Pitch pine candle pruning

[Lazylightningny]

I have 4 pitch pines, only a few years old. I was wondering how to candle prune. Should I take them all the way down, leaving just a couple of mm? Or should I just leave it alone?

 

[garywood]

Lazy, cutting candles is a finishing technique. When you start candle work you effectively stop diameter growth. Your tree doesn't need candle work. It needs growth. Pitch pine respond really well to fall pruning so use the growing season to grow! Unless you want a small tree don't even prune anything for a few years and then cut whole shoots or branches back to smaller growth.

 

[Cosmos]

Cool project LL, recently I’ve discussed with friends how pitch pine would be a worthy species to propagate for bonsai. Unique aesthetic and horticultural value.

Lazy, cutting candles is a finishing technique. When you start candle work you effectively stop diameter growth. Your tree doesn't need candle work. It needs growth. Pitch pine respond really well to fall pruning so use the growing season to grow! Unless you want a small tree don't even prune anything for a few years and then cut whole shoots or branches back to smaller growth.

Mr. Wood, thanks for these truth bombs you’re dropping on us these days, it’s always succintly put and fun to read. Great to see you participate on this forum.

 

[garywood]

I have 4 pitch pines, only a few years old. I was wondering how to candle prune. Should I take them all the way down, leaving just a couple of mm? Or should I just leave it alone?

Lazy, it's hard to see how it is coming out of the ground (movement) so if it were mine I would choose one of the long bottom branches for a new leader and shorten the other this fall. That's all the cutting, just pull two year needles on trunk and branches above where the new leader starts.
View attachment 245401View attachment 245402

 

[Lazylightningny]

Lazy, cutting candles is a finishing technique. When you start candle work you effectively stop diameter growth. Your tree doesn't need candle work. It needs growth. Pitch pine respond really well to fall pruning so use the growing season to grow! Unless you want a small tree don't even prune anything for a few years and then cut whole shoots or branches back to smaller growth.

Sounds good to me. Thanks for the advice. I can worry about back budding once it puts on some girth.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Sounds good to me. Thanks for the advice. I can worry about back budding once it puts on some girth.

Pitch Pine will back bud all over the place naturally, especially at the base!