Late Summer work on Japanese White Pines

Now is the time to do some serious work on refining and balancing growth on Japanese White Pine bonsai.  Needle plucking, bud selection and wiring is done now that the spring flush has matured.

Thanks to the foliage balancing done this time last year, through even needle plucking, this seasons growth was very even and produced much smaller needles.

This work needs to be carried out each year to maintain balanced growth throughout the tree and to prevent overly compact growth.  It also encourages adventitious budding the following Spring.  An added bonus is that the branches are easier to wire after old needles are removed.

I have tried to demonstrate this in the following image.  On the right you will see a before and after shot of one bud cluster that has been needle plucked.

The image on the left is the bonsai before any work has been done.  I hope to post another image when the work is completed.  You can appreciate, though, that if I did not complete this work and allowed another spring flush to grow over the top of this the following year... well the tree would be far too congested, it would start to loose the refinement it already has, and new buds within the branches would start to weaken and die due to lack of light and air circulation.