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Scots Pine Pruning
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Author:  TomB [ 11 Aug 2018, 19:47 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning

Brahma wrote:
Hello folks. I'm itching to cut my Scots' back so that I can start watching for back budding! It's August 11th - 12th this weekend, can I take this to be middle of August? Have any of you guys started cutting back yet?

Andy

I’ve done about half of mine so far, cutting new growth back to a few pairs of needles. I didn’t do any candle pinching at all this spring. Growth has been very vigorous- conditions this year have been good for pines.

Author:  Brahma [ 11 Aug 2018, 23:09 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning

Ok, thanks Tom - will be out with the scissors in the morning!!

Andy

Author:  Brahma [ 13 Aug 2018, 14:04 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning

Hi folks,

I have pruned my Scots pine. Of the four shoots, I've removed one from one of the two branch esaltogether and wired it down and will use this as a sacrifice branch. My thinking is this will help to heal the scar that was left and also continue to fatten the trunk.

On the other branch, I've reduced the two shoots back; one of these will be the new trunk and the other will be the start of the first branch.

Have I done it right? Not sure whether the two keeper shoots are cut short enough?

Andy

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Author:  Gary Jones [ 13 Aug 2018, 15:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning

I think you may get buds where you cut. That's my guess. If if buds all over much better.

Author:  TomB [ 13 Aug 2018, 15:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning

Looks OK. I think you already have an existing bud between the needles at the top of your highest branch? If so that's likely to develop into a stronger shoot by next spring. In any case, if the tree has been growing strongly you should get some budding at the cut and probably some further back too. I'd be fertilising regularly between now and winter (nothing fancy, just basic garden centre stuff). Needless to say don't pull any needles this year. I wouldn't have cut the keepers back any further because the needles are pretty sparse - you need to keep enough greenery to keep the engine running.
This picture of a Scots pine, taken in May 2018, shows the result of this kind of treatment in August 2017 (admittedly on a more mature tree than yours).
Image
That's what you're hoping to see next spring. After a year or two of growth those shoots would be strong enough to cut back to.

Views may differ on this but I'd probably nip off the terminal buds on the sacrifice branch too - this will reduce the flow of hormones down to the roots, and hopefully trigger the budding response.

EDIT: forgot to say, you were asking earlier about bare-rooting the other half of your rootball, and I suggested next spring - I'd only do that if you get a strong response (healthy growth, lots of buds developing into candles) from the tree. Otherwise leave it another year. Also, given the stage of development I wouldn't do any candle pinching next spring - just let everything grow, and cut again in August 2019.

Author:  Brahma [ 13 Aug 2018, 17:46 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning

Thanks Tom - I'll nip the top out of the leader too - there ar 3 candles in there and I'm assuming based on what you've said, I need to nip the tops off of all 3?

Be nice if I can get any back budding like you've shown in your picture, but even if it only puts out a couple of buds on each of my keepers I'll be pleased.

Thanks again, Tom,

Andy

Author:  TomB [ 13 Aug 2018, 19:36 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning

Brahma wrote:
Thanks Tom - I'll nip the top out of the leader too - there ar 3 candles in there and I'm assuming based on what you've said, I need to nip the tops off of all 3?

Assuming you mean the sacrifice, then yes I would.

Author:  darreng [ 14 Aug 2018, 01:41 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning

I cut the apex of my big one today. I wasn’t going to due to earlier work this year, but this season was so good the tree was going for a second flush! So figured it could handle it.

Author:  TomB [ 02 Sep 2018, 17:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning

Coming back to this thread just to demonstrate how this works:

The new growth on this one was trimmed 13/8/18. There are now buds developing at the cut tip (top arrow) and also further back (lower arrow):

Image

This one is a few days further on, having been trimmed 5/8/18. Nice cluster of buds developing at the cut tip:

Image

Further buds should develop over autumn and into winter, if the tree is strong and has adequate fertiliser available.

Author:  Brahma [ 17 Sep 2018, 17:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: Scots Pine Pruning

Just been out to check my pines and I'm well chuffed as I have some buds coming! Actually, I'm quite shocked because there are loads of buds, a lot more than I was thinking there would be! Is there a timeline as to when I should start selecting buds?

Also, the needles on one of my Pines have fairly coarse needles. I haven't worried about that too much while I've been growing the trunks, but how do I start controlling this going forward? I want to start growing shorter, finer needles.

Thanks as always,

Andy

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