Pines Part 'n', Rain and Winter
We had first real winter rain last night; it poured, it blew, and in a couple of hours it was gone, leaving behind almost an inch of the liquid gold. This is my favorite time of the year; the heat and busyness of summer is gone, and the long slow slide of nature's sleep begins. The garden turned to limp brown stems after the first frost a week ago, the apples, pears, and pumpkins are in and safe from further onslaughts. Susie rescued the pumpkins just yesterday as dusk changed the grey spitting to windy torrents.
Still lots to do despite a heave of relief that we've survived another summer. The shadehouse project needs a few more days, grafting hasn't even started yet, and then there is the seemingly endless task of leaf cleanup. I think I am probably even busier in the fall than in summer, but somehow it's different, invigorating rather than opressive, uplifting rather than drudgery. It's the nostalgic bite of sweetness and tartness of the just picked apple, taking months to reach its crunchy peak of perfection. Harvest time is reflection time, even in the nursery business. With leaf drop I can at last see what nature and my efforts added to the trees this year. I can stop worrying about feeding and watering and dream about future masterpieces, each year another little step on that road.
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And then there is the seemingly endless squabbles of the internet forums. I just came from BonsaiNut, keeping up with the latest Will and Al/Chris show. How sad it is that the only attraction of such a potential educational resource is the daily soap. I think these folks need to ask themselves why it is necessary to flog each other publicly. Not that it offends me mind you, it's about the only action you can get these days, but I just wonder if these threads would last fifty to sixty posts if all the insults/responses were PM'd instead of publicly broadcast. I think all parties need to step back and ask themselves why this is necessary and what it does to this medium. One good thing though, the lack of any substance has me writing again to try to offer some of my own.
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Another chapter in pine development, I've lost count, so call it part n, as in nth. Someday, all this will be organized at the website instead of just in the blog, maybe even this winter. 2005 blogs have already disappeared and I don't know if I can get them back into the archive or not, but I will try. The blog is nice for a quick and easy post to stay in contact, but I know that finding things later and grouping topically is a nightmare. My old customer LE contacted me recently about one of my grafts he purchased, and I thought you might be interested in seeing how it developed and what the next step should be:
LE:
[Readers may remember this pine from Pines: Removing The Leader ]
Brent: LE, It is looking very nice and healthy. You have now reached the point where you have to pay attention to final branching. I probably would have performed this procedure in mid summer and had new breaks by now, but you can do it in mid or late winter and get new breaks next spring.
Here is what you have to do: Notice that the last extension on virtually all the branches (leading to terminal buds) is now TOO LONG for a shohin, or even somewhat larger bonsai. This has to be corrected now before the inner internodes get any older and you lose the needles in the next to last internodes. The older they get, the less vigor they have, and the harder it will be to get internodal budbreak.
Before you begin this process, you must do the difficult task of identifying sacrifice branches, if any, because you DON'T want them to be pruned SHORTER. The difficulty is seeing the tree with all the foliage before pruning, but it has to be done; pruning the tip of potential sacrifices will set them back considerably. So, first, clean out the the oldest and dead needles right next to the trunk, but don't remove needles farther out. If you can't see what you are doing after this clean out, take sharp shears and cut the needles in half but DON'T shear the needles on the last internodes since you want that strong growth on the ones that will be sacrifice branches. This should allow you now to see inside and the positioning of all the branches.
Identify and even label with colored tape, which branches would make potential final branches and which branches you want to keep as sacrifice branches. I caution you against making final judgments about simply REMOVING branches, thinking they will be neither. Try to keep your selection process simple: sacrifice or final branch. Unless a branch actually interferes with the growth and shaping of a BETTER choice for a final branch, leave it and train it just like the other final branches. As the tree develops, you can later make final decisions about what to remove. Training a branch as a final branch restrains it so that rarely will it adversely affect the tree.
Once these decisions have been made, and the sacrifice branches have been clearly labeled so that you don't accidentally prune them, prune out the last branch extension of ALL the remaining branches. This will be the last shoot and terminal bud, but leave the node or whorl at the base with its branches and buds. After you do this, the tree will really start to look like something. You should be getting an idea of the final shape, size, and branching. You can actually stop at this point if you are uncomfortable proceeding to the next part below. New buds should open in the last remaining node/whorl as well as new breaks from dormant buds in the last internode. This will happen next spring and summer.
OPTIONAL: It is also important that you carefully analyze the tree for two things once you have done the pruning above. This is a good time to do it because you have cleaned out the tree so you can see everything clearly. The first thing to look for is the completed trunk line. Does it exist yet? Do you have good branching and decreasing internodes up to the apex, or to the last trunk extension? Do you have taper, or can you get it with the remaining sacrifice branches? This is a tough call, but it is best done now. If you are not happy with ANY of the trunk line options at this point (remember that you can trace a potential trunk line through ANY of the existing branches and you should analyze them ALL), then you need to choose a branch which will give you the next trunk extension and prepare for treating it to give you future extensions and branches (either now or later). This kind of careful planning takes the happenstance out of pine design and converts the process to tightly controlled planned design that will give you a perfect apex and perfect taper up to it. You can actually build in imperfection to suit your whims.
Secondly, you should examine all the final branches. At this point you have only removed the last extension, but you can remove than that as long as you don't endanger the branch or the tree by removing too much material. Now, just like examining the trunk line, you want to examine each branch for the same qualities, that is, proper internode spacing, taper, and secondary branching. AFTER this point, it will be much easier because you are going to completely control the branch training using Naka's two famous rules, removing all the candles longer than one inch during midseason, then reducing the resulting secondary growth to a forked branch in early winter. If you have a short internode right out of the trunk, then a long internode next as the tree gained strength (a common occurrence), then at some point you are going to have to either prune out the secondary branches at the first node (which will probably make the first extension too long), or remove the second internode essentially starting the branch over at this point. This will help you select the the FINAL final branching because now you are looking for GOOD branches, not just final possibilities. The one rule that keeps coming back to me on this process is 'coarse to fine, coarse to fine'. A good ramified branch will get more and more delicate as it proceeds to the tips. So when you are pruning, always try to go to a small delicate branch and remove the coarser, larger option.
That should get you started.
Brent
P.S. I did it! If you scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Archives, you can see all the posts since day one. This should make it much easier to find old posts.
BW
I just found your blog today. It's great to find a real bonsai blog!
I'm new to this. I bought my first bonsai last month and I've been growing trees from seeds since July, so I'm searching the web for as much information as I can.
Well done again, I'll be back again to read more.
Posted by: Sean McGoldrick | November 01, 2007 at 02:53 AM
Brent,
Thanks for a great workup on the show. Excellent comments on the trees.
As far as internet dustups go, HE started it! LOL
Posted by: Chris | December 17, 2007 at 10:11 AM