JBP. What would you do...?

[Elias]

Hi All,

Here is a JBP that has hard a hard chop a few years ago. It has great taper but it didn't bud in the right places(red dot marks the spot), and grafting is not an option due to the dieback after the chop. I think the gap between the first right branch is too long to make a convincing tree.

IMG_0392B.JPG

I do believe that one could make an 'Okay" tree out of it, with the current branching available, but in 15-20 years I really don't want to think "hmmm maybe I shoulda done this or that" and will an "Okay" tree be good enough hmmm .....Anyways enough rambling.

I wanted to get people's opinion/thoughts on what they would do to this pine and why...?

[Bretts]

Have you done any Winter needle plucking yet Elias. Might give us a better look if you did. As it is that time of year I would have a go at grafting a bud as high as you can to that bend?
But I am having trouble making sense of the trunk and branches from the pictures.

[kcpoole]

Usuing one of the branches fropm the Whorl above that bare spot, you could wire it down against the trunk to where you are missing a branch.
essentially an approach graft with on of those branches. Bind it hard against the trunk where it is not seen, and then in a few years you will not know it

I have done this on a Juni and will do so on a JBP I have to replace a branch knocked off in a hailstorm a few years ago

Ken

[Grant Bowie]

If you like short, stumpy bonsai then you could cut off the tree beyond the first whorl of branches. One branch becomes the new leader, another becomes the first branch.

In effect you have spent years growing a nice fat trunk.

Grant

[Jamie]

hi elias

nice trunk, i think you could do as KC said so, i get the feeling that long turnk/branch section is getting used as a sacrifice coming from the top? would it be possible to wire the whorl area out to cover that area and develop ramification to cover that section?

i reckon you got some plans for it anyways

[Jarrod]

You know what I would do!

[anttal63]

If you like short, stumpy bonsai then you could cut off the tree beyond the first whorl of branches. One branch becomes the new leader, another becomes the first branch.

In effect you have spent years growing a nice fat trunk.

Grant

That would make the better tree long term, regardless shorter or rebuild to grow on and taller. Knowing you my guess is that in 15-20 yrs you would have a show stopper that you can hold your head high about! Your young enough and good enough!

[teejay]

Judging from the photos (which can admittedly mislead) I tend to agree with Grant and Ant.

Awesome trunk though Elias, I love that taper.

[Dumper]

i like your pine.
if you would cut the top off.
this is how it look like. which is not that bad.

[craigw60]

Hi Elias, I would use the bottom branches as sacrifice branches and grow the tree taller, with those two branches down low you could create a massive root base. Make it a 10 -15 year project and you will have a great tree.
Craig