AusBonsai

Matt S wrote: ↑April 4th, 2020, 12:59 pm A radiata will never look as manicured as a JBP so these two trees will always look a but scruffy, but after seeing some good examples in Melbourne a few years ago I reckon I should be able to reduce the size of the needles a bit more.

I think your 100% right about leaving a radiata a little more full. I really like this example from the National Collection. I also believe they have another radiata but i couldn't find a photo of it on my phone. But you get the idea of the scruffy look

Another year, another Autumn needle cleanup on my Radiata pines. As the number of shoots increases it's taking longer to pluck out the old needles, so I've only had time for one tree so far.

I took off a lot more needles than previous years so it doesn't look as full, but there's been a decent amount of new shoots produced so I was able to replace the leader on the ends of a few branches. The needles are no shorter but hopefully over the years as ramification improves they'll get smaller, but as I said before they'll never look as neat as a black pine.


Matt.

Looking great

Cool looking Tree ,Matt. Plenty of weight to carry a a few scruffy needles , adds to the personality of the tree . Cheers John.

This is an interesting thread, and it continues to improve - the tree that is.
Thanks for the inspiration I will get moving on one of my radiata pines this weekend.

I don't wish to cause distress, but is neat such a good thing?

Gavin

Tend to agree with you GavinG. I be inclined to have the tree more tidy and healthy. I do like the tree as it is. Yes tidy and healthy giving it more room to develop and grow
Cheers RodM

I finished the maintenance on the second radiata over the weekend. Once again it took a few hours to pluck the old needles, especially as this tree seems to have grown stronger over summer than the other radiata. I use my fingers to pluck the needles rather than tweezers as I find it easier with this species, and I'm still relying on a block of wood to keep the tree upright. At the next repot I'll have to rethink the way secure the tree in the pot.


Matt.

They look great, interesting to see how or if the needles shorten up with increased ramification over time.
Do you treat them as a single flush or double flush species, asking as I have seen them referred to as both

I was a bit late with the needle plucking this year so I only completed this a few weeks ago. There were a lot of young shoots and last summer’s growth was really rampant so I decided to cut the needles back as well as reduce a lot of older shoots at the tips. I have no issues with cutting needles when a pine is in development or if it’s not going to be shown for a while. The short needles makes it look more like a black pine but it shows the structure nicely. I removed a strong branch in the apex and separated out the foliage into more distinct pads, as I figure that once the next flush of needles grows out it will fill the gaps again. I think keeping it simpler will suit the upcoming scruffiness.

Beech92 - Sorry I didn't answer last time - I treat my Radiatas as a single flush. I pinch the candles by about 2 thirds as they mature during the growing season (rather than all at once in summer). This started yesterday as some of the candles/shoots were already well advanced. I know a lot of people treat Radiatas as double flush but I found that the growth on my trees wasn't predictable enough to do this successfully.

Matt.

.. and now that I'm looking at that photo, I'm thinking that the bottom branch could be reduced by about half. Hmmmm.