing a strong branch in one go is that sap flow is dramatically reduced and you can set the tree back. This is why it is usually a staggered approach ie reducing the needles a lot first and then later the entire branch. I saw Japanese professionals using the "nibbling" approach and it has worked very well for me. But I need to experiment too so I know first hand what happens when other approaches are applied so I can see what works best for me. I hope my explanation helps.

@@TerryErasmusbonsaiexcellent explanation Terry thank you!! I’ve also seen where a wedge is cut out of the sacrificial branch perhaps just over half way through (like your cutting down a huge tree) and then the following year the rest of the cut is made. Great experiment Terry! Let know how it turns out, I will be doing this to my JBP this fall, wish me luck and keep up the great work 👍🏻

@Gonecrazy666 the wedge sounds good too. I do prefer the nibbling at the bottom though as it least the cut can start callousing so this accomplishes two functions at the same time. I am sure I will post on these trees again in the season with the progress. Thanks!

🙇🏼‍♂️

Correct. It is better not to use an escape branch, rather use the trunk.

Good luck. You can do it. Thanks but I have a few hundred pines already I’m not going to bother.

Yes I may do, but it depends on how vigorous the tree grew in spring. As you know, refinement of pines is much about balancing energy and controlling needle length. This is not applicable to developing trees though, at least not in the same way.

Thanks for commenting. I use 80% silica stone (2-4mm) and 20% Akadama because I can water a lot. If you cannot then use the Professional mix product we sell, it works really well. If you mean starting from seed, then do that in spring. We will also be releasing stock in spring which I have grown from seed.