bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - JBP needles pluck or cut?

Great Post, John.
We can never have enough reiteration of techniques for pines. I was reading Brent Walston's JBP development on his web site. He was describing candeling in conjunction with needle plucking as a way to get buds to pop. And care of adventitious (sp?) buds. Do you see similar results?

I know I'm going to open a whole can of worms here, but damn the torpedos...

Some questions about five y.o. seedling development (Seedlings in ground):
When trying to grow large stock, is it best to allow the main candle to grow as large as it needs without pinching the candle, then use plucking to get buds to sprout when the needles between the top of that candle and the whorl from which it came are 2-3 years old? or is it better to work it more slowly to improve taper, by candeling for reduction until I get it to the overall tree the size I want?

If I do leave the main candle, do I reduce the number of secondary candles to two from the same whorl to reduce the chance of reverse taper? And should those two branches be about 120 degrees apart from one another?

If I do remove the main candle, do I do it after the needles have pushed out to about 45 degrees or wait until they are fully extended and harded off or do it now and allow a secondary candle to get the spring energy? then do I reduce the number of secondary candles to three? one for the new leader and two for branching?

That's a start, thanks for your help.

-Wm

BTW..I live in an area where I can get two buddings and candleings in a season.

24-Apr-2008	#8
BunjinEnt Learning = Growth Join Date: May-2006 Location: King Geo. VA Country: USA USDA Zone: 7 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 796	Great Post, John. We can never have enough reiteration of techniques for pines. I was reading Brent Walston's JBP development on his web site. He was describing candeling in conjunction with needle plucking as a way to get buds to pop. And care of adventitious (sp?) buds. Do you see similar results? I know I'm going to open a whole can of worms here, but damn the torpedos... Some questions about five y.o. seedling development (Seedlings in ground): When trying to grow large stock, is it best to allow the main candle to grow as large as it needs without pinching the candle, then use plucking to get buds to sprout when the needles between the top of that candle and the whorl from which it came are 2-3 years old? or is it better to work it more slowly to improve taper, by candeling for reduction until I get it to the overall tree the size I want? If I do leave the main candle, do I reduce the number of secondary candles to two from the same whorl to reduce the chance of reverse taper? And should those two branches be about 120 degrees apart from one another? If I do remove the main candle, do I do it after the needles have pushed out to about 45 degrees or wait until they are fully extended and harded off or do it now and allow a secondary candle to get the spring energy? then do I reduce the number of secondary candles to three? one for the new leader and two for branching? That's a start, thanks for your help. -Wm BTW..I live in an area where I can get two buddings and candleings in a season. __________________ Life without Bonsai would be...well, death.