My usual regime is to remove them in Autumn at the same time as any needle work and then you know your work on pines for this season has finished. You can do that work now if you like.


The guidelines for bud selection that I use whether to keep or remove them are as follows:

Keep only 2 buds max per terminal. Look at the whorl of buds at the ends and rub off or tweezer pinch (depending on size) those buds that :

Emerge at the top or bottom & point straight up or down
Pointing across or will potentially interfere with an existing pad
Buds that appear in existing branch crotches that, if left alone, will result in a 3 forked branch.
Buds on the inside of bends are usually rubbed off.

Keep 2 lateral buds, emerging from the sides of the branch, ideally pointing slightly up. Remember these buds will turn into candles next season and then harden off into shoots and eventually be a woody branch so their angle needs to be pleasing - you are saving yourself some work by encouraging the tree to push growth in the right direction.

Why 2 buds? Firstly, it looks far more aesthetically pleasing, avoids congested branching and also the unsightly knuckle growth that will eventually lead to taper problems.

Finally, when you are doing bud selection and you want to use it to reign in the pine's natural apical dominance then look at the bud strength. Bigger, fatter buds have more energy and they will grow more vigorously than their smaller, frailer cousins. Using this information we try to keep the fattest buds in the lower third of the tree where it's normally the weakest, middle strength buds in the middle third and weakest buds in the top third / apex.

On many occasions it's a trade off or compromise. If there is a great bud placed in the top third that will make an excellent branch on the outside of a curve but it's massive then I'd keep it but I'd remember to pinch it back if the candle was way too strong. Same thing with top or bottom budding - you have to ask yourself 'if I let that bud grow into a candle can I wire it more laterally or will it look a complete chuff emerging from the bottom of a branch and bending up to fill in the pad?'

I hope this hasn't bored many weetree ers to death - please ask if you want further clarification.

A variant to this would be to keep three buds - 2 as described as above and one dominant. The dominant one will keep the other two small the following spring and then be removed in the summer leaving the two smaller ones. I don't claim much expertise in this area but that's how my teacher does it - he says that's the way it's done in Japan (he is Japanese).

Hi Paul

This is brilliant thank you - I think I'll bookmark this thread for future reference. I'm gonna go and see which buds I want to keep and get rid of the others now. Can I prune out the unwanted branches now too?

Thanks again,

Andy

as for the resin, i wouldn't waste the cut paste, a bit of tape will keep it just at the cut and can be removed after a couple of weeks, but not essential imo.

Thanks again for the feedback and comments gents. I'm assuming I can treat my Mugo pine in much the same way as it's also a 2 needle - 1 growth flush pine?