AusBonsai

Thanks everyone for your advice it is much appreciated & it's great to have this forum for a novice like me to get some guidance & advice

Cheers Ross

Ross, and others.
It is important to recognise there is a difference between how we maintain an advanced tree and how we prune a developing tree.
This tree needs to develop shoots and density. The yearly pine maintenance schedule that is mostly published is for more mature trees that need smaller needles and dense budding. you do not need that yet. you need to reduce the height and length of branches to stimulate back buds then grow those on a little then use the maintenance schedule to get good ramification.

These trees have already been well fed and most of the branches are quite young so should respond well to pruning back hard. This winter I will prune the ones that are left very hard to force buds closer to the trunk. I will remove any growth that is of no use to any possible design then cut all remaining growth back to just leave about 6-10 pairs of needles at the end of each branch. this will force buds to grow from the remaining needles and some from the bare wood below. next summer select useful shoots from the new buds and remove any that will not contribute to the future tree. you could then move to the accepted development method or try another round of feed, grow and cut hard to force even more buds.

Ryan Neil mentioned several times at the convention that feeding well and allowing terminal shoot to extend will feed the branch and encourage back buds to form.

shibui wrote:Ross, and others.
It is important to recognise there is a difference between how we maintain an advanced tree and how we prune a developing tree.
This tree needs to develop shoots and density. The yearly pine maintenance schedule that is mostly published is for more mature trees that need smaller needles and dense budding. you do not need that yet. you need to reduce the height and length of branches to stimulate back buds then grow those on a little then use the maintenance schedule to get good ramification.

These trees have already been well fed and most of the branches are quite young so should respond well to pruning back hard. This winter I will prune the ones that are left very hard to force buds closer to the trunk. I will remove any growth that is of no use to any possible design then cut all remaining growth back to just leave about 6-10 pairs of needles at the end of each branch. this will force buds to grow from the remaining needles and some from the bare wood below. next summer select useful shoots from the new buds and remove any that will not contribute to the future tree. you could then move to the accepted development method or try another round of feed, grow and cut hard to force even more buds.

Ryan Neil mentioned several times at the convention that feeding well and allowing terminal shoot to extend will feed the branch and encourage back buds to form.

Thanks Neil, I'm happy with the tree

Hi all,
Thought id just update this thread.
I First cut it back about a year ago, I know this chop was fairly extreme considering its great potential before but with my lack of experience ( hope I know a little more now ) I was a little lost
I gradually cut it right down and let it recover & just applied some wire on it the other week
Should be a great tree fingers crossed in about 10 years
If any of you guys want to give me any advice it would be great although there isn't a lot to work with at the moment.

Cheers Ross

This pruning might seem extreme but I know that it will pay off in the long run.
I would keep feeding it gently over winter, increasing the amounts when the tree starts to grow in spring and over summer. At this stage I would not prune much if at all this summer. Let it grow freely to thicken more and heal the cuts. You can cut back over long shoots the following year and should get plenty of buds again then the following year start to move to maintenance pruning - decandle early summer, thin needles and new buds in autumn, etc to start producing shoots with shorter internodes and smaller needles that will build up the branching with lots of smaller shoots.

Look forward to seeing it develop.

That's a good chop, if it were me I would try to get a little more movement into the leader and develop the tree at that height.
I too find pines that have been let grow like this a little daunting.


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Thank Neil for all the advice you have given me on this thread, I'm pretty happy at where I'm at with this tree at the moment & I know I can build & keep learning from here.
It was great stock that I purchased from you to begin with
Cheers Ross

Paul,
Thanks for the valuable advise. I have learned something from it. How to boost growth during winter and cut back in spring...for better back budding...
I dont think any one was trying to dismiss your valuable advise. I shall speak of myself. I dont have clubs here and I am the only one that keeps bonsai. I read for the past 18 month 14-16 hours a day...but it is not the same as seeing things and gaining confidence by hand on experience. Silly me traveled to japan to see and feel things, because not all was clear, from advise on the internet. If I had a club here to learn from someone I would not have traveled.
And plus that I believe you can always learn something new from anyone, but there is nothing like learning live.