California Candle Pruning

Beng

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When do you all prune black pine candles here? I have 2 mikawas with 4-5 inch candles already, back on the eastcoast i'd be lucky to get candles that strong in a whole growing season.
 

Beng

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Wow they will be huge i'll try to remember to take some pics this week. Got them from house of bonsai to use for grafting earlier this spring which I did already. Just left them alone to grow and i've never seen candles grow like this they will be higher then my 1 story house if I leave them till then, i'll have to slip pot them or they'll outgrow their pots. Truly franken pines.
 

Adair M

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Beng,

If you are afraid they will grow too strong, and thicken the branchlets too much, you can perform "candle breaking". That is, break the candle off in approximately half (or wherever you choose) as long as you leave some needles. This will slow the growth while still allowing the tree to build energy.

Then, as was suggested, decandle in June or July. Decandle large trees earlier in the season so they can grow longer needles on the summer candles. Shohin, decandle late. That way their needles will be short.
 

Beng

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Beng,

If you are afraid they will grow too strong, and thicken the branchlets too much, you can perform "candle breaking". That is, break the candle off in approximately half (or wherever you choose) as long as you leave some needles. This will slow the growth while still allowing the tree to build energy.

Then, as was suggested, decandle in June or July. Decandle large trees earlier in the season so they can grow longer needles on the summer candles. Shohin, decandle late. That way their needles will be short.

Thanks, i'll need to decide what i'm going to do with them before I do either. Since I just bought them for grafting I don't really have any plans for them yet.
 

Adair M

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If the candles are moving, you can't use those for grafting this year.
 

pwk5017

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When do you all prune black pine candles here? I have 2 mikawas with 4-5 inch candles already, back on the eastcoast i'd be lucky to get candles that strong in a whole growing season.

Im on the eastcoast and I routinely get 2 foot candles on my developing pines in pond baskets.
 

bonsaibp

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Too late for grafting this year anyhow. I prune candles starting in late June on bigger trees and up to mid July on the smaller ones. I don't usaully have to break candles before- except once in awhile in the upper section to keep branches from thickening too much.
 

bonsaibp

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If the candles are moving, you can't use those for grafting this year.
Candles on some pines have been moving here since Feb. it's been such a mild (nonexistent) winter.
 

Beng

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If the candles are moving, you can't use those for grafting this year.

Thanks guys, i've already used this material for grafting back in Jan, whats been growing like crazy is the leftover. It's grown very fast since then perhaps due to the missing buds I removed for grafting. I'll check out that article mentioned as well.
 

Beng

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