Akamatsu - JRP apex prune or wire?

[Clicio]

I have this healthy Japanese Red Pine cascade, but I don't quite like the way the apex outgrew the botton.
Asked some people around, and some say I should chop it to the lowest pair of candles, but..
others say I should not lose all this growth and wire the apex branch (bend the hell out of it) to bring it lower.
Any reasoning for not pruning it? (better ask before the deed is done).

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[0soyoung]

If you were wanting a formal cascade, you would develop branches on this apical shoot, so the image is equivalent to a normal/conventional upright pine with a long cascading branch. Of course, this can be 'tuned' by how dominant the apical tree is as opposed to visual weight of the cascading 'branch'. Personally, I would try to make a minor 'apical tree' as I think such a pseudo-formal image is more appealing than a simply arcing cascade trunk with arcing foliage. I have a red x black hybrid with which I am struggling to affect an implied short apical 'tree' because it doesn't have an apical shoot like yours does (this variety naturally grows as an arcing arcing).
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As for the suggestion to bend that apical shoot - meh, doesn't sound good to me (other than to make a little movement in the central stem). Cut it back, cut it off, I think. Or develop it and go for the upright tree with a cascading branch image, IMHO.

btw, nice material you've got there

 

[Clicio]

Or develop it and go for the upright tree with a cascading branch image, IMHO

@0soyoung , first, thanks for all these ideas, food for thought, and yours is a very nice tree also!
I see your point.
Thoughts:
- Now I think the cascading branch is way too thick compared to the straight up branch to make this last the main trunk of the tree.
- By "developing" as I understand it, is to cut the apex branch down and work on the ramification of the many buds that are already there. I think I like this plan, having a more low and spread apex, and keeping the cascading branch as it is (just refining it. Takes time.)
Thanks anyway, and show us the progression of your hybrid if possible, I'm curious!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I would grow it to thicken the trunk some, but don’t see it as vital to the vision of a cascade.
JRP can be very brittle, so “bending the hell out of it” may result in a quick separation of branch from tree..

 

[Clicio]

JRP can be very brittle, so “bending the hell out of it” may result in a quick separation of branch from tree..

Thanks, I appreciate it.
I am not a big fan of extreme bends myself, so I guess using this apical growth as a sacrifice is a reasonable plan.

 

[Potawatomi13]

If you were wanting a formal cascade, you would develop branches on this apical shoot, so the image is equivalent to a normal/conventional upright pine with a long cascading branch. Of course, this can be 'tuned' by how dominant the apical tree is as opposed to visual weight of the cascading 'branch'. Personally, I would try to make a minor 'apical tree' as I think such a pseudo-formal image is more appealing than a simply arcing cascade trunk with arcing foliage. I have a red x black hybrid with which I am struggling to affect an implied short apical 'tree' because it doesn't have an apical shoot like yours does (this variety naturally grows as an arcing arcing).
View attachment 191277.

As for the suggestion to bend that apical shoot - meh, doesn't sound good to me (other than to make a little movement in the central stem). Cut it back, cut it off, I think. Or develop it and go for the upright tree with a cascading branch image, IMHO.

btw, nice material you've got there

Nice tree.

 

[Potawatomi13]

I have this healthy Japanese Red Pine cascade, but I don't quite like the way the apex outgrew the botton.
Asked some people around, and some say I should chop it to the lowest pair of candles, but..
others say I should not lose all this growth and wire the apex branch (bend the hell out of it) to bring it lower.
Any reasoning for not pruning it? (better ask before the deed is done).

.View attachment 191269

.View attachment 191270

Reason to cut back/keep small top foliage is energy balancing to give strength to cascading tree. If strong upper tree exists will naturally take 1st strength and weaken Cacade.

 

[Shun]

Im curious to see more of the trunklike. All I can see is a big ball of needles.

I like JRP. My favorite tree i own is a JRP

 

[Clicio]

Im curious to see more of the trunklike. All I can see is a big ball of needles.

Hey, @Shun let me pinch and wire it and I'll show the trunkline here. You are from the south, aren't you? Did you already tried to grow a Japanese White Pine there? Because it is impossible here in São Paulo...

 

[Shun]

I'm from Curitiba, Paraná..(to people outside of brazil it's the coldest capital city in Brazil) personally have not tried to grow them myself but heard from other people who have tried and failed..

I guess its pretty hard, next to impossible, to grow them properly in Brazil.

Looking forward to the pictures!

 

[Clicio]

Looking forward to the pictures!

@Shun , got to post new pics of this tree on the thread below:

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/jrp-cascade-styling-t-bar-branches-have-to-go.37760