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I’ve been wanting to work on this little black pine for a while. I had an idea while watering last summer and have since been waiting for the seasons to change and temps to come down, sap to slow and the tree to be in a place where a heavy bend was as low risk as it was ever going to be.

Prior to the works. Its a strange tree with a compact twisted upper section which is somewhat disconnected to the lower portions that seem stretched out and straight in comparison.

and…. the solution. I put a bending jack on the trunk and brought the top of the straight section down to meet the root base.

The trunk underwent a 90 degree bend and did so mostly with only minor complaints. A small split did open up but it wasn’t of a size that was really of too much concern. I don’t tend to raffia bends like this as I can much more easily see what is happening at the bend location without a covering. I only really use raffia on brittle trunks and branches of older trees or more ‘snappy’ species.

I did however use some cut paste which Evan Marsh has dubbed the ‘Magic eraser of the bonsai world’ which i think is very fitting in this case.

From here the tree will need a full re-wire once fully recovered but i did adjust the foliage using the old wiring and also pruned some branches.

The finished image for now. I am pretty happy with how this twisted little nugget has turned out. It has a decent amount of recovery to do and could do with further wiring and pruning but for now i am very happy with where it is at.

As is often the way i have already been thinking about it’s next re-pot and have a pretty special pot in mind that it may end up in, but that will likely form part of a future post. It has to recover first and will likely be re-potted in a years time depending on how it grows this season.

Overall I think its a big improvement, but id be keen to hear your thoughts in the comments……