Candle reduction

[Mojosan]

I've got a JBP that was field grown and potted this spring. As I want more growth and thickening, I did not want to remove spring candles. But they have grown so long, I'm worried about the coarseness of the new growth. We have had a mild, wet and late spring this year, and the new needles have not fully opened yet. What would be the consequences of reducing the strong candles by about half right now?

 

[ovation22]

What is your main goal at this stage? For trees in development it's not unusual to let them grow out, cut back, grow out, cut back, an repeat for several years. Without photos and more detail as to what you're trying to achieve it's difficult to provide an answer.

Removing or reducing the candles now will only slow down growth and development. Not necessarily bad, but might not be what you want at this stage. Are the branches at the thickness you want?

Jonas had a good post today showing a young tree still in development, http://bonsaitonight.com/2010/06/29/decandling-black-pine-case-study-2/

It's already come a long way since February:
http://bonsaitonight.com/2010/02/26/developing-black-pine/

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I've got a JBP that was field grown and potted this spring. As I want more growth and thickening, I did not want to remove spring candles. But they have grown so long, I'm worried about the coarseness of the new growth. We have had a mild, wet and late spring this year, and the new needles have not fully opened yet. What would be the consequences of reducing the strong candles by about half right now?

Mojosan,
You are trying to accomplish 2 things at the same time, so keep them separate by keeping final branches in check by candle-cutting, and letting the sacrifice branches grow without restraint...for now. The branches have to be identified as one or the other and treated accordingly. It won't be pretty to look at for a few years, but pines develop quickly once they hit this stage.

Consequences of cutting the strong candles in half right now include having new buds grow at the base of this year's candle that was cut, and maybe a few juvenile shoots between needles along the new shoot. This may or may not be good...it will give you new options to use in the final design, or it will consume energy that could be better used somewhere else.

Not sure that just cutting strong candles in half will be beneficial in this case. Let sacrifice branches grow big candles, and build ramification in final branches by candle-cutting (remove all of this year's growth). More about candle-cutting is here:
http://www.nebaribonsai.com/Nebari_Bonsai_112109/Projects_files/Candle-Cutting 061510.pdf

Best,
Brian