If one person did it...

Just a matter of time. Yours and the trees.

tj

Pinus thunbergii is one of the most worked on species - both bonsai and niwaki. The pruners seem to like 'Thunderhead' as well, and since it's a thug in the landscape, it is a good one to pick.

I've seen them worked on pretty hard, every third bundle removed and then they were shortened with hand trimmers!It gave the Japanese garden a more of a high altitude subalpine look.

I planted some at a slant for two years and then dug them up and slanted them the other way. It made niwaki pruning easier. Some bonsai are grown in pots on slanted boards and rotated as needed for the desired effect.

Yes, a Thunderhead can be pruned to look like your picture.

I'm just wondering because the regular pinus thunbergii species has an upright growth habit while the thunderhead grows more like a shrub and grows very wide instead of tall so I guess my question now is can you really do pruning so severe on the thunderhead to the point that it grows taller than wider(the complete opposite of its growth habit)

yes.

I've seen Pinus thunbergii die right after a drastic pruning several times. You can't do it all at once. I've cut too much off at once, and so have several friends. The pruning can get ahead of you....any pruning. I'm playing catchup now, but not with a Japanese Black Pine.

Good to see Im not the only one into a little topiary lol.

That is fantastic Sara. Thanks for the photo.

Looks real! Did you get that thunderhead as a seedling or a 3 ft+ tree?

It was a #5 about 7-8 years ago.

I'm sorry but whats a #5? 5 gallon container?

Yes!

I wish we had niwaki pruners around here.. I don't know who to look for or if a company that does that even exists in my area

Where are you? There are some Aesthetic Pruners in Philadelphia. I can ask the Assn's president (he's a buddy) if he has any suggestions.

I am in northeastern NJ right by NYC. Like an hour and a half to 2 hours away from philadelphia. Oh I won't need one now since my black pines are still seedlings(I think you saw pics of them in my other thread). I'm gonna wait until I move into a home and get a black pine planted in the ground.

Wait sorry, if its suggestions I'll be more than happy to hear them! I thought you were literally going to have him come over and do it for me lol

I grew up in Princeton, fyi, but have lived out here for 37 years. I'll ask around and if I find anything out I'll let you know. No, I'm not sending anyone to knock on your door and prune your pines! ;-)

Oh thats cool! I'm not too far away from there. Well about an hour drive though. I can tell why you moved away from expensive Jersey... Ok thank you! you can message me here or something

Expensive Jersey? You haven't checked out CA prices! Thank goodness we bought our place 25 years ago...

Well at least tax prices arent 10k a year on a 20ftx20ft property lol. And over there is much warmer and have a lot of growing options! My poor hydrangeas and citruses...

Hey I don't mean to revive an old thread but I just wanted to ask one more thing instead of making a completely new thread. Will pinus thunbergii species tolerate being about 15-20 feet tall for basically forever with all that severe candle pruning every year? Lets say in 70 years its only 20 ft tall, which is completely going against its natural growth rate. Is that possible with candle pruning?

Yes, it's doable. Might be hard to candle prune at 20 ft. though.

Good to hear. I guess I wouldn't have to worry about this tree taking over the garden :) and I'll keep it at about 15 ft then. Btw is it also possible to keep large specimen spruces, hemlocks, and hinokis small at about 20ft ? I would like to keep them small too and not take over the garden too

Mike/Sara, are there any good websites with info on learning Niwaki? I have wanted to do a P. T. 'Banshosho' and or 'Thunderhead' together with a weeping red discetum JM for a while.

No I don't - there is a guy named Dave DeWire who is proficient in Niwaki who lives in the PNW - he's been my main source. You might go to the Aesthetic Pruners Association website and send them a note - I believe that there are a few APA members in PA. Good luck!

I have a picture of Dave DeWire giving a talk about the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection at the Rhododendron Species Garden in Federal Way, Wa. It was the last day for public viewing at that time and I was lucky enough to get a picture. I took a picture of almost all of the collection that day also. For some reason Dave doesn't want to load. :-(

I don't look at bonsai sites and haven't for quite some time. Sorry.

Think of Niwaki as giant Bonsai. It's just a matter of paying attention to scale. If I had a smaller garden I would do a lot of Niwaki and some Bonsai too.