Development pruning black pine

[shibui]

Pines are a genus that cause angst for many new bonsai growers. They have different growth habit from many other species and need special treatment.
In an attempt to demystify black pines I offer the following pictorial guide to development pruning.

note that I use 2 different pruning regimes for black pines depending on the stage of bonsai development. In the early stages I want the trunk to grow and thicken so I need to allow the tree to grow freely but I need to be aware and not let it get too leggy because black pines are reluctant to bud on bare wood.

First, let's look at the growth habit of black pine.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 01 with comments.jpg

All leaves get old and eventually do not work well. Deciduous trees start with fresh leaves every year. Conifers retain leaves (needles) for several years until they are not functioning well. Black pines seem to hold needles for about 3 years before they turn brown and drop off leaving bare trunks.
Black pines can produce buds where there are needles but only occasionally bud from bare areas so if you want to prune your pine and be reasonably sure of getting it to produce new buds only cut as far as healthy needles. The tree pictured above has needles on all parts of the tree because it is only 3 years old. You can cut this one almost anywhere and be confident that it will bud and continue to grow.
Here's how I pruned it.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 02.JPG

A few years later the older areas have lost the needles.
This 4yo pine has lost the needles on the lowest area so it may not bud down there. you will also notice more pronounced bare areas where the candles had no needles near the base. Buds will also not usually form in those bare areas.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 05.JPG

Here is one place to prune leaving both needles and side shoots where the tree will grow again.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 06.JPG

The problem with this prune is the long trunk with almost no taper.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 07.JPG

Most bonsai look more powerful when the lower trunk is well tapered so I prune even lower - another example of going backward to get ahead.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 08.JPG

Either of those side branches I have left can be used to grow the new trunk. Not only will the new trunk have better taper, it will also have movement where the branches grew at an angle from the original trunk. Both these factors will add interest to our future pine bonsai.

[Boics]

Thanks Shibui.
With the help of Jow, Yourself, Ryan Neil and practise on my own tree's I think I'm finally starting to get a handle on Pines and needle producing trees.

[shibui]

I've also added a thread with details of maintenance pruning for more advanced black pines here viewtopic.php?f=131&t=23352

[kcpoole]

Thank you Neil, What an excellent set of threads.
Very timely too as now is the time to do them, if not already done

Ken

[CraigM]

Thanks Shibui, both threads are very helpful.

The maintenance link above refers back to the development thread.

[kcpoole]

I was advised the link.is inccorrect and will fix tonight for Neil

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[kcpoole]

I was advised the link.is inccorrect and will fix tonight for Neil

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Fixed now

Ken

[orpy]

Great post Shibui - thanks.
What are the pros/cons of development pruning at this & other times of the year?


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[dan.e]

Thanks Neil your a legend

[shibui]

What are the pros/cons of development pruning at this & other times of the year?

Great question Orpy.
Pruning in winter and early spring will still produce plenty of buds but they tend to grow larger and often have bare necks at the base ie just like normal spring candles.
Pruning in December will usually give new shoots that are smaller and more compact which can be useful in some cases, especially if you intend to keep the tree a bit smaller.
If you prune later in summer or autumn, new buds will still form but usually don't open until the following spring when they will usually be larger and stronger see winter/spring above. This means the tree will have minimum growth on it for at leas several months until spring buds grow. If aiming for maximum growth we try to retain foliage and shoots so autumn pruning could be counterproductive.

All the above is based on cooler climate. I understand that in warmer areas pines can grow new shoots later in the year and may even respond to autumn pruning.

[shibui]

Here are a few more examples of developing trees being pruned.
Here's an older pine showing what happens when you don't prune early. Note the long, bare trunk which will almost certainly not produce buds.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 09.JPG

black pine pruning Dec 2016 10.JPG

I'm not really sure where this tree is going so I have just pruned all branches back so they will bud and produce new shoots which will give me more options for the next couple of years. It may end up as a literati, a taller tree or someone really clever might use advanced techniques to carve and/or bend the trunk to bring the apex down a bit.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 11.JPG

This next one was from the grow beds but has been in the pot for 2 years now and has had 2 years' free growth so it is time to cut back to prevent us being left with bare branches.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 12.JPG

Last time this one was pruned the buds that formed were not thinned out. You can see they grow in whorls from the same level on the trunk. Already it has started to swell at this point. It is important to reduce the number of shoots at each spot while developing pines.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 13.JPG

black pine pruning Dec 2016 14.JPG

You can see that I've left the lower branches unpruned. They are being used as sacrifice branches to try to thicken the base of this tree so even if they end up bare it won't matter because they will only be cut off eventually.

Even pines growing in the ground need to be pruned every few years to prevent long bare branches.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 15.JPG

black pine pruning Dec 2016 16.JPG

[orpy]

Will you now let these run unheeded for another 2 or so years until lower needs are about to drop? Do you keep an eye on leaders becoming too dominant & rebalancing energy throughout the development, or is addressing this at pruning time sufficient?


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[shibui]

Will you now let these run unheeded for another 2 or so years until lower needs are about to drop?

That's about it unless I decide they are ready to start ramification to develop branches, etc. Occasionally I also intervene because the tree is not growing the way I had intended so pruning can be any time of year while the tree is growing on.
I do need to watch out for any part of a tree becoming too dominant. It may not be a leader in the top of the tree. Sometimes those sacrifice branches from low on the trunk can take off and steal all the energy from the rest of the tree. If I notice that part of the tree is taking over at the expense of another part I think I might need I will prune the stronger branch whatever time of year it is.
When growing lots of trees in the ground you can't watch all of them all of the time so you often need to reassess the tree you end up with and change plans to fit in with what has grown. The next set of pictures will show this.

[shibui]

Here is a small pine where the trunk has become unusable. This is one of my Canberra shohin black pine project trees courtesy of Scott. It is 3 or 4 years old now.
Initially I wired the trunk to put some movement in, intending it to be an informal upright tree but thanks to leaving too many branches at the top, the upright trunk now has reverse taper, no side branches to cut back to and no needles that might produce new shoots.

black pine pruning Dec 2016 17.JPG

black pine pruning Dec 2016 19.JPG

Fortunately I had already wired some movement into one of the lower branches. You can see that the lower branch still has needles that are likely to produce new buds. It also has a couple of side shoots that might be used to build ramification so it is the obvious choice for a new trunk. I also like the flow of the existing trunk up into that branch/trunk (see next picture)

black pine pruning Dec 2016 20.JPG

Still not certain where this one will go- informal upright? semi cascade? cascade? literati? Initial style will depend on how it buds and grows in the next year or 2.

Because the project specifies producing a shohin sized tree I need to be careful to have plenty of shoots close together and minimal bare trunk so I think after this I will start to use maintenance pruning on it rather than continuing with the development regime which has a tendency to produce long growth.