Vance Wood

If you start cutting you will start getting back budding. Any time you have smooth bark, as you have on this tree, it is likely to back bud way down low on the trunk. These branches were likely produced during a period of very rapid and vigorous growth and are probably not that old. I pointed out to you the old needle scars? This is where the budding will take place. It is when you start getting the hard flaky bark that back budding becomes an issue.

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The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa