Cutting Pine Needles

bwaynef

Omono
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Rather that try to take another picture, I made a drawing:
View attachment 245924

Starting from the top, that’s the “before” picture of the shoot, back in January. I want to shorten the internode. Normally, the new shoots would begin at the bud on the right.

The second picture shows “normal” needle pulling that’s done on the strong sections of the tree to weaken it. We”re not going to do that technique on this shoot. It would weaken it, but it wouldn’t shorten it, which is our goal.

The third picture shows how it looks after the “Special” needle pulling technique. The little short lines depict the sheaths of the needle pairs left behind when the needles are pulled. The difference is the needles are kept closer to the trunk.

The forth picture just shows where I will eventually make the “decandling” cut. I will cut not just the new growth, but also cut back to remove the portion of the stem where I pulled needles.

The last picture shows how the shoot looks today, and where I will be making the decandling cut. The bud at the end of the shoot has grown out and is making new needles. I will cut the new growth and part of the old growth off when I decandle in a month or so. This will force “needle” buds to appear between the needles of the ones I kept.

That cleared up what you did, though even after reading the new post, I'm still not able to determine which needles were plucked above.

(Ir)Regardless, What's the benefit over NOT needle-plucking at all? Seems like more strength in the backbudding response would be there with the additional needles remaining up until the time when you make the "special" cut.
 
Last edited:

Anthony

Imperial Masterpiece
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This should make it easier to comprehend.

Drop the word - needle - use the word - leaf.

As a tree grows, leaf removal, and how buds pop out.

What was also noted - using a designed for 30 deg. C [ osmocote type frpm Israel ]
good for 8 months, gave the best results for us using the pine techniques.
Now returning to that fertiliser type.
We use it from June [ as the rains set in ]

Ha, so much for our old techniques. Been doing the 3 pairs and forcing
the branch to back bud for the last 3 or 4 years.
And we did it without outside advice.:p:rolleyes:;):)
Good Day
Anthony
 

Nishant

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Rather that try to take another picture, I made a drawing:

View attachment 245924

Starting from the top, that’s the “before” picture of the shoot, back in January. I want to shorten the internode. Normally, the new shoots would begin at the bud on the right.

The second picture shows “normal” needle pulling that’s done on the strong sections of the tree to weaken it. We”re not going to do that technique on this shoot. It would weaken it, but it wouldn’t shorten it, which is our goal.

The third picture shows how it looks after the “Special” needle pulling technique. The little short lines depict the sheaths of the needle pairs left behind when the needles are pulled. The difference is the needles are kept closer to the trunk.

The forth picture just shows where I will eventually make the “decandling” cut. I will cut not just the new growth, but also cut back to remove the portion of the stem where I pulled needles.

The last picture shows how the shoot looks today, and where I will be making the decandling cut. The bud at the end of the shoot has grown out and is making new needles. I will cut the new growth and part of the old growth off when I decandle in a month or so. This will force “needle” buds to appear between the needles of the ones I kept.
Adair, Many Many Thanks for the illustrations. I have a few other questions related to my Mugo pine. I will post another thread. Hope to get some insights from you there.
 

Thomas J.

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I would not decandle it this summer. Let it get strong, and resume a decandling program next year.

That's exactly what I had to do to one of my small JBPs, actually one of my first JBPs from 2003( I didn't get into serious JBP work until 2007) . I don't have a before pic but for whatever reason after many years of being a nice healthy little black pine it suddenly became weak and sparse. I knew that summer it would have to be left alone, no decandeling. After a vigorous fertilizing program and just leaving the tree alone it came back to where it needed to be. The first pic is last summer getting ready for decandeling and the second one is this past April, it will be decandeled again this summer. :)

bn11.JPG

c11_pe.jpg
 
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