Pine Growth habits.

[Deadwood]

I have searched and searched for information regarding the general growth habits of pines. For example, in my books and online when researching pines, it is said to "prune the third year needles" or "cut back to second year growth". Being from the south, I am very interested in pines, as I grew up in them. Im also confused about shortening the needles, pruning candles to encourage back budding or lower buds....Is the some write up that I'm not finding on pine growth that goes into all this detail for a noobie? I'm so lost.

 

[Poink88]

Check out Brian Van Fleet's write-up (for Japanese Black Pine). Link is in his sig line here.

 

[Dav4]

Brian's link appears to be down right now.

Edit- I was wrong...I couldn't find his PDF on JBP pruning, but his blog is still up...http://nebaribonsai.wordpress.com/

The answers to your questions really depends on the species of pine you're dealing with, and where your tree is development-wise. In Myrtle Beach, I'd suggest Japanese Black Pine because it grows well in humid, relatively mild regions and responds very well to Bonsai culture. Many of the pruning techniques you hear or read about are, such as needle plucking, which I believe is what you mean by "prune the third year needles", and decandling, "cut back to second year growth", are energy balancing techniques that should be reserved for trees further along in their training...using them on less developed stock will only slow them down.

It took me more then a few years to really understand the seasonal treatments applied to JBP, and the key is to know WHY you apply them as well as when. In the meantime, if you decide to go with a JBP, there's lots of info to digest here.