Today I pruned off the strong new shoots on my Japanese Black Pine shohin tree. Growth on this species is a lot slower in Scotland than it is in Japan due to our unpredictable weather and the shorter length of our growing season. It’s not guaranteed that you will get a second flush of growth at the base of pruned shoots in a single season, as far as I can tell, with only one tree to work with at the moment.
This is how it looks at the moment
and this is how it looked before todays work
I will thin out the old needles at the end of the summer and open out the new growth with some wire
Robert Nocher Shohin Bonsai 
Reblogged this on Wolf's Birding and Bonsai Blog.
Hi Robert, do you still have this lovely black pine? Like you (but south UK) I decandled on the second week of july, got many new buds but didn’t open. How do you get short needles? How do you fertilize? Do u keep it in the green house all year? Do you use growing lights? Any tips? Have you stopped this wonderful blog?
Than you.
I have owned three good JBPs but unfortunately they are all dead now. I have found that they do not thrive in our climate and are prone to severe fungal infections and the fungicides required to treat then have all been withdrawn from the market
Oh Dear! Any fungal infection in particular to look for and symptoms?
Thank you for sharing and your help.
Happy Christmas.