Pinching larch. How to avoid wispy branches next spring?

[leatherback]

But what if I dont want further branching there and just want a healthy bud back again next spring?

- Pluck the growth just as the whorl starts to extend, so in the so-called paintbrush / shavind bring stage (But be carefull you can pull of the whole growth! Practive on buds you want to clip off anyway!)
- Make sure the branche is not shaded out (Larch will drop buds that are shaded out)
- In line with the previous point: Clean out needles in summer once branches get dense. Make sure sun gets on the inside

 

[Nishant]

Posting the latest picture of the larch. Took quite a lot of time to wire all the pads over a few months. The other picture is of when it was in nursery last November. There were quite a few dead woods when the buds started opening up this year.

Several quite aggresive branches in wrong place. Pruning them was really done after lot of dilligence. The top was perticulatly dense but is now thinned out and looks better. Shaping the topmost part was most challenging.



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[leatherback]

Looking good!

 

[Hump]

Posting the latest picture of the larch. Took quite a lot of time to wire all the pads over a few months. The other picture is of when it was in nursery last November. There were quite a few dead woods when the buds started opening up this year.

Several quite aggresive branches in wrong place. Pruning them was really done after lot of dilligence. The top was perticulatly dense but is now thinned out and looks better. Shaping the topmost part was most challenging.



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Amazing.. I just received my first larch and looking for advice being that I don't want to make a ton of rookie mistakes. Or rather less mistakes than normal. I've read and re-read this thread but can't seem to quite grasp everything. I'm hoping you might feel bad for me knowing I'm in the position you were way back when. What is meant by whorl?

 

[Nishant]

"Whorl" here effectively mean top of the whispy growth.

The petals of a flower are arranged in whorls ( circle ).

 

[Hump]

So I believe I understand all thats has been said now, but I'm stuck on two things. If this is done on each shoot, how do you ever grow an apex and let it grow to develop a thicker trunk and taper? Wouldn't constant pinching just promote lateral branching? I may not understand this the more I think about it.

I have two larches (one smaller and one a little bigger). I plan to get one more and make a small forest. I just want to wrap my head around how to work these.

 

[leatherback]

To thicken you need to to let a branch or the top grow

 

[butlern]

Good info here. I also struggled with larch.

did a lot of reading and listening to experts and distilled what I learned into one of our newsletter articles. It’s attached. Would be good to hear additional thoughts on managing larch!

https://www.bonsainut.com/attachments/newsletter_02_21-pdf.378268/