Stimulating backbudding on scots pine.

[dirk hoorelbeke]

There are different ways to stimulate backbudding on scots pine (pinus sylvestris). This is what i use.
(1) Get the tree vigorous. Long extensions all over the tree are needed. As a result the pine will build force and will backbud without your intervention.
(2) Without intervention the initial backbudding will be good but at some time the tree has no benefit growing the interior buds further and will spend energy in producing long shoots.
(3) In spring after the tree has elongated its candles and has unfurled his needles it is time to cut them back. ALWAYS leave a few couples of needles from this years growth. This is not a black pine!!!!!!! The longer you wait the more energy will be gathered and the more response you might expect. You will have to look what stage of development you're in.
(4) Remove the old needles. Yes it will be a shock for the tree, but having maximal sun in the interior and having no terminal buds, the tree is forced to produce backbudding.
(5) Wait.

The more advanced your tree is, the faster you do this cutback. To the point you pinch the growth. Don't go to this stage too fast and remember the tree needs to grow from time to time otherwise it will lose happiness and progression will go slooow.
(1) This is an unhappy pinus sylvestris i got last year. I repotted it and it showed good signs by backbudding a bit and building strong terminal buds.
(2) Some backbudding (at the right side of the image) visible without cutting back last year.

(3) Long and fat shoots in spring

(3) cutting back, leaving a few new needles.

(4) removing the old (dark green) needles

(4) plucked chicken

(5) backbudding has started


This was a rather weak pine. If i wanted optimal backbudding i should have waited a year longer. But i will style this tree as a literati and giving the tree an extra year of growth would leave me with thicker branches and more backbudding and with literati i do not want overly dense pads... There are fat terminal buds ready for next year.

 

[petegreg]

Thanks for this, Dirk.

I've got one more experience with collected scots pines. Imagine, left untouched, they produced back buds alone, or in their own, because they simply needed it. But I'm interested in techniques that will provoke back budding having still a few on their ways.

 

[just.wing.it]

Nice! Thanks for sharing!

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Thanks for this, Dirk.

I've got one more experience with collected scots pines. Imagine, left untouched, they produced back buds alone, or in their own, because they simply needed it. But I'm interested in techniques that will provoke back budding having still a few on their ways.

Not sure if i understand your question.
after collection:
Year 1
If scots pine is collected they have limited amount of roots. There are 3 options.
(1) they have too little roots, terminal buds stay brown, no actual growth the first year and even some die back is common.
(2) minimal growth on some branches.
(3) pine is happy but has suboptimal growth.
This first year the tree is investing the food gathered by photosynthesis and the fertilizer to produce roots to keep needles turgid and working. After summer the tree prepares for next year and sends energy to the terminal buds, the turn darker brown and have sometimes some white covering / wax.

Year 2
You will see actual growth. The tree will use sun and fertilizer to produce foliage, the extra amount of foliage will produce energy and backbudding will be formed of the excess energy. They won't do it because they need it. Otherwise all weak trees would be full with backbudding.

Year 3
The tree increases needle size and will grow fast, backbudding continues but will get slower and many of the backbuds will just sit there, not doing a thing. Some will grow. The last part of your question is (if i understand correctly) how do i promote extra backbudding? That is the initial post. Let them grow, let them accumulate energy, cut them back. You will get more backbudding. Do you want extra backbudding you have 2 options (1) repeat the same thing next year. (2) let the tree grow a year without doing a thing. (back to year 2), the tree is not strong enough.

From then on you need to chose, do you want more backbudding? Or do you want the backbudding to develop into candles / branches? If you want backbudding, see above. If you want to develop the backbudding start cutting earlier in spring or start pinching.

Make sure your tree is strong, make sure you know what you want from the tree. As with all pines, try to balance the tree!!!!

http://www.bonsainut.com/threads/scots-pine-evolution-2009-2015.19418/

In this thread you can see an evolution for the first years of a scots pine. I hope the photo's will make some of my statements more clear.

 

[Djtommy]

wiring the branches can also help with backbudding so they say.
my jwp is backbudding this year, i think the number 1 rule is feed well and get it vigorous, it may result in longer needles then wanted

 

[petegreg]

Not sure if i understand your question.
after collection:
Year 1
If scots pine is collected they have limited amount of roots. There are 3 options.
(1) they have too little roots, terminal buds stay brown, no actual growth the first year and even some die back is common.
(2) minimal growth on some branches.
(3) pine is happy but has suboptimal growth.
This first year the tree is investing the food gathered by photosynthesis and the fertilizer to produce roots to keep needles turgid and working. After summer the tree prepares for next year and sends energy to the terminal buds, the turn darker brown and have sometimes some white covering / wax.

Year 2
You will see actual growth. The tree will use sun and fertilizer to produce foliage, the extra amount of foliage will produce energy and backbudding will be formed of the excess energy. They won't do it because they need it. Otherwise all weak trees would be full with backbudding.

Year 3
The tree increases needle size and will grow fast, backbudding continues but will get slower and many of the backbuds will just sit there, not doing a thing. Some will grow. The last part of your question is (if i understand correctly) how do i promote extra backbudding? That is the initial post. Let them grow, let them accumulate energy, cut them back. You will get more backbudding. Do you want extra backbudding you have 2 options (1) repeat the same thing next year. (2) let the tree grow a year without doing a thing. (back to year 2), the tree is not strong enough.

From then on you need to chose, do you want more backbudding? Or do you want the backbudding to develop into candles / branches? If you want backbudding, see above. If you want to develop the backbudding start cutting earlier in spring or start pinching.

Make sure your tree is strong, make sure you know what you want from the tree. As with all pines, try to balance the tree!!!!

http://www.bonsainut.com/threads/scots-pine-evolution-2009-2015.19418/

In this thread you can see an evolution for the first years of a scots pine. I hope the photo's will make some of my statements more clear.

Thanks for response. Briefly all I need is chasing foliage back, sure more backbudding.

 

[Paradox]

@dirk hoorelbeke

Thanks for this. I have a leggy scots just got a couple of months ago thats going to need some encouragement.

 

[twisted trees]

There are different ways to stimulate backbudding on scots pine (pinus sylvestris). This is what i use.
(1) Get the tree vigorous. Long extensions all over the tree are needed. As a result the pine will build force and will backbud without your intervention.
(2) Without intervention the initial backbudding will be good but at some time the tree has no benefit growing the interior buds further and will spend energy in producing long shoots.
(3) In spring after the tree has elongated its candles and has unfurled his needles it is time to cut them back. ALWAYS leave a few couples of needles from this years growth. This is not a black pine!!!!!!! The longer you wait the more energy will be gathered and the more response you might expect. You will have to look what stage of development you're in.
(4) Remove the old needles. Yes it will be a shock for the tree, but having maximal sun in the interior and having no terminal buds, the tree is forced to produce backbudding.
(5) Wait.

The more advanced your tree is, the faster you do this cutback. To the point you pinch the growth. Don't go to this stage too fast and remember the tree needs to grow from time to time otherwise it will lose happiness and progression will go slooow.

This was a rather weak pine. If i wanted optimal backbudding i should have waited a year longer. But i will style this tree as a literati and giving the tree an extra year of growth would leave me with thicker branches and more backbudding and with literati i do not want overly dense pads... There are fat terminal buds ready for next year.

Very good information. This is my experience growing Scots as well.

 

[Waltron]

Useful guide here, thansk, now I need one for jack pine.

 

[Lazylightningny]

Great info, Dirk, thanks! The key, like you said, is to make sure it is vigorous first!

 

[GGB]

Very quickly warming up to Scots, thank you for adding this species specific information. WAY to often I find myself using JWP and JBP practices on my native and European pines because of a lack of info.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

JWP is same principle but are less responsive and fussy. JBP is totally different, i don't have enough experience with those.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Very quickly warming up to Scots, thank you for adding this species specific information. WAY to often I find myself using JWP and JBP practices on my native and European pines because of a lack of info.

scots pine are easy, get good ramification and small needles. I like them.

 

[Adair M]

The basic treatment for JWP is the same for Scots and all other single Flush pines.

 

[M. Frary]

You know if it's healthy touch can cut back into last year's growth to force it to back bud farther back and on the trunk.

 

[MichaelS]

The basic treatment for JWP is the same for Scots and all other single Flush pines.

I disagree with this. Scots pines are very responsive to pruning. White aren't. You can sometimes get shoots appearing from almost every needle fascicle. You cannot with whites. In this respect they are much closer to Black pine than white. They are certainly botanically more closely related to black. You could say that they are even more closer to red pine. You can remove all the spring growth in autumn (in a mild climate) on a strong tree and get more buds than you could possibly need. White pines are so completely different and they are in a category of their own. There are probably other similar pines like Japanese stone pine, strobus and others but I haven't worked with those. Black pine is also usually single flush unless it's manipulated somehow. I have a few in the garden as trees and they shoot once per year. The only thing that grows continuously seems to be the radiata.

 

[jeanluc83]

I have a scots with branches that are devoid of needles for the first 10" or so.

I repotted it last summer and had a good extension of growth this season. What is my best option to encourage backbudding?

I have about 80-90 days until the average first frost in my area.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

If you have strong growth on the tips with a big apical bud in it you can prune it back now leaving 4 to 6 new needles. If the tree is not strong it is better to wait a year extra. This way the tree and the growth will be stronger. Normally the tree will pop buds even when you don't prune this fall. Some could be apparent now if the tree is strong. It is possible to chase the foliage far back by letting one of the backbuds develop into a strong shoot and then (after removing the rest of the branch) cutting back this new strong branch. Don't cut back to fast, you need to have substantial foliage mass first to accelerate the proces. Depending on how far back you need to go it might take 10 years if you do it right.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Btw. the example tree here developed good growth this year, but is very yellow. I might have kept the tree to wet this spring with the relative little foliage. I also treated for root aphids. Lets hope it stays happy. Not all things work out as planned. Got to love bonsai.

 

[bonsaichile]

There are different ways to stimulate backbudding on scots pine (pinus sylvestris). This is what i use.
(1) Get the tree vigorous. Long extensions all over the tree are needed. As a result the pine will build force and will backbud without your intervention.
(2) Without intervention the initial backbudding will be good but at some time the tree has no benefit growing the interior buds further and will spend energy in producing long shoots.
(3) In spring after the tree has elongated its candles and has unfurled his needles it is time to cut them back. ALWAYS leave a few couples of needles from this years growth. This is not a black pine!!!!!!! The longer you wait the more energy will be gathered and the more response you might expect. You will have to look what stage of development you're in.
(4) Remove the old needles. Yes it will be a shock for the tree, but having maximal sun in the interior and having no terminal buds, the tree is forced to produce backbudding.
(5) Wait.

The more advanced your tree is, the faster you do this cutback. To the point you pinch the growth. Don't go to this stage too fast and remember the tree needs to grow from time to time otherwise it will lose happiness and progression will go slooow.
(1) This is an unhappy pinus sylvestris i got last year. I repotted it and it showed good signs by backbudding a bit and building strong terminal buds.
(2) Some backbudding (at the right side of the image) visible without cutting back last year.
View attachment 123719
(3) Long and fat shoots in spring
View attachment 123718
(3) cutting back, leaving a few new needles.
View attachment 123720
(4) removing the old (dark green) needles
View attachment 123721
(4) plucked chicken
View attachment 123722
(5) backbudding has started
View attachment 123723
View attachment 123724
This was a rather weak pine. If i wanted optimal backbudding i should have waited a year longer. But i will style this tree as a literati and giving the tree an extra year of growth would leave me with thicker branches and more backbudding and with literati i do not want overly dense pads... There are fat terminal buds ready for next year.

Dirk, thank you very much for this useful post. I have a question, though. I have an Austrian black pine that I am developing. It is a single-flush pine. Do I need to pluck all of the old needles and just leave a few pairs from the new shoots? It seems a bit drastic, and maybe dangerous? The pine is one of my strongest trees, but still it makes me nervous to leave it almost naked. Will it survive?

Thanks!