November 2006 General Meeting - John Boyce on Pines

For our November General Meeting our own John Boyce gave a presentation on pine care and culture. John has been growing trees for more than 35 years and finds that among his favorites are Japanese Black Pine. Although the culture of JBP can seem complicated to the beginner, the tree is actually quite forgiving and, given the right conditions, easy to grow.

John has long referred to pines in training as “plucked chickens” because so much of the foliage and needles are removed each year that through the winter the trees look quite bare. But only through years of this type of training do black pines finally mature into beautiful bonsai with full canopies of foliage.

Japanese Black pine is one of the three “classical” bonsai species, the others being shimpaku (chinese, aka seargent, juniper) and trident maples. From these three species most of the care and training techniques were actually developed; the result being that they tollerate the treatment better than other species.

Black pines are identified by a number of characteristics, some of which are shared by other pines and some of which are unique. JBP have flat, bright green needles that are straight with sharp tips and cool to the touch. The buds are white as opposed to many pines which have dark brown or green buds. The needles are two to a sheath (although you will sometimes see three, but generally only a few on a tree.)
John gave many pointers for growing pines during the talk, what follows are some of them:

-The culture of pines is entirely dependent on the weather and cannot be done by a calendar. Times for work depend on how the tree is growing. You should never do work on a pine that is not healthy.

-Pines are most commonly propagated by seed, but success can be had with “candle cuttings” (actually a 1-year air layer of new growth) and air layering. Air layering tends to be difficult and slow, sometimes taking five or more years.

-Pines are quite tollerant of work when healthy, and don’t mind having branches bent severly or even cracked in places. Apply cut past to open cracks or use cloud cover or other sealant.

-The care of a pine differs depending on the age of the tree. Young pines are left to grow more freely to fatten the trunk, fewer needles should be removed than with older pines

-Needle removal can be started as soon as the tree is dormant, typically at the beginning of November. Remove needles in stages with some in November, some in January and some in May, each time leaving more needles on the weaker inner and bottom branches than on the stronger top and outer branches. Needle pulling is the key to backbudding on a pine, candle cutting alone will not result in fine branch structure.
-Repotting can be done starting in February and as late as May, later repotting will result in weaker growth on the tree while earlier repotting will result in stronger growth.

-Feeding of pines is critical, John recommends balanced organic powder fertilizer applied once per month. For a tree in a 12-14 inch pot start with a couple tablespoons in March (really as soon as candles start to elongate) follow with 4 tablespoons in April, 8 tablespoons in May and 12 tablespoons in June. The fertilizer breaks down slowly so it will not burn the plant like chemical fertilizer can. Organic cakes of fertilizer can also be used in similar amounts and can be purchased or made using a combination of Cottonseed meal and fish emulsion or fish meal and water, some people use bone meal as well.

-Cut candles in June (for San Francisco, later for Berkeley and other warmer areas) down to the base of the current years growth. Use one of the techniques (staggering cutting time or leaving a stub of differing size) to even out growth over the entire tree. When candle cutting be sure to remove small buds that are right at the base of the candle because these will prevent new growth from forming around the cut where the candle is removed. (they will grow much more strongly than the buds from candle cutting and cause uneven needle length and shoot stregth.)

-Use large coarse soil in the bottom of pots, with medium soil in the middle and finer soil on top to promote good drainage and retention of moiture at the top of the pot. Remove old compacted soil from the roots when repotting with a chopstick. Roots need a lot of air, approximately 80% of the open space in the soil should be occupied by air and 20% by water. Watering a couple times per day flushes CO2 out of the soil and reinvigorates the tree, however this should only be done when the tree is growing and the weather is warm.

-Young trees need to be repotted frequently, once per year, while old trees can go 3-5 years between repotting. Work on old trees more slowly, cutting back gradually.

John handed out a sheet of information on pine care which can also be found on this page. John teaches the BSSF intermediate workshop where he dolls out this kind of information unbidden on a montly basis. Talk to John if you are interested in joining.

Tags: John Boyce, Pines