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Scots Pine Pruning
http://weetrees.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15344		 Page 4 of 8
Author:  NickB [ 16 Oct 2016, 13:13 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning
Brahma wrote:
Brilliant, thanks Bill. I've last question on this subject for now - when is he best time to wire Scott's and Mugo's? Is it ok to do that now? Or is the a spring / summer job?


The best time to wire a Pine is after the new needles have hardened off. I have made the mistake of wiring too early in the season and had a bunch of needles come away as soon as wire has touched them. So, I would recommend waiting until old needles are turning yellow and falling, which signifies the new needles are ready to take their place.
So, even in early September this year I tried wiring a Scotty and lost about half the new needles before giving up as a bad job. Now, in mid October, the old needles have pretty much turned yellow and fallen, so its a perfect time.

Its interesting when I drive round now I see mature Pines dropping yellow needles, so its a good time to start work.

Pruning is a different story, and can be started late summer for maximum back-budding, when the new needles have stopped extending.
Author:  Brahma [ 30 May 2018, 11:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning
Next instalment on Scots Pine!

Hi folks. This pine was bothering me being tall and lanky and while it was supposed to be a "learning tree" I figured there's no point having something to learn on if you don't try and build something out of it. So, as this tree had a lot of big aggressive growth up top and looked a lot more like a landscape tree, I decided to chop it back hard. I left about 6" of old trunk above a bud low down and thought I'd try and build a tree from there. A bit if a gamble but I figured nothing ventured and all that ....!

This the little shoot I cut back to:

Image

That was at the end of 2016. Last year the bud was pinched again and grew some more shoots and at the beginning of this year, I carved away the rest of the old trunk and took it down so that it was below the new shoots.

This is the "stump" today.

Image

My initial low bud has now become four shoots! Candle growth is good this year but as you can see, on one shoot, the two candles have no needles on the bottom. What has caused this? And how does this affect how I prune? I believe the rule of thumb is to reduce candles to no farther than two pairs of needles - if I do this, I will be leaving 1" - 2" of bare candle. Is this ok? Should I still wait until mid July before I cut back?

Image

The other shoot also has two candles, these don't look quite like the first two, but are shaping up to be the same.

Image

Is this normal candle growth on healthy SP's? Or have I done something wrong?
Author:  TomB [ 30 May 2018, 12:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning
That's very young, leggy growth. I would wait until mid August before you touch the shoots, so the tree builds strength, then cut back the top ones to maybe 4 (or more) pairs of needles and the bottom ones to maybe 6 (or more). Then you should get new buds at the tips, and also further down on the branches. Don't get any ideas about removing old needles, this tree is too young for that.
Author:  Brahma [ 30 May 2018, 12:33 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning
Thanks Tom. So is that likely leggy because I've over fed it?
Author:  TomB [ 30 May 2018, 12:47 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning
Partly, perhaps. Combination of available nitrogen, water, root mass relative to foliage, and the fact that the tree is in a rapid growth phase. It will slow down over time, but the legginess makes it important to try to develop some growth closer in to the trunk now. I'd say that applied no matter what your eventual design goal was.

If you wanted, you could leave one of the top shoots upruned, and develop it as a sacrifice trunk to help heal the cut and thicken that second section. Depends on how tall you see the tree eventually being.
Author:  Brahma [ 30 May 2018, 15:40 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning
Thanks Tom. Should I reduce the amount of water this is getting? And should I cut back on its feeding? As its a tree in development, I've assumed I should be giving it a lot of both? My plan was to cut back at least one of the candles quite short to keep the growth near the main trunk; if I leave the shoots until August, wont I risk increasing the amount of candle with no young needles?

Also, I did a half rootball repot last year and was planning on doing the other half this year. Do you think that will still be ok to do?

Thanks,

Andy
Author:  TomB [ 30 May 2018, 15:47 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning
You could probably water a bit less.

Don't cut the feed now, you are going to get big needles but you're a few years away from having to worry about needle size.

Cutting the candles now will give you buds at the cut point but (probably) not further back. You'll get a better result later in the year. The needles at the base won't move much further 'forward' if you see what I mean; the 'bald' bit shouldn't increase that much (and you may well get buds on it after pruning in August).

I'd do the repot next March or so. Don't try to do too much at once, it will be counterproductive.
Author:  Brahma [ 30 May 2018, 16:22 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning
Great stuff. Thanks Tom
Author:  Deano [ 30 May 2018, 22:46 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning
This thread delivers year after year. Fantastic for Scots and mugo early development.
Author:  Brahma [ 01 Jun 2018, 14:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning
Just visiting this again. Will pruning now versus pruning in August affect how the tree grows? Am I right in thinking that even tho I want buds about 2" up on these shoots, if I leave it to grow, it will produce more needles, more needles equals more photosynthesising, more photosynthesising equals more energy, more energy equals more budding across the whole tree? Have I understood it right?
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