pete1719
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Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:04 pm
Location: Orange County California

Candle Pruning

How often do you prune you Black Pines, every year or 2 or 3?

Thanks Pete

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Gnome
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Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:17 am
Location: Western PA USDA Zone 6A

Pete,

Hello and welcome to the forum. I have limited experience Pines, seedlings and a recently collected tree, so I have not yet done any candle pruning. From your question I would say that you have not given us enough information to even take a stab at an answer.

For instance, very young trees are not generally pruned much, while an older tree that has not been maintained might need special attention. An older tree that already has had some work would be handled differently still.

Can you please give us some more information, pictures would also be helpful.
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3724

Meanwhile:

https://www.evergreengardenworks.com/pines.htm
https://www.evergreengardenworks.com/pines2.htm

Norm

pete1719
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Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:04 pm
Location: Orange County California

Thanks Norm...

These 2 trees are about 10 to 15 years old. I got them about 4 months ago and as you can see they haven't had too much work done to the other than wiring and some pruning.

[img]https://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad70/pete1719/DSC01157.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad70/pete1719/DSC01156.jpg[/img]


Thanks Pete

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Gnome
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Posts: 5122
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:17 am
Location: Western PA USDA Zone 6A

Pete,

Thanks for the pictures, they do help get some idea about the current state of your trees. As I mentioned, I don't have the experience with Pines to give you detailed advice but I'll give you my impressions.

I think the first thing you need to do is to clarify in your mind whether you wish to continue developing the structure of either tree or if you intend to begin with refinement. Which approach you choose will determine your actions. They could be grown out for a lot longer in order to further develop their trunks. But since they are in bonsai pots I assume that you wish to begin working with your trees rather than simply grow them out.

The top tree has some long branches with no branching which is going to need to be rectified either by removing them entirely or by a timely pruning in order to attempt to get some back-budding. Despite the spindly branches I prefer this tree to the second one, it has better taper.

Examine the tree closely to determine where you want to go with it. look for growth that is close to the trunk and avoid letting it get overly long like the others. Relatively few buds, perhaps as little as three, could be used to build the future tree with everything else being considered a sacrifice.

For instance the lowest branch on the left seems to be too low to incorporate into the design of the tree and, to my admittedly inexperienced eye, would seem to be useful only as a sacrifice branch. If you are not familiar with that concept it is a branch that is used only to build the trunk with the expectation that it will be pruned away later. In this case I have to wonder why it was pruned or wired.

I like both trees, I think they both have potential, it would be a shame to screw them up. Have you considered attending meetings of a local bonsai club? In your area there should be a lot of experienced growers who would be able to offer better advice than I. Timing is important with Black Pines and that is specific to your location so a local enthusiast is in a much better position to offer advice.

Here's one that looks very promising, I wish I had a resource like that nearby. I see that they have a meeting coming up this weekend, you don't even have to join the club to attend the meetings. It also look like they have a pre-meeting workshop where you can bring a tree for advice.

https://www.kofukai.org/index.html

Please come back and let us know what you learn, I know I could use the education.

Norm

pete1719
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Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:04 pm
Location: Orange County California

Thanks for the info Norm. I have ben to a few classes in L. A. and was looking for some different opinions...



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