Beginner question - Is this Pine hopeless?

[Srt8madness]

I thought JBP don't require a dormancy? So many people here growing them in Australia including a whole nursery in Queensland, @Shibui @Ryceman3 . Can someone confirm?

It's a common and oft repeated myth that JBP need some "frost" period or something. Often made by people living in cooler climates. One of the most vigorously growing JBP I've ever seen was in the tropics, and even posted here on the 'nut.

 

[minkes]

"so I assume it will work on most pines." as long as one has needles in the area, right? No needles, not buds? Thanks for the clarification.

As I know from my pines - No needles = much much less possibility for buds, but sometimes miracles happens... sometimes.. But you will need strong and healthy needle mass that will produce possibility for backbudding on the parts of branch without needles. So my priority will be to let the tree build strenght for one or more years with good free draining substrate and lot of fertilizer.

 

[Shibui]

I thought JBP don't require a dormancy? So many people here growing them in Australia including a whole nursery in Queensland, @Shibui @Ryceman3 . Can someone confirm?

No problem growing JBP in frost free areas. Some growers get 3 or 4 flushes of growth each year.

 

[Shibui]

"so I assume it will work on most pines." as long as one has needles in the area, right? No needles, not buds? Thanks for the clarification.

Yes. Buds form at the base of the needle fascicle just as new buds form at the base of leaf stems on deciduous trees. Healthy needles = almost certain buds.
No needles on pines can be several different situations.
- 3 year old needles have recently fallen. There's still a good chance of buds here.
- Areas that were the bare 'necks' of strong candles. Never had needles. Almost no chance of buds here.
- Older sections where needles fell off several years ago. Decreasing chances of buds according to how long since the needles died.
As @minkes pointed out, expect the unexpected but don't rely on it. It's not common but sometimes we do get buds on older parts, especially if the tree is vigorous and was pruned hard.

 

[souvik1811]

As Peter Chan would say, I bit the proverbial bullet and chopped the 'Keeper' branches. I believe I have kept enough healthy needles, and I removed the wiring that was in between, hopefully to not interfere with any growing buds.

I left a strongly growing branch upwards, which I eventually intend to use as a sacrifice branch. The only fear I have, as @Shibui said, is that the upright growing candle might overpower these two branches. I hope I can wait for some weeks, and then if I do not get buds yet, I might chop the upward branch too. :/ I wonder if that is a reasonable idea, or am I nuts?

 

[SeanS]

If you want to use a branch as a sacrifice then you shouldn’t have cut it. You need the sacrifice to grow with all the might it can to thicken everything below it. Now you have to hope and wait that some buds will pop, and then wait for one of them to grow to the size that the candle would have grown to before that new sacrifice starts doing any fattening to the tree. You’ve essentially taken a season (or 2) sized step backwards.