"Smart Tree Theory" is going to get a bit deep on this one.....
First of "pinching", which I assume is growing tips.
I have never observed a pinching or pruning, really anywhere on a needled branch, that activates anything but the next 1-3 buds. These are almost always already visible just a couple inches in.
I don't consider this "interior" buds, more like "proper nexts" which would be mostly exterior.
Even if removing that auxin tip gets a third or 4th bud back moving, once the tip two begin growing, it will probably suppress those further back again, because it simply doesn't need them, and the ones growing further out may merely shade them again, so they wait.
Not very effective at getting actual buds in the interior to break.
They need a larger removal of auxin, a better reason to bud, this removal needs to take place no further out than the next node after where you need buds.
So I wouldn't expect opening it up to light to make anything happen.
This is essentially just step one.
Enter deepening smart tree theory.
I always think of what a tree in nature is programmed to do when they "see" some of these actions we create.
A wired away branch on a bonsai, in nature could be "seen" as, snow laden branches, moved branches from fallen limbs or other debris, perhaps a hiker walking by and pinning a branch back to allow the other hikers by.
The point is, in any scenario, the tree knows this tension it feels is only temporary, snow melts, dead limbs rot or further move, and winds blow.
I do believe the tree becomes aware of the situation, it feels the sun on that newly exposed branch, but it also knows it's other foliage will soon snap back into position to fill that empty space.
I don't believe they will waste the energy sprouting buds in this scenario.
So exposing the branch is step one.
Step 2 must be removing the wired away branch so the tree knows that foliage can no longer fill that space.
Then maybe a year or 2 later make this cut.
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For me, it's key to leave on as much mass to cut off as possible. The more growing tips lopped at once, the greater signal to bud interiorly.
We should call this growth, "back bud sacrifice", which can be a subgroup of either "health sacrifice", or "design sacrifice", as it will serve both purposes.
I believe pinching or doing light exterior work, actually actively lessens the possibility of getting interior buds, because we are creating an excellently divided, thick and highly shading exterior working mass.
To reiterate another thing from somewhere else...
I believe Harry's teaching of many buds on the tip of a spruce indicating health is true, but incomplete.
This also means the tree is healthy specifically out there at the tips, so where we need interior budding, this is actually a bad sign.
I believe the earlier in the season you begin to see new growth form side buds, is more indicative of the tree wanting to grow interiorly, or "compact" itself if you will.
I believe there is a benefit to a tree growing large to spread seed.
I also believe they feel the benefit of being compact and not having to move resources over long distances.
Our pruning is meant to have a tree favoring the latter.
If we think how they think, we can send the right messages.
I am, for the sake of WTFN, why the eff not, beginning to imagine a tree has the capability to know everything that is happening to it, because I can't prove it can't.
I believe they "read" more than we think.
I reckon they "know" exactly where in space time each one of their cells resides.
Sorce
