Bud Selection / Pruning on Vigorous Japanese Black Pine 1 yr Seedlings

[RobertB]

I thought I had seen something on this before but i have searched Bonsai tonight up and down and a little research here and cannot find anything on.

My concern is if i allow my vigorous 1 year seedlings with multiple whorls of bud to extend is, it could lead to reverse taper in the section of the tree i plan to keep. Most of these whorls are only a few inches from the soil.

I wouldn't think you would prune these now as the trees are just starting to grow (energy deficit?), maybe June timeframe. Obviously this would slow them down some but it seams logical to keep only a pair of the strongest buds / candles (whatever you call them). Of coarse im trying to grow these to win the 6 yr pine competition but im also looking at for the tree as i want these to last for a century. I would rather have more control and less growth if it leads to a higher quality tree.

thoughts?

 

[Anthony]

I am not sure if there is anything to win.
I think the idea is to see if you can match the result
in Bonsai Today 20,

Nicely done by the way,
More power to ypu !!
Good Day
Anthony

 

[RobertB]

and what the heck are these?

 

[Dav4]

Leave the buds for now for sacrifice branches and future leader... and those are pollen cones... you have a baby boy!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Yeah, I went ahead and did some techniques past the first year on some seedlings.
Bud selection - hell yeah! Nice balance.
Cutting the shoot back to a few mm - shoots everywhere and the tree is going to take some extra time to develop.

I haven't done candle cutting.

Please note that I used just 5 store bought seedlings, not very representative.

 

[RobertB]

Leave the buds for now for sacrifice branches and future leader... and those are pollen cones... you have a baby boy!

I am just worried about a bulge of inverse taper (once these grow out) and the only thing to cut back to later is much lower on some as of now. Also, should i remove the pollen cones so the tree doesnt spend its energy on? If so , when?

 

[Dav4]

I am just worried about a bulge of inverse taper (once these grow out) and the only thing to cut back to later is much lower on some as of now. Also, should i remove the pollen cones so the tree doesnt spend its energy on? If so , when?

You can leave the cones, as they’ll fall away soon. Don’t worry about reverse taper as you’re going to let a single sacrifice run and thicken up the whole trunk eventually. The other buds/ branches will either be kept for future leader, branching, or be removed.

 

[RobertB]

You can leave the cones, as they’ll fall away soon. Don’t worry about reverse taper as you’re going to let a single sacrifice run and thicken up the whole trunk eventually. The other buds/ branches will either be kept for future leader, branching, or be removed.

thank you much for your time here. I am very new to pines but enjoying (and really bonsai for the most part). I have seen some peoples young trees where they dont really have a dominant single sacrifice. Maybe they slowed down the vigorous shoot for some reason, but i wasnt sure if there was a chance that all the buds could grow at close to the same rate.

 

[Dav4]

All I do for mine at this stage is wire the trunk for shape and decide what the buds will be used for in the future. You want them to grow hard this year. You can remove buds if you want but I’d keep at least 3

 

[DirkvanDreven]

If you are growing the top shoot as sacrifice branche, the lower shoots will not become vigorous enough to create reverse taper. I do make choices in wich shoots low on the stem to keep. To make sure they stay healthy, but as small as possible.
BTW I don't mess with one and two year old seedlings yet. Other seedlings, about five years old I do make choices wich shoots to keep, and wich shoots to use as trunk extension.

 

[RobertB]

I understand. Mine seam to be growing pretty quickly. If you watch them for a few minutes you can basically see them growing.

 

[RobertB]

Anyone know why these candles are limp? It's only on like 2 out of the 100.

The worst ones haven't been fertilized much yet.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Crush up a little viagra and water it in, they'll stiffen right up.

Could be the candles are growing so fast the roots are not quite able to keep up with water. They should straighten up in time. If only 2 out of 100, don't worry about it. If you see color changes suspect a vascular disease, but at moment, they look perfectly healthy. Don't worry.

 

[RobertB]

I moved them to more light and they perked right up. Separated from main batch just in case.