How to quickly create a five-needle pine bonsai? Detailed method

  A five-needle pine bonsai requires seven or eight years or even decades of devoted cultivation. Can it be completed within three to five years? It is entirely possible. The method and steps are as follows:

  Method for making a small bonsai:

   In late winter and early spring, take a vigorous one-year-old Japanese black pine, first bind its trunk with fine lead wire into an S shape, then coil the lower roots below the soil into a zigzag shape and plant it in acidic mountain soil. During the growing season, carry out intertillage and weeding, and apply two or three times low-concentration decomposed human manure or urea. By the end of the year, the plant can reach 20 to 30 cm.

  From the Winter Solstice of this year to Qingming, remove the lead wire and carry out high grafting. Use the terminal buds of the five-needle pine as scions. Determine the orientation according to the form of the Japanese black pine and its future shaping trend. Graft three to five terminal buds onto the trunk of each plant by side grafting. Keep the old leaves of the Japanese black pine and promptly remove the young buds of the Japanese black pine so as to supply the normal growth of the five-needle pine scions. By the third year, it becomes an independent five-needle pine bonsai.

  Method for making a large bonsai:

  From the Winter Solstice to Qingming, go up the mountain to look for old Japanese black pine stumps with exposed roots and curved forms. It is best to dig them out together with the soil, trim away overlapping secondary branches, and heel them in in mountain soil or clay pots. Wait until the Spring Festival of the following year to carry out high grafting. For the high grafting site, cut about 2 cm above a branch of the Japanese black pine to correct the problem of swelling at the graft union. For the five-needle pine scions, choose vigorous sun-facing branches or thick main buds. If branch high grafting is used, tie the graft union tightly with plastic tape or adhesive tape, seal the outside with yellow clay to retain moisture, and frequently spray water on the leaves.

  Graft five to more than ten scions onto one old Japanese black pine stump. Within two to five years, respectively trim away the branches of the Japanese black pine and lightly prune the developing form of the new branches of the five-needle pine. After about five years, it can be fully formed. The five-needle pine likes sunlight and ventilation, and adapts to acidic soil. In late autumn, apply decomposed cake fertilizer once. In winter, it needs dormancy and should be placed in a room at around zero degrees. If the dormancy period is broken, it will lead to poor growth and will slowly die.