Stimulating backbudding on scots pine.

just.wing.it

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This is how I am treating my little collected EWP. I think it's a good plan for most single flush pines....
This is my first year with it, but it took off growing like mad, this spring in it's good soil mix. So the chasing back has begun.
 

0soyoung

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This is how I am treating my little collected EWP. I think it's a good plan for most single flush pines....
This is my first year with it, but it took off growing like mad, this spring in it's good soil mix. So the chasing back has begun.
One can treat an EWP (p. strobus) like a JBP - they will reflush and produce short needles. I am not suggesting that you change what you are doing, as JBP treatment will lead to trouble because EWP doesn't back bud onto old (needle free) wood - just some horticultural trivia that might be helpful to your figuring out your way of handling the species.
 
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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!
I have no experience with Austrian black pine. They might react similar, but since i have no experience i would not remove all of the old needles. I would leave 6 to 8 pairs of last years needles. If the tree is strong there should be good reaction. When roots and health are good, there is no reason why a pine would be killed.
 

just.wing.it

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One can treat an EWP (p. strobus) like a JBP - they will reflush and produce short needles. I am not suggesting that you change what you are doing, as JBP treatment will lead to trouble because EWP doesn't back bud onto old (needle free) wood - just some horticultural trivia that might be helpful to your figuring out your way of handling the species.
Hmm...interesting.
Maybe I'll try a full decandle job to it one year....
Thanks Oso!
 

Soldano666

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I already had some back budding from last summers and winters pruning. Seemed healthy enough so I did some shoot trimming to see if i could enduce some more.0720171635.jpg 0720171635b.jpg i have no real plan for the tree yet just watching and observing.0720171635c.jpg but I think its somewhere in here. 0720171636.jpg
 

A. Gorilla

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Dirk, you contributed a nice pithy bit of information without getting all OCD. Well done. I found it very helpful.
 
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@dirk hoorelbeke

So this is the tree. Based on your advice I plan on cutting back this year's growth. Should I also start chasing back the foliage by trimming back to side branches?
Eventually when you want the foliage close to the trunk you will have to cut back to the side branches. Most often this is done in fall. The problem with cutting back all the foliage to side branches is that you will eliminate lots of the foliage. There are two options for the tree, it will trow massive backbudding or it will backbud, but slowly. When the tree wants to take it slow it will take 2 or 3 years for the pine to start the turbo again. Keep in mind that the more foliage it has, the more roots it will sustain and the more power it will have to grow / backbud. For this year i would cut back the new growth (it looks healthy). Leave 6 pairs of new needles. Leave 6 pairs of old needles, this is a conservative approach. Style the tree in fall. Since clever branch placement works a lot faster than backbudding try to envision several designs. One with backbudding (your perfect tree with foliage close to the trunk). And one design you can use the branches as is. This last design is often one or two branches that can make a more compact design with lesser foliage. This fall you will make the movements in the branches, it is the most important styling. Wire accurately with big wire and make sure the angles where the branch originates from the trunk are nice. Your tree has a nice trunk but a lot of "problem branches". For the first styling keep as much branches and foliage as possible.
 
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Dirk, you contributed a nice pithy bit of information without getting all OCD. Well done. I found it very helpful.
Had to look up the OCD stuff. Thanks for the thumbs up. We are all here to learn something. I share what i learned this far. There might people jump in that have ideas or tricks getting it faster or better.
 
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@dirk hoorelbeke Hello, would you recommend removing old needles from a young Scots pine, pencil thin, in development? Or does it need all the needles to sustain growth?
Thanks!
 
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When the goal is to thicken the trunk i would leave as much needles as possible. It is always choosing between growth and preserving backbudding or small branches. For this reason pines are often developed with sacrifice branches. You can find more info about this on the site of Jonas (https://bonsaitonight.com/). This is mostly about black pine, but works well with sylvestris too. Developing young pine from small material is a difficult game to master. I see you are from Spain. I would advice to start with yamadori material under guidance.
 
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When the goal is to thicken the trunk i would leave as much needles as possible. It is always choosing between growth and preserving backbudding or small branches. For this reason pines are often developed with sacrifice branches. You can find more info about this on the site of Jonas (https://bonsaitonight.com/). This is mostly about black pine, but works well with sylvestris too. Developing young pine from small material is a difficult game to master. I see you are from Spain. I would advice to start with yamadori material under guidance.
Thanks for the answer. I was thinking the same, leaving the old needles to help the tree strengthen, but I wanted to check if that's correct or no.
Regarding yamadori: I didn't had the chance yet to find something collectable that I like. I prefer growing the plants myself even if t will take ages, but maybe if something nice will appear I will think about it.
 
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