Bud Trimming / Bud Pinching

Two different timelines, on the same tree

The branches at the top of the pot receive good light, and the buds push out with vigor. The lower portion of the Semi-cascade Style, though part of the same tree, sits in slightly more shade — a little quieter, a little more reserved. It begins with simply observing that difference.

There is no place here for the idea of 'cutting everything at once.' If the upper and lower portions are not growing at the same pace, it is perfectly fine to cut them on different days — this observation becomes the starting point for every decision.

Something shifts in those five days

On June 20th, the weaker buds on the lower portion are cut first. Then, five days later, the stronger buds on the upper portion are cut.

This staggered timing is a deliberate preparation — a way of aligning the needle length between the upper and lower portions for the winter exhibition. By giving the weaker side extra growing time, the gap with the stronger side gradually closes. The judgment is already moving toward the winter stage, half a year away.

Five days or seven — it is decided each year by reading the tree. Not a manual, but the tree in front of you holding the answer.

Not cutting becomes the strategy

The buds near the base of weaker branches are left alone. Cutting them by force risks losing budding the following year. By leaving the nodes intact, the decision can be made again next year. Waiting one year is itself the means of keeping the tree compact over the long term.

'Can be cut now' and 'should be cut now' are two different things. In the rush, something is always lost.

A quiet tending after Bud Cutting / Decandling

Once the buds are cut, the tree's capacity to draw up water drops. So fertilizer is removed promptly. Watering too waits until the surface of the soil has dried properly. At times, the pot is tilted slightly to assist Drainage.

This is less a management procedure than a care that follows the tree's own physiology. Understanding what is happening inside the tree at this very moment, then deciding what to offer and what to withhold. The posture of listening to the tree carries on, even after Bud Cutting / Decandling.

A summer that counts backward toward the winter stage

All of this Bud Cutting / Decandling connects to the winter exhibition. What to do, and in what order, in June — in order to bring a Japanese Black Pine with even needle length to the stage. Today's judgment is born by working backward from the goal.

An eighty-year-old Collected Tree / Yamadori, shaped as a Semi-cascade Style, is waiting for its moment on the stage. The preparation is laid down one step at a time, in a rainy-season garden — and these quiet daily preparations, I think, are also part of the journey.