Colorado’s Literati Ponderosa Pine

[Shogun610]

View attachment 576938

Yo dog I heard you like ponderosas so we customized your ponderosa with ponderosa

 

[clem]

My ponderosa produce relatively small needles with one simple trick:
Clip off all the existing buds in spring, just before growth starts.
All new growth that follows in july with stay 1/3-1/4th the size of the original needle size.

I worked well for my EWP as well.

It looks like a very early mekiri which forces the tree to re-grow, isn't it ?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

It looks like a very early mekiri which forces the tree to re-grow, isn't it ?

It depends on how you look at it.
Shoot and candle cutting rely on growth that was already active, shutting it down and rebooting it.
This is removing dormant buds to force the plant to remake them first, before flushing out later in the year.
It diminished the initial influx of auxins and should therefore lead to less elongation in the new needles. On top of that, their growing season shortens, and there is just simply less time to elongate.

 

[clem]

Ok, It seems less tiring for the tree than a mekiri since we then cut its candles which cost it reserves to produce.