Nishiki--Cork bark Japanese Black Pine

This Japanese black pine with corky bark ("nishiki") has been in my possession for a number of years. I began applying what I learned from Boon to the tree in 2004. It has developed well over the years. Here it is shortly after wiring in March 2007. The candles had been removed the previous summer, and excess needles pulled that fall. This gives it the look of a plucked chicken.

Its bark is plating nicely, but the big flaw in this tree is its graft. It's too high and will only show up more and more as the years go by. I still haven't steeled myself to try air layering on this one.





In 2008 I candled this tree, following Boon's methods of removing all the candles except the very weakest. I did this in July. Here are the results:


The tree filled out nicely with very even needles. It's coming along well. I just wired the tree last week and here it is today.


This year, I will not candle the tree. We only do that every other year for nishiki to give the bark a year to develop.

Amazing what two years can do.