By Scott Martin

Bonsai Matsu
www.bonsaimatsu.com

Black and Red Pines are ideal for bonsai culture. More mature trees require a lot of work so be mindful of how many black and red pines you have in your collection.

Tips for growing pines

• Avoid touching pine bark and needles as this could damage trees.

• Start at top of tree and work down when cleaning.

• If you don’t like wiring, don’t get pines.

• Minimum of 6 hours of sunlight per day.

• Keep pines fully exposed to elements.

• Do not blindly follow maintenance program for pines.

• Bud understand strength of tree and which stage of growth it is at.

• Overworking a pine will lead to a weakened tree.

• They do need to be worked thoroughly.

Maintenance

Spring:

• Candle breaking by fingers, feed heavily. eg. Use fertiliser bags

Summer:

• Decandling, energy balancing, styling

Autumn & Winter:

• Bud selection, needle plucking, wiring and styling, feeding.  

• Use fertiliser bags in Autumn. Take off during Winter.  

• Very busy time for pine maintenance and absolutely essential.  

• Heading into dormancy so best time to wire and style - not full of liquid as they move into dormancy so branches are more flexible.

Process of shaping

• Remove the buds that are too strong and too weak.

• Remove up and down growth, try to keep lateral.

• Remove backwards growth

• Pluck off old needles.

Balancing the strength

• Lowest branches are weakest, apex is strongest.

• In the strong area, near apex, remove the strong.

• In the weak areas, in lower area, remove the weak.

Needle plucking in Autumn

• Entire removal. Keep tweezers clean and avoid sap build up

• Needle removal, then sheath (optional). Pull needles in direction of needle growth