JBP needle pruning/plucking Q

[tmpgh]

Hi guys. I recently picked up a little JBP and want to begin/continue it's development. Ryan Neil says in his video on pines that job one is to equalize energy via needle pulling and that you should attempte to have relatively equal pairs of needles per branch.

I understand that there are different theories on this regarding how many from which parts of the tree, etc. i don't wish to have that debated here. Thanks!

My question: which needles to I pluck? I know that the ones on the bottom of the limb must fo for aesthetics as well as ling needles which cross over others. What i mean is should i be pulling old needles, new needles, needles at the tips, combination or all?

Thanks in advance for sharing the knowledge and experience.

 

[Bonsaiforlife]

Watch Ryan's video again, he mentiones which needles to remove. He says something about wanting to leave some of the old ones on due to their relationship with plant hormones.

 

[Eric Schrader]

People should stop watching that Ryan Neil video on black pines and start listening to Adair, who is taking the time to convey what is recognized as the most reliable and most valuable set of techniques on black pine. Some of the differences may be subtle but they're important.

To specifically address the original question:

Needle pulling is used to balance vigor. You should remove more needles from the most vigorous parts while removing fewer needles on the weaker parts of the tree. Generally, this means pulling needles from the top of the tree and leaving them on the bottom of the tree.

Leaving older needles on the top of individual branches is advantageous because during the following two years with use of decandling and the normal care cycle you can get needle buds in places that will be useful. This allows the tree to grow twigs from places other than the nodes.

Pull old needles first (the ones farther from the tip), then if the tree is particularly vigorous you can reduce the newer needles in the strongest areas.

Needle pulling is generally not done until the growing season is finished, which is early november is much of the United States. Some additional needle pulling can be done at decandling time the following year to further balance the strength based on the vigor of the spring candles.

Look up some of the plethora of black pine threads on this forum and spend some time doing some reading.

 

[Adair M]

Thanks for the recognition, but in no way can I presume to know more about JBP Ryan. The thing is, he made that one little comment in a presentation, it gets put on YouTube, and suddenly everyone keys in on that one little statement as if it were the Holy Grail!

Needle pulling is very complex. At different stages of a tree 's development, you pull needles differently to achieve different goals.

I've taken 6 Intensive classes with Boon over a period of 2 years. I've pulled needles at each one. That's 18 full days of instruction. I still have not learned all the subtleties of needle pulling.

Ryan spent 7 years under Kimura. He's forgotten more about needle pulling than I've learned! But, there's so much to it that it can't be described completely in a sentence or paragraph even. Every time I go to Boons he hands out new instruction, and it usually includes new needle pulling strategies for particular purposes.

So, I have a friend who has taken both Boon's Intensives and Ryan's. and asked about the needle pulling. At the end of the day, they're very similar except Boon uses tweezers, and Ryan uses fingers. Ryan may leave a few old needles, but not very many.

Here's my advice: If you are unsure about needle pulling, don't. Wait until you can find a mentor who is knowledgeable, and have him show you. Even then, know that needle pulling is a seasonal task. Not done just once a year. Well, it all depends on the developmental stage of the tree!

 

[Eric Schrader]

It's important to take a step back from all the instructions on black pine sometimes and just do a little thinking about what you're trying to accomplish with a tree.

Three different goals:

1. Growing a Trunk
2. Growing out primary or secondary branches for length
3. Increasing ramification

If you have the first two goals to accomplish then needle pulling should not be a top priority. You might be needle pulling a little, but basically, pruning or decandling are enough to control the density and relative strength.

Once you have a trunk established and some primary branching that is long enough to work with then you can start thinking about decandling etc.

Its common that the branches are too long. In this case it's also often counter productive to pull needles because if you leave them then you can get buds from the needles that are remaining.

 

[Adair M]

I agree with Eric.

If you have too long branches, and want needle buds to form to grow side branches, don't pull ALL the needles. Pull the ones off the bottom, and pull the ones off the top of the branch, leaving those on the sides. If you've wired in some curves, then pull the needles on the inside of the curves, you don't want a branch there anyway. Leave needles on the outside of the curve.

Pulling needles destroys the needle buds, so leave needles if you want the possibility of popping a bud.

Fertilize well to stimulate growth.