Can You Trunk Chop A Japanese Black Pine?

dustin

Well here I go again with JBP questions...

This is an easy one I hope. Ive researched information on doing a trunk chop on a JBP. It basically says to chop and leave a good 8-10 inches on the trunk because the sap loss will kill a good portion of the trunk. Ive done several trunk chops, in the spring of this year, on maples and elms and have had great success in the new shoots being strong and the trees being very healthy.

So Ive found a few nice sized but young JBP's at a local nursery for cheap, and all have gangly but present branches all the way down to the stump. When I say gangly I mean that they have strong branches high up, but the really low ones look like baby branches, but are high in numbers all the way down to the soil. Can I follow the normal technique for chopping or will the sap loss on such a large gash kill the tree? Should I wait until winter when sap wont flow as easily? Should I chop now and seal the wound?

Thanks for any advice on this. Im still planning on getting an established pine, but found these yesterday and would like to attempt to get them in training.

Dustin

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Attila

Dustin,

My experience with JBP trunk chops (I've done a lot) is that as long as the tree is strong and healthy, and there are plenty of buds or baby branches on the lower part of the trunk (with needles on them, of course), there is no problem removing half of the crown. The tree will grow out furiously those low branches and also new ones. The best is not to disturb the roots too much (so, no rootpruning) when you do this. You could do it if you had a lot of experience, but in your case it's best to prune the roots next time.

There is no point of chopping it now, since the tree already stopped growing and it is in the process of storing extra nutrients in the roots (nutrients necessary to carry it through the coming winter). The stronger the tree during the winter, the more new growth next spring. If you chop it now, the tree will enter the winter in a weakened condition, exactly when it should be the strongest.

So, I would chop it during the tail-end of the winter, about a month before the sap started to rise in preparation for the spring growth.


Regards,
Attila