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Registered FedEx Sender
Join Date: Jan-2004
Location: Ottawa, KS
Country: USA
Posts: 1,613
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One absolute key here is that the technique for Japanese black pine is not the same as for Ponderosa, Japanese white, or many other pines. You also don't say what stage your tree is in, and what state of health. All these things must inform the process for each individual tree.
The insistence that the sheath be left on is the mistaken idea that budding back only occurs at needle fascicles on Japanese black pines. Yes, there is a dormant bud there. But there are also adventitious buds throughout the length of your branch. Proper technique will force some of these to grow.
For a branch that is one this year's, when you have let the candle extend for a new branch, just pull out all the needles from the bottom of the branch, and the needles on the upper left and upper right. Leave a "mohawk" and "sideburns" down the length of the branch. You'll have more buds to choose from.
Here are a couple of diagrams to show what I mean, seen looking end-on at the tip of the candle.
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Chris Johnston
"She was a critic, and lots fo critics who aren't called to do what they write about grow jealous and mean and small in their disappointment." - Stephen King, Duma Key
Sashi-no-eda.blogspot.com
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