TOPIC:
Necessity of Pruning my Goyomatsu 4 years 4 months ago #54572
- tajimishiRich
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Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
I've come to ask for thoughts on my goyomatsu as i take it into its first winter as my concern.
Quick background: i bought a pair of young (perhaps a 4mm thick trunk?) goyomatsu from a garden store in Gifu prefecture last Spring. They were very bendy and came wired so i decided i would do something possibly profane and twisted them around each other (they're not in a knot or anything) so that as they mature they'll appear to be one bonsai where in fact they would be two growing in concert. I may eventually strip/scar bark or somesuch to suggest a subtle change in soil acidity levels or somesuch.
But forgetting about the way I've styled them, I'll report that they've come through my first spring and (famously stinking hot and typhoony) summer with me and I've de-wired them in preparation for winter.
Quite apart from asking how to take care of them in winter (I'll ask that elsewhere), i wanted to ask about potentially defoliating them.
I ask because my neighbor has a large pine tree in his front garden that he treats like a giant bonsai. I saw him taking all discoloured spines off it last week, and yesterday i saw him taking even more off. The formerly bushy clusters of his tree are now very spare and sparse.
Should i be doing something similar?
At this point I'm unable to send a photo but take it for granted that my young bonsai(s) are replete with needles. If there's one needle there are 5 more at least (well, obviously, as it's a goyomatsu), it's very dense. I have been following a policy of letting them grow unchecked all year, and i plan to follow that policy for a few years before i consider any kind of sculpting.
My question is this (if requested i can try to take a photo when i get home tonight), should i be doing any kind of needle removal? I've done none besides a few brown ones here and there. Is it a necessary thing to be done for winter?
Keep in mind that my goyomatsu are very small, probably only a few years old, maybe it's best to just let them grow naturally? But are needles taking resources the plant should be saving to survive winter?
I've come to ask for thoughts on my goyomatsu as i take it into its first winter as my concern.
Quick background: i bought a pair of young (perhaps a 4mm thick trunk?) goyomatsu from a garden store in Gifu prefecture last Spring. They were very bendy and came wired so i decided i would do something possibly profane and twisted them around each other (they're not in a knot or anything) so that as they mature they'll appear to be one bonsai where in fact they would be two growing in concert. I may eventually strip/scar bark or somesuch to suggest a subtle change in soil acidity levels or somesuch.
But forgetting about the way I've styled them, I'll report that they've come through my first spring and (famously stinking hot and typhoony) summer with me and I've de-wired them in preparation for winter.
Quite apart from asking how to take care of them in winter (I'll ask that elsewhere), i wanted to ask about potentially defoliating them.
I ask because my neighbor has a large pine tree in his front garden that he treats like a giant bonsai. I saw him taking all discoloured spines off it last week, and yesterday i saw him taking even more off. The formerly bushy clusters of his tree are now very spare and sparse.
Should i be doing something similar?
At this point I'm unable to send a photo but take it for granted that my young bonsai(s) are replete with needles. If there's one needle there are 5 more at least (well, obviously, as it's a goyomatsu), it's very dense. I have been following a policy of letting them grow unchecked all year, and i plan to follow that policy for a few years before i consider any kind of sculpting.
My question is this (if requested i can try to take a photo when i get home tonight), should i be doing any kind of needle removal? I've done none besides a few brown ones here and there. Is it a necessary thing to be done for winter?
Keep in mind that my goyomatsu are very small, probably only a few years old, maybe it's best to just let them grow naturally? But are needles taking resources the plant should be saving to survive winter?
