aleppo pine, a project for this weekend??

[Raymond]

I have an Aleppo pine that is growing in a grow bag. (pic tomorrow, im "working" at the moment.) I purchased this tree from Bonsai Emporium last august, and until now all I have done is wire it to get some movement into the trunk. I am in need of a project this weekend, and I was wondering in now is a good time to work on it

[Gerard]

Not a bad time for thinning and wiring but a little early if you plan to re-pot. Potting is best done late winter or early spring just before they start to move.

[Raymond]

here it is, my lovely wife sent me a pic. bagged on the 13 April 2014.

[bodhidharma]

Well it looks like you will be a busy boy and having fun this weekend. Dont forgot the main ingredient of

[Raymond]

Well it looks like you will be a busy boy and having fun this weekend. Dont forgot the main ingredient of

any tips for me Bodhi? Other than the ingredients... First crack at one of these...

[bodhidharma]

any tips for me Bodhi? Other than the ingredients... First crack at one of these...

Go slowly If it were mine i would scissor cut all the old needles instead of plucking to be safe. Be VERY careful and keep an eye out for buds cause you dont want to cut them off. Wire all the branches, even if you might not think you will need them later, trees change.

[Raymond]

any tips for me Bodhi? Other than the ingredients... First crack at one of these...

Go slowly If it were mine i would scissor cut all the old needles instead of plucking to be safe. Be VERY careful and keep an eye out for buds cause you dont want to cut them off. Wire all the branches, even if you might not think you will need them later, trees change.

[MoGanic]

any tips for me Bodhi? Other than the ingredients... First crack at one of these...

Go slowly If it were mine i would scissor cut all the old needles instead of plucking to be safe. Be VERY careful and keep an eye out for buds cause you dont want to cut them off. Wire all the branches, even if you might not think you will need them later, trees change.

I.e. use a pair of scissors to cut the old needles close to the base rather than removing them by plucking. When you pluck needles you run a high risk of damaging/removing the buds underneath them. Hence why we cut to maintain the buds.

Cheers,
Mo

[Raymond]

any tips for me Bodhi? Other than the ingredients... First crack at one of these...

Go slowly If it were mine i would scissor cut all the old needles instead of plucking to be safe. Be VERY careful and keep an eye out for buds cause you dont want to cut them off. Wire all the branches, even if you might not think you will need them later, trees change.

I.e. use a pair of scissors to cut the old needles close to the base rather than removing them by plucking. When you pluck needles you run a high risk of damaging/removing the buds underneath them. Hence why we cut to maintain the buds.

Cheers,
Mo

Cheers Mo. So I'm just cutting any unwanted needles off, without disturbing the buds, is this correct? If anyone has a link with pruning info for a PINE Virgin, id appreciate it

[bodhidharma]

Thanks Mo To elaborate a little more, if you pull needles on young branches you can also take the tender bark with it causing excess sap loss and a chance of ringbarking . To be safe cut all the older needles at the sheaf. This will open up the tree so you can see branching and wire.

[shibui]

Like other pines you can cut back anywhere there are needles and be reasonably sure of forcing new buds but if you cut branches back to bare wood new buds may not form on bare wood. Alleppo is one of the pines that does have a reasonable rate of back budding on bare wood but best not to bank on it - keep some needles on all pruned branches.
You will note that most of the needles on this tree are juvenile growth. Alleppos keep producing juvenile needles for a few years and will mostly revert to juvenile shoots when pruned. This may be a good thing because you can see that the mature needles are quite long.

Can't offer any specific advice because cannot see the trunk for the foliage.

[Raymond]

Can't offer any specific advice because cannot see the trunk for the foliage

I will post some more pics tomorrow morning. I really appreciate all the advice people have given. As I said, this is my first crack at pruning/trimming a pine of any variety.

[Jarad]

If you're a little unsure about what to do, you could get a smaller one to practice on.

[Raymond]

Base of tree, its about 30mm...


about half way up...


Apex...

[MoGanic]

Raymond,

Judging by what I've seen you have some potential in that stock.

There doesn't appear to be an abundance of bar branches (often the case with tall straight pines) but there is still a fair amount of branches to work with.

IMO, cut back the branches to get some back budding and wire everything down for some basic branch structure. Once the main branches are set in a downward direction (may take a while) and you have some ramification to work with, wire it out completely and you'll have yourself a gorgeous formal upright. Will take time, but just an idea you can run with for now.

Cheers,
Mo