Not sure this forum will have many who are practicing cloud pruning techniques. I have read about the techniques but have never tried it.

I read a nice book on the topic years ago

Niwaki: Pruning, Training and Shaping Trees the Japanese Way by Jake Hobson

Hope you can find the information you are looking for

Keith

You might also want to ask this on the Bonsai Forum.

tj

Japanese pines have trouble with beetles and disease in parts of the U.S...check your area for any old specimens, and look for holes in the bark. (An old specimen with no holes in the bark means they should do well in your area..if you can't find one, be worried.)

It occurs to me pitch pine (pinus rigida) might be a good tree to use to experiment with new pruning techniques. The fact it has dormant buds means it can recover from errors better...and it is supposed to bonsai well.

For similar reasons, you could experiment on the larger yews.

Cunninghamia lanceolata "Glauca" is a juniper that is blue and supposed to have a yew's ability to regernerate. Once again, things that regenerate are more forgiving of mistakes, and the blue color would look neat cloud pruned. Probably expensive and hard to find, though.

Cunninghamia is a Cunninghamia, not a Juniper.

I have one called Kinishiki that I cut back to a stump because it fell over and now it's sprouted from the trunk. I think I'll try to cloud prune it. The way it grows so fast it will probably keep me busy.

Thanks Ed!

I'm not sure this will pass muster, but Pinus mugo 'Jacobsen' has a billowy appearance in the same way my P. strobus 'Niagra Falls' mimics the action of the roaring Niagra Falls. I took this picture tonight, and I just realized it looks like I planted this little pine in a sheet of plywood, which I assure you I did not. ;)

I call that oriented strand board. ;-)

I like the flat bottomed clouds that give it a layered look over round clouds on the end of a stick. The best of all, IMO, is a windswept, more natural look.

There you go, Missionmom, train a conifer to have a windswept look. Piece of cake. P. strobus can develope this habit, and it is beautiful, but also the exception rather than the rule.

Pinus densiflora umbraculifera is virtually a natural cloud pruned specimen.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pinus+densiflora+umbraculifera&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcvLD0xZLMAhUGNxQKHa7TBWoQsAQIHA&biw=1600&bih=828

"I tried cloud pruning once ,,,they wouldn't hold still

ron"

I think you're talking about pruning clouds? This is about pruning with clouds. I find them a bit too soft, they don't cut very effectively. Clippers are better.

:-)

Resin

Thank you all for your input... I did order the "Niwaki" book by Jake Hobson off of amazon this week. Hopefully I will learn a lot from it, and may soon report back with some additional info to share.

I noticed my Pinus contorta 'chief Joseph' has a natural billowy shape going on much like the Pinus mugo 'jacobsen'. I also see that the Pinus Parviflora 'fukuzumi' is supposed to develop a natural windswept look... Or atleast an interesting irregular habit.

I thought a Pinus densiflora 'umbraculifera' would be stunning. I haven't seen any particularly nice ones at the nurseries here in BC... That red bark, and the fresh green needles (from what Google shows me)... Are exactly what my garden needs!!!

On that note, I'm going back outside... Cheers