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BDS #19: Encouraging interior buds on young red pines

November 1, 2019 by Jonas Dupuich

After more than twenty years of growing pine bonsai from seed, I noticed a big difference between red and black pines this year. Red pines are harder.

Specifically, red pines are less likely to develop small shoots in the tree’s interior that can be used to create primary branches after thickening the trunk.

Here’s an example.

Red pine

Four-year-old red pine

You’ll notice that the three- and four-year-old needles are turning brown. This is normal for red and black pines in fall.

Old needles

Three- and four-year-old needles

When I removed these needles, it was easy to see that there were no young shoots growing in the tree’s interior.

No interior shoots

No interior shoots

This can make developing bonsai difficult without grafting in the tree’s interior.

To see how this plays out, here’s a six-year-old red pine that lost its needles along the trunk.

Six-year-old red pine

No shoots or needles along the trunk

Without interior buds, I have few options for styling this tree. I can remove the top of the trunk and make a small tree using the low branch, or I can remove the low branch and develop the tree using the upper branches. Am not sure which approach I’ll take at this point.

I first noticed this pattern in summer when some of the old needles started to brown out. Realizing this encouraged me to see what I could do to trigger new buds. I pruned the above tree heavily in June, but no new shoots appeared.

I had better luck with other trees. Here’s a pine that produced new shoots right where I wanted them.

Red pine

Red pine pruned in June

New shoots

Close-up of the new shoots

I had even better luck when I pruned back harder.

Future shohin red pine

Red pine pruned in June

Young red pine

Red pine pruned in August

The takeaway is that while it’s possible to stimulate new buds in the tree’s interior, it’s not likely once the old needles fall away.

No interior shoots

Red pine with no interior shoots

My plan going forward will be to prune red pines more frequently than black pines in an attempt to stimulate and preserve as many interior shoots as possible. This will slow development, but it will leave me with more design options in the future.

As you might have guessed, the next step for the above pine will be to make some significant bends above the first cut branch. In the meantime, I’ll report back when I have updates on how the new approach is working.

Pacific Bonsai Museum Launches Campaign to Fund Bonsai Book

The Pacific Bonsai Museum has proposed a new book aimed at presenting the history of thirty significant trees from its collection. To cover the printing costs, they started a Kickstarter campaign. The campaign is off and running so now’s the time to contribute!

I ordered my copy and am optimistic the project will be a big success. To see sample pages from the book and learn more about it, visit A Gallery of Trees: Living Art of Pacific Bonsai Museum on Kickstarter.

Pacific Bonsai Museum Book

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Filed Under: Bonsai Development Tagged With: BDS, Red Pine

Previous Post: « Fall clean-up on shohin satsuki azalea
Next Post: Tracking down banding symptoms in black pine »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Daniel Camilleri says

    November 1, 2019 at 8:31 am

    Hi Jonas,

    I’ve been working with Pinus Halepensis, Aleppo pines, basically Mediterenean Red Pines for a few years now. I can corroborate your findings, they won’t bud back unless there are needles left. Even in a year or 2 year old wood. Thanks for your insights as always, much appreciated.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      November 2, 2019 at 10:32 am

      Thanks for the note Daniel. I’ve seen back budding after making very large cuts on Aleppo pines, but I wouldn’t count on it for bonsai culture. Thanks for the tip!

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