New Japanese White Pine

[Gsquared]

I scored on club night in Portland. Got this JWP var. hagoromo for a song at the silent auction. It is about 18” from the soil line and about 20-22” wide. Very vigorous. Trunk is about 3” and the roots are in great shape; radiating on all sides. I read a little about the variety and it is definitely following true to form as an umbrellate grower. It will need to have a lot of branches cut back from one whorl. I drew a little on one pic. Thinking this might be a good trunk line.

I haven’t worked in JWP before. Single flush pines freak me out a little after killing a great Mugo. I think that I will do some selective pruning before it goes in the cold frame. Until then, should I pinch back any of the elongated candles? Some are quite long and there are many twigs with 3 or more candles. Trim back to the smallest two?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Nice enough graft, but you need to terminate a large percentage of the wagon wheel spokes muy pronto or it will develop a bulge that will insure forever reverse taper at that point. The net volume of the branches araising from the trunk at that point needs to be less than the net volume of the (JWP) trunk below it to insure no reverse taper. And you need to equalize the top and roots to prevent the rootstock from growing a ~giant~ out of proportion lower trunk. If you take more off the top than the roots, on a continuing basis, the trunk of the rootstock will grow bigger than the JWP trunk. The bigger the difference, the more prominent the difference in bark appearance.

 

[Mike Westervelt]

You are probably ok to shorten long shoots now, but heavy pruning should be done in the fall.

There is an article on Bonsai4me in the species guide (can't attach link?) that pretty much aligns with what I've been taught.

 

[GGB]

Wow lucky you, all those branches coming from one spot and no "knuckling" I'd address that sooner than later. Good find

 

[GGB]

nice needles too

 

[cmeg1]

I wonder if this is one of @Brent low grafts?

 

[Gsquared]

Here is a sketch of the pine from above. I tried to show the branches radiating from the first level whorl. The branches are drawn to approximate their thicknesses n relation to one another. I’m pretty sure the the leader I chose is pretty solid and it has a well placed side branch that will make a good 2 nd branch

My dilemma is the small branch right in front of the new leader. It is thin enough to safely keep for another year or two, but should I just cut it in the fall? The same for the center branch rising from the middle of the trunk. I think that it will definitely need to go. If I go with the plan I’ve sketched there will be three branches coming from roughly the same place on the trunk: the first branch, the back branch (it is a little lower than the actual whorl) and the new leader. I think that reduction will be enough to prevent a swelling in the trunk.

I plan on reducing the two branches marked to jin in the fall. Do you think it would be safe to do both at the same time? Should I connect the two scars or leave the little bridge of cambium between?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I have had trouble growing JWP, but I have kept the occasional grafted specimen alive for 12 years before I goofed up. I would NOT remove branches now, wait until autumn, or better, late winter. Do not remove too much at once. Maybe 30% foliage this year, 30% next. If reverse taper knuckle has not formed yet, it won't form instantly. You have time to go slowly, and not shock this slow growing and relatively weak cultivar of JWP. This is not a super vigorous cultivar. 'Hagoromo' is one of the slowest growing of JWP, removing too much at once will send it into decline, possibly terminal decline.

I don't like to pinch or break candles. My best successes with younger, in development JWP was to simply prune and do bud or rather branch selection once a year around the autumnal equinox. Note, my climate is already cooling by equinox. If your first frost is later than October 15, do pruning and branch selection about 4 weeks before average first frost.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Your plan seems good, but, don't do all the removal at once. I would not connect jin, wait. Jin one branch one year, leave the other alive. Following autumn Jin the second branch. Time will tell if the Jin should be joined or not.

 

[mwar15]

Any update?