Partial candle pruning?

[nover18]

I have a black pine in training and was wondering if anyone can recommend some next steps? I was thinking about candle pruning the base of the tree to develop some ramification and letting the sacrifice branch grow to develop trunk girth. Any suggestions?

 

[MidMichBonsai]

My best recommendation is to check out Ryan Neil's video lecture on Pines that he did at Willowbog this past Winter. It is the most thorough, comprehensive descriptions of how to develop double flush pines (japanese black and red) I have ever seen. Link posted below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn1FiRw2JBo

Quick question, is this a Japanese black or European Black? If not Japanese Black check out his second lecture on single-flush species:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Y6j2wgI2U

That being said, how long has the tree been in a pot? With pines you always want to make sure that they are extremely healthy with a strong root system. Once that is established then you can start working on structure but always make sure that the tree is very healthy first. Because the energy of a pine is in it's root system, make sure that the candles have hardened off (hard sharp needles, dark green color, lignified) before cutting candles. This ensures that the energy of pushing the candles has been re-accumulated to the roots. Then cut the candles to a cm or 2 above the base.

Hope this helps!

 

[nover18]

I've seen this demo before. Definitely a lot of good knowledge. However, I wasn't sure if this applied to a tree in development or something that was closer to the design in mind. Should i even out the needles if I haven't yet got the trunk girth that i have in mind?

 

[Adair M]

What is the design? Are you planning on chopping it at the very bottom some day? It's a long way from those bottom sprouts to the next branch up, and there's no taper.

If you are planning a low chop, then you might want to figure out what the next leader will be (after the chop) and NOT candle prune it. But decandle the others to begin ramification.

 

[nover18]

Yes i plan on chopping low some day and will develop a new leader. This is a black pine that was potted for about a year (sorry for not clarifying earlier). You'd recommend candle pruning all but the next leader? Or, let the sacrfice branch at the top alone to grow and only candle prune those low on the tree to develop ramification that may be used later in the final design?

 

[Adair M]

No, let the existing sacrifice grow for as long as you want. No candle pruning. You might want to strip off old needles if they shade out the bottom of the tree. You can also prune off side branches off the sacrifice. It's the apex bud that grows long and tall that puts on the wood.

But, you're going to eventually cut that off, right? So, pick the next leader that's going to be the next section of trunk after the first sacrifice is cut off. Let it grow out, too. It won't have near the vigor that the first sacrifice has until you chop the first one. But as soon as you cut the first one off, it will take over. The tree won't have to stimulate all the buds to find a new leader, it's already there, so it will continue growing. Which will help heal the scar you'll make when you do the first chop.

So, then, you choose what will be the leader after you will (evenually) chop the second sacrifice, and don't candle prune it...

Repeat as necessary over the next 10 years, and you will have a trunk with movement and taper. And meanwhile, you'll have low branches that HAVE been decandled, that you can train into the final design.

 

[Harunobu]

It all depends on how you want to use each branch, as a final design or as a sacrifice.

If you chop low then you should pick the branch that will be the new leader. Everything else on the tree is sacrificial and you want that to grow without shading the new leader. Then on the new leader you want adequate ramification/badbudding and keep internodes small. You probably will need a sacrifice branch on there eventually as well to even out the taper.

Yeah, keep the strong big candle on sacrificial branches. That's the one that builds the most girth. The sidebranches on the sacrifice can create too much shade in some cases. If so, you remove them.

 

[Eric Group]

Yeah I'd say you can definitely go ahead and style the lower branches you plan to keep and allow the upper branches to grow out. There is really no reason to worry about running those top branches if you plan to just remove them eventually anyway. Develop a real plan for the tree before you start working on it, as someone else said and decide what the next leader will be after the chop, and style those lower branches with that in mind... You could go ahead and do some wiring on the lower ones before you chop if you want too, but you will probably have to wait to wire the new leader after the chop to make sure it flows right.

Now, if you are ONLY focused on developing a thicker trunk, you will get that fastest by just letting the whole thing grow untouched for a while. Up to you man- good luck!