Find out why Eric has chosen early September to clean-up his nearly three-year-old mini Japanese Black Pines instead of waiting a few months, and the steps he takes to ensure their continued refinement and healthy growth!
00:00:52 Last winter, Eric repotted these pines into small bonsai containers and started treating them more like small refined bonsai, moving out of early development and into mid-late development.
00:02:07 Eric cuts off long second year needles that don’t have buds, being careful to leave all buds alone.
00:03:08 Generally Black Pine cleanup happens in late fall (Oct/Nov) so Eric leaves the newest needles alone to avoid damaging them.
00:03:52 Example tree with nice budding between first year node and second year node.
00:04:33 Another tree, removing needles that don’t contain buds. Eric explains how you can see if new buds are being made.
00:06:19 Scissoring needles back produces brown tips but gives you a better idea of what the tree will look like as you continue to refine it.
00:07:33 “Old needles look a little tired” another example tree. Reminder to carefully examine each needle before removing.
00:09:29 Last example with clean delineation between first year node on a bunjin-style tree with plenty of budding up top.
00:11:04 What do over the next year and next summer with these mini pines.
Thank you for watching! Let us know in the comments if you think we should make these mini Japanese Black Pine available for sale now or wait until the Pacific Bonsai Expo (tickets and t-shirts on sale now: https://www.pacificbonsaiexpo.com/collections/tickets-and-merchandise) in November. As always, please like and share this video with your bonsai friends, and subscribe to our channel for more great bonsai videos!
