Pine maintenance schedule

[Luke308]

Remove EVERY candle from the tree - Strong, Weak and even unopened candles - all at once.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but would only apply in refinement not developing trees? I have a couple of pines that are ready to be refined (main trunk and branches I am happy with) and looking to start a pine schedule.

[treeman]

In my opinion many black pines I see have too many needles removed on trees that are already weak. (or have become weak from this practice of extreme shoot and needle removal) You are left with a tree that looks like it's on the edge of life and death and has little strength to do what you want it too the following year. For the first 10 years at least, all you need to do is remove the strong candles from each shoot leaving the 2 weakest ones and breaking them off after they extend enough (but before the needles open out) to leave a few needles on each. That's for the strong zones. For the weak zones you remove the weakest and leave the strongest (if there are more than 2 candles) and break them off when they have extended a bit. In winter you prune out any strong shoots replacing the leader with a weaker one further down then equalize the number of needles using a medium-strength shoot as your guide. You many have to remove half of the new needles from the strongest parts and leave half of the old needles on the weakest.
The best way to achieve heavy ramification on young trees is to prune off all the summer growth in about mid April (Melbourne) This will give you buds (not growth) everywhere including on old wood and then you can select which ones to keep just before they open in the following spring. The more you let the shoot grow over summer the more buds you get. This works really well for Black, Scots and Red (and probably others as well)

[shibui]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but would only apply in refinement not developing trees? I have a couple of pines that are ready to be refined (main trunk and branches I am happy with) and looking to start a pine schedule.

These techniques are for the refinement stage of these pine species. I use quite different regime for developing trees to achieve faster growth.
Please note that the quote above was my interpretation of what Ryan said at the convention. I know that I leave really small candles and unopened buds on weaker branches so that those areas will gain in strength. I believe that balancing the number of needles by plucking or cutting extras from stronger areas is also important for balancing strength and equalising future growth.
I have not tried snapping developing candles but I think it sounds like a valuable additional technique. Some of the small buds I have left at candle cutting time end up way too long so shortening them would be appropriate at that stage.

Mike, I assume when you say 'for the first 10 years at least' you are talking about the developing phase of your pines? After that do you continue with the same or change it a bit for maintenance?

Your final para - pruning mid April to get lots of buds along the branch is basically what I do for developing trees but I'll often let the tree grow unpruned for 2-3 years before pruning back to just above the oldest (lowest) needles. Just wondering haw growth would be affected if this was done every year during the development/ growing phase?

[treeman]

Mike, I assume when you say 'for the first 10 years at least' you are talking about the developing phase of your pines? After that do you continue with the same or change it a bit for maintenance?

I've spend 20 years getting the trunks right and so up until the last couple of years I mainly just pruned and needle thinned to keep the top is some kind of balance. Now I'm arriving at the stage where I can start to remove spring shoots to shorten internodes and increase ramification without worrying too much about back budding etc. What I meant by the 10 years thing was that I think many people worry too much about short needles and ramification before getting the foundation down. (ie the trunk and the primary and secondary branches)

Your final para - pruning mid April to get lots of buds along the branch is basically what I do for developing trees but I'll often let the tree grow unpruned for 2-3 years before pruning back to just above the oldest (lowest) needles. Just wondering haw growth would be affected if this was done every year during the development/ growing phase?

[/quote]

I haven't done it every year just now and then. I think it's probably wise to let the tree rest for a year between that heavy autumn pruning but you still need to break candles every year after you've got the trunk you want. For the stuff in the ground I'll just let the shoot rocket away without touching it so it can get half a metre or more long then cut back in autumn or spring. Just very roughly with a pair of Felcos. I try to make sure I always have a smaller weaker branch in a good place to prune to the following year and that's how I get the taper.

[shibui]

Yep, that all makes sense and basically the same as I do here - grow and cut initially to develop the trunk and start of branches then candle pruning and maintenance schedule after that to develop ramification and smaller shoots and needles.

What I meant by the 10 years thing was that I think many people worry too much about short needles and ramification before getting the foundation down.

Exactly! new pine owners see something written about cutting candles and want to apply it to little skinny seedlings Grow the tree first