[IBC] Japanese Black Pine Budding Explosion - Longish
 

I attended a black pine workshop last spring offered by Northern Va Bonsai and lead by Michael Persiano. After listening to his discussion about superfeeding, I decided to try an experiment by using a control group where I followed my regular feeding pro
gram of alternating between a tea from Plant tone (an organic fertilizer), Bio-gold (left on the tree continuously) and fish emulsion. In the superfed group I fed fertilizer cakes – at a very heavy rate – that I obtained from Marc Torppa of the Growing Gro
unds as well as fish emulsion. I contemplated making the cakes myself using a recipe but opted for Marc’s ready made cakes. All trees were equally healthy.



Although I expected to see somewhat of a difference in the trees’ growth this spring, I was not prepared for the profusion of budding on the superfed trees with little difference to new growth or back budding on old wood. In fact I took one of the trees to
my club meeting to show members the results of last fall’s needle plucking combined with heavy feeding last year. I tried counting the buds on one of the trees and quit after reaching over 450. This particular tree is an informal upright approx 20” high &
20 inches wide with a trunk 6 inches circumstance at the soil line.



I was so concerned at the explosion of budding I contacted Michael, when I could not find any literature on selection of buds for removal when the tree produces an ‘over-abundance’ of buds. I was afraid that the tree would be stressed by supporting a large
number of buds on branches. What I learned was that the profusion of buds is what I should have expected following a superfeeding regime. I am removing buds that were way too close together and those that had popped on the underside of the branches as wel
l as those in the junction of branches,



As I said the budding this spring has been an 'explosion' of growth, far more than I ever expected and I'm a little overwhelmed at what the tree is producing. I never expected to see results of this magnitude. I believe that following established black pin
e care guidelines combines with candle removal on July 4th (easy date to remember for me) and superfeeding this year, I should be able to get a second flush of candles in late summer since I also live in zone 7. I will post pics to the gallery this week
since it’s one of those things you really need to see in order to appreciate.



Randi Sharp

Richmond, VA






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[IBC] Japanese Black Pine Budding Explosion - Longish
 

In a message dated 4/21/2004 10:59:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time, writes:

As I said the budding this spring has been an 'explosion' of growth, far more than I ever expected and I'm a little overwhelmed at what the tree is producing. I never expected to see results of this magnitude. I believe that following established black p
ine care guidelines combines with candle removal on July 4th (easy date to remember for me) and superfeeding this year, I should be able to get a second flush of candles in late summer since I also live in zone 7. I will post pics to the gallery this wee
k since it’s one of those things you
really need to see in order to appreciate.

Randi:

I am pleased to see that you shared your experience with the group.

As previously stated, Superfeeding needs to used on a case-by-case basis. When the specimen requires substantial growth to achieve design objectives, it is clearly a way to accelerate the process. Once the objectives are achieved, it is equally important
that the feeding process be cut back to retain the desired design.

An artist requires paint on the palette to create the image. Superfeeding achieves this goal. I am currently Superfeeding an 800-1,000 Douglas Fir before cranking its ancient branches into new positions. I will be documenting this in a series of BT arti
cles (for those of you and others in the global readership who have the interest).

Cordially,

Michael Persiano
members.aol.com/iasnob

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++++Sponsored, in part, by John Quinn++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++