Decandling Japanese black pines is the process of removing spring growth to produce summer growth. If we decandle early in the season, we give summer growth more time to mature and produce long needles. The converse is also true – decandling later produces shorter needles. For this reason, we typically decandle shohin pine bonsai about a month later than larger pine bonsai.
My smallest pine bonsai produced lots of spring growth this year. It’s hard, in fact, to tell the front of the tree from the back of the tree.
Shohin Japanese black pine – front
Shohin Japanese black pine – back
Once I started removing the spring growth, I began to see the outline of the tree. Before long, the tree had returned to the basic shape it sported in winter.
Shohin Japanese black pine – front
Over the next four months, the summer growth will fill in and it will be time for fall work. I’m looking forward to fall because this tree, like so many of my pines, is due for a lot of cutback and wiring. Time to book more workshops!
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