Coastal Redwoods - Pinching & Tree Health

eeeealmo

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Ryan Neil from Mirai has provided wonderful insight into how pinching new growth on redwoods can both increase ramification and help thicken branches, but I’m curious if these trees should still occasionally be allowed a season of unfettered growth to gain strength - or if pinching new growth as described has no bearing on the trees health. Does anyone have any idea? Thanks!!
 

hemmy

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Does anyone have any idea?
Apparently no one does! My guess is that if you have a tree you are pinching for refinement then you probably have a leaf mass (actually surface area) sufficient to maintain health. If the tree declines in health it is probably related to another issue, e.g. root health, fungal attack, etc.
 

0soyoung

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I have a volunteer I found in my yard that I've been growing - I think this is year 4. I've observed that they (spontaneously) bud along new stems. Basically I've just treated them like spruce = cut/pinch back to a bud. IOW, they naturally form a ramified 'frond', but it is very elongated. Cutting back makes the foliage 'bushier'. I've played with pinching the soft tips after new growth has extended a bit, but I haven't done enough to convince myself pro/con about the practice. Likewise, I'm still a bit befuddled about pinching the soft tips of hemlock (tsuga).

The Mirai YouTube teaser seemed to say that pinching the soft tips is effective causing budding. If this is all there is to Ryan's technique, that is pinching is a once a season thing, then there is no need to refrain from it for a season. What would be bad is to pinch and after a few weeks pinch again and after a few weeks .... etc. because this would remove the strong auxin producers for an extended period of time --> suppressed root growth.
 

BrianBay9

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In my limited experience if you stop paying attention to pinching for two seconds during the growing season, the foliage elongates out of range of my design, and I end up spending a couple of growing seasons trying to get it back where I want it.
 

eeeealmo

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So to follow up on this, I repotted the tree in question into 100% akadama, and started following Bob Shimon's fertilization guidance. The tree grew like gang-busters, so I have been pinching continuously throughout the growing season so far, without any appearance of it slowing down (new buds everywhere constantly). Empirically, it would appear that pinching continuously has had no impact on health, vigor, or how much it is growing.

From a design standpoint, the tree is still a mess, but as the initial post was getting at - this season was more for recovery, so please forgive the pics below. A majority of the grown on the tree occured this season, even with pinching constantly.

IMG_20190619_203520.jpgIMG_20190619_203504.jpg
 

hemmy

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so I have been pinching continuously throughout the growing season so far, without any appearance of it slowing down
Same here, although I should have started pinching a couple weeks earlier. The newest growth on my larger tree that wasn’t repotted or fertilized, has slowed down. I noticed the bud cycles can easily be identified by the start of suckers at the base.

What final height and thickness are you planning for the final trunk? I’d think if you are close you could go into a bonsai pot next year and skip spring fertilization and development/refinement of shorter nodes.
 

eeeealmo

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Same here, although I should have started pinching a couple weeks earlier. The newest growth on my larger tree that wasn’t repotted or fertilized, has slowed down. I noticed the bud cycles can easily be identified by the start of suckers at the base.

What final height and thickness are you planning for the final trunk? I’d think if you are close you could go into a bonsai pot next year and skip spring fertilization and development/refinement of shorter nodes.
The design of the tree is still entirely up in the air. Last year a house-sitter knocked it over, and half the tree died - hence, the unfettered growth this year to see where I could get new growth. I suspect it'll be another year or two in this pot before I can make any real decisions :(
 

hemmy

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I suspect it'll be another year or two in this pot before I can make any real decisions
If the accident was how the main trunk broke, it may end up being a happy accident! I understand you were trying to get ramification for leaf mass and thickening, but I think I’d let the top grow the rest of the year and pinch the lower growth, if necessary. It may allow the top to catch up and really take off. The top doesn’t look very vigorous now. I have an upright form with a super vigorous top and a shohin with more vigorous side branching. On both trees I’m trying to force growth resources in different directions.
 

Potawatomi13

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The tree grew like gang-busters, so I have been pinching continuously throughout the growing season so far, without any appearance of it slowing down (new buds everywhere constantly)

Maybe 3 years past on a visit to Mirai I commented on his Redwoods upon which Ryan commented to the effect they were a full time job to keep in hand. They grow like weeds;).
 
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