Black Pine Query

simon

hi everyone i have a question about reducing the needles on this tree they are a good five inches long the poor thing looks like cousin it i read the article on defoliating pines but still dont know which needles to pull off i understand the bit about cutting the candles i know i ask for a lot of help from you guys but it is truly apreciated
regards simon

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simon

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TreeBay

Pine work is calendar dependent. Since you are in the southern hemisphere it may need a bit of translation too.

Usually the first step is getting the tree very healthy. This is usually evidenced by strong candles. Since it's winter is just ending where you are, we wouldn't expect much in the way of candle growth at this point.

The following holds for all types of pines:

1) Assuming its in reasonable health, you can begin by removing needles that are growing within one inch or so of all the branch junctures (where there are Y formations) New twigs form from dormant buds within the needles, and the points at which you already have branch junctures are not points where you need more.

2) Next step is judicious thinning of mature needles. You want to leave more needles on the lower and interior branches. This depends on the variety of pine. If it's a black pine in very good health, you might leave 8 pairs of needles on the upper and exterior branches and more - like 12 or more on the lower ones (assuming they have that many!) The needles to be left should be those at the extreme end of the shoot.

If the plant, or specific branches are weak, don't do anything with those. Be very cautious not to bend or break needles on other branches and it's a good idea to hold the branch in one hand while you pluck the needles with the other. Many people advocate the use of tweezers for needle plucking, and bud selection, and you can find some of those on the TreeBay site.

If it's a corkbark tree, red pine, or white pine, they aren't as vigorous, so you don't pluck as much. Corkbark is also brittle, so be careful!

Moving into spring it's time for bud selection. As the spring buds form you will probably count more than two buds on the strongest shoots. You might see 4 or even six or more buds forming. You can reduce those to just 2, and pick the WEAKEST. On the lower and interior branches you may leave 3, but pick the STRONGEST.

In late spring the shoots will begin to extend. Depending on the method you are using, you may be pinching back long candles, or you may be allowing them to grow out to be removed entirely in the late summer. The second method is the one I advocate in the TreeBay Bonsai Tools & Supplies article, and you can read more there. New buds may be removed with the tweezer or sometiimes rubbed off in a downward direction if they are still small. When they are larger they need to be cut.

For white pines, we generally pinch back 1/2 of the weaker candle and 2/3 of the stronger before the buds start to show white in their sheaths.

I hope I haven't confused you by trying to make this a general treatment. If you have more questions after you've begun the process of cleaning out the branch junctions and plucking some of the needles, just post a picture and we will pick up from there. Ideally the plucking is a fall (I almost typed "October," slap my hand), but you can cheat it a bit to get your tree back on schedule.

Regards,

Matt

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simon

first of all thankyou for replying matt i'm way over my head with this one but i'll give it a go am i right in thinking that i pull all of the needles off except on the end of a branch where there is a candle and where ever there is a candle budding out from the branch

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TreeBay

I'm not sure what you are referring to as candles. It's a bit dark so I can't see distinct candles or buds at the tips of your branches, but they may just be hidden.

Usually candles are referred to as the extensions of buds, where needles develop protected by a sheath. Once the needles poke out of the sheaths, and open out, they aren't candles anymore and become branches

This photo of me doing some long-overdue weeding shows a pine with some candles that are opening out at the tips of branches



At this time of year (spring where you live) I would expect to see on your tree mostly mature needles surrounding new buds. It's mature needles that I am talking about thinning. The developing buds at their center get reduced in number, as I described above.

In the yellow areas you've defined you'd leave just a few random needle pairs to encourage the development of branchlets. I suspect as you thin your way in there, you will find more little branchlets than you have shown by the purple circles. If you find a branchlet in the yellow zone, but strip the needles at its base.

If you don't find

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bonsaial1

Here are a couple of shots of the newgrowth from the candle prune I did in early summer. It has taken about a month for the buds to push this far. The tree does not have the same energy it had in spring, so the second flush will be smaller. The needles are about 12 to 13 mm. You can tell their reduced size compared to the old needles.

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bonsaial1

I reduce the buds to two on each tip. this is a pic of the very top of the tree.

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candle2.jpg (38.2 KB, 95 views)

bonsaial1

These are a few slopokes. They are just starting to unwind now.

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