If you drive up to the high Sierras and walk around in the forest, you will see natural jin and shari on many of the trees. These are caused by natural events and can look spectacular. By natural events I mean disease, insects, wind, rain, snow, landslides & snow pack. All of these things leave a rough piece of damage that does not heal over nicely. The result is jin and shari.You will also see jin and shari on the seashore where the winds are very strong and kill the living trees by desiccation and perhaps make them more vulnerable to disease.

Nature has a facile hand to make these scars look fabulous to say the least. Mankind does not have that ability, so we must be careful in how we do this. Often jin or shari are made just to make it. This often turns out poorly. There must be a reason for doing this.

Trees growing on a plain or in a protected situation do not have jin and shari. They may have what we term Uru or Sabamiki. This is a hollowing out of a trunk due to all kinds of things: fire, lightning, disease, animals and old age. Ume, olives, and some deciduous trees will get this way when they are old enough. Redwoods often show this type of feature.

When making jin and shari, it is wise not to go at it too severely at first. A little bit at a time is best. You are upsetting the lifelines of the tree, and you must give the tree time to correct the change of flow of water up and sugars down. With patience you can remove ? or more of the bark around a tree, and it will remain healthy.

However, do not remove the bark below the soil line or the tree can rot. There is a special way to handle this situation if you have a gathered tree which has this feature. Minwax Wood Hardener and similar products can be used to treat the wood to prevent it from rotting even while in contact with the soil.

Jin and shari are a sign of old age, so to have it on young trees looks odd and is inappropriate. If the jin or shari is small and not a main feature on a tree, they should be short. If jin or shari is the main feature on the tree, there is almost no limit, but again, go at it slowly.

If jin is caused by snowslide or landslide, the jin will be long and twisted. If the jin are caused on the branches that die back due to lack of light, they will be low on the tree and will be fairly short and not twisted. Each situation tells a different story.
The second half of September is the time to cut off the white pine needles from last year. If you try to pull them off like black pines, you will find a lot of bleeding of sap that can weaken the tree. So cut them off just above the little sheath that surrounds the bundle of needles. Wait on black pines and other two needle pines until October or November to remove needles.

If you have not been watching for wires cutting into your trees, look for them now before the wire marks are deep. Trees are starting to get their fall growth about this time and can swell up fast. It is really important to learn to wire properly so you can leave wire on long enough to get lignification before you have to remove it to prevent scars. It takes practice but put the wire on correctly and there will be no worry about scarring before your objective is achieved.

If we get an early fall, think about feeding your deciduous trees 0-10-10. This comes in liquid form which should be applied every two weeks or granule form which is applied every 4-5 weeks. Evergreens will get their fall feeding now and can keep on getting food until later when the temperature drops to the 40?s at night. If you have maples in the semi-shade, bring them out to the full sun to develop the sugars that will give color when the temperature drops; but protect them from wind that will dry out the leaves.

Red spider mites pick up about this time of year when the humidity goes down. Watch for them when you water. You will see the very fine web when it gets wet, but not otherwise because it is so fine.

Flowering quince can be repotted in late September or October. If you wait until spring, you may get galls forming on the roots caused by Nematodes. The plant will suffer greatly, if not die on you. Cuttings can best be gotten now, also. Make sure you take a few extra cuttings just in case they don?t all root. If they all do, grow them for the raffle table. It gets expensive if we all have to buy these little goodies. Whereas if we share them, we can all enjoy having a variety of plants.

Reprinted from Fog City Bonsai , September 1996

Tags: Fertilizer, jin, Sabamiki, Shari, Tree Care, Uru, Wiring