George, Incredible gardens, breathtaking, very classy pond, wish I could see it in person. I love your white pine. I appreciate all the information on your site.

From peeking at this forum I know there are a lot of focused and talented Japanese gardeners, it is rather intimidating.

My tree has gotten to be about 15 feet, perhaps more. I felt very brave to prune the candles this spring. I see you say that you pinch the terminal and lateral candles. My understanding is if your do this in the spring, new ones will form but the overall growth has been slowed. But if you pinch in the fall the candle will not return. Is that correct?

I think you are right about cutting back the lilac to the right. Do you have any shaping ideas that you think would work? I am very unsure. Do I want long twisty branches, short compact bushy branches? Thanks much, Thia

Hi Thia,
I would go for short compact branches and try to get the branches to lay flat or even drooping a little for this is a sign of age in a pine which is what you really want.
I finger prune my pine in spring taking allmost all the candles out as it has now reached the height and size that I want it is just a case now of thickening the pads by finger prunning the right candles.
George.

Here is a link that might be useful: George's Japanese Garden

Thanks George!

Chipping in from bonsai again (hope you donÂt mind) but there is no real difference (only scale), as George probably knows, between training a 15 ft tall pine and a 2 ft tall one when it comes to growth control.

Though for a final image or shape itÂs of course much easier to wire a 2 ft tree into shape than it is "bending" a 15 footer.

However, I think it should be possible to style your tree to give a windswept image.

To compact shape and build up foliage pads you combine pruning branches back to a fork in late winter with candle pinching and shoot selection in spring and late summer, although as far as bonsai is concerned exactly how to do what and when can be a "hot topic" on occasion. These actions are designed to force budding further back on the branch to stop that "bare branch with a pom pom of needles at the end " effect.. Always leave viable buds on the branch or it may die.

A good idea is to sketch down your ideas based on what the tree has to offer . i.e. general trunk direction and utilising major branch placement as you canÂt magic up a 3ft long branch just where you need it all of a sudden

The biggest factor to overcome is most pineÂs tendency to grow radiating "wheel spoke" branches at intervals up the trunk .

ThereÂs a link below to a rather "arty" photo of a tree in Oregon. ItÂs called "windswept" but probably isnÂt strictly speaking with that ramrod straight trunk.

More probably had one side burned off in a forest fire or broken off from a near neighbour being felled. Now that this tree has been isolated and exposed to the winds by logging (probably), only the branches have taken on a windswept look. The trunk looks hurricane proof!

Compare it to the genuine article.

http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/TREE_WINDSWEPT_FROM_COSTA_RICAN_DESERT.jpg

So perhaps consider reducing the height to the 3rd ? branch whorl up (just above the fence line) and inducing a lean using thin wire rope and a screw-in eye anchored to a sturdy point. (disguise the wire with a clematis or similar, they grow along my clothes line just fine  2 inches a day sometimes)

Prune off the branches on the " windward" side maybe leaving a few damaged stubs as evidence of wind action then select branches to retain on the leeward side.

You could even leave a branchless stub at the top of the tree, strip the bark and tear bits off it like it had been broken off ( called a "jin")

Now how all of this would fit in with the concept of a Japanese garden I couldnÂt tell you.

I can email you virtual image of what I mean.

Once again, hope you donÂt mind me chipping in with my 2c worth.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1009331}}

I too have a pinus nigra ssp. nigra but many years behind yours. The time for pruning it is fall, usually about November. Bonsai sources tell me Austrian Pine doesn't respond well to candle pinching in the Spring so I leave well alone then. This year I'll be trying to stimulate back budding by pruning of all this years growth but that is a technique for young trees.

However I do see alot of dominant growth at the top of your tree and you need to prune this back so it's vigour is reduced. Last year I took out half the apex of my tree and it hardly slowed it.

I wouldn't try much wire or stake work on the main trunk but you could try and raise the lower branches to be more horizontal with bamboo supports and pull down upper branches.

The most radical reworking of your pine would be to remove the entire top at a point where two upper branches can take over as a dual 'roof'. Bonsai types like this and there is a natural pine (probably sylvestris) near me that has this and looks great (must take a picture sometime).

I would like to know the right time & how much to prune Austrian Pine candels.

Thank You

I would slant it to a 30-degree angle. Chop it in half. Get some bamboo sticks to prop a new leader. Thin out some branches per node and leave 3 or 5, never 4 and get some more bamboo and angle each less that horizontal.

It will look really seriously hideous at first but it'll pay off.

Candles...look at your shortest...all the rest should be snapped off to that length. Ideally all of them should grow all the same length, hence snapping only the long ones. I've seen pines that have reached this level of candle growth. pick 3 good candles and snap off the rest.

When? beginning of the year. Over de-candling will/might tell the sap to give up an go somewhere else.

The tree has no head. I recommend you fix that problem first.

I have an Austrian pine I am working on in Madison, Wisconsin. It is 15-18 years old. Austrian pines are not doing well in Madison and my wife wanted me to cut it down. I decided to try niwaki on it, and if it didn't work, I will cut it down. Two years ago, I topped it at about 30' and took out all of the less vigorous branches. Last spring, I candled by removing roughly 70% of each candle. I was only able to candle up to about half of tree's height. Too tall to get above that, even with the ladders I have. Tree did not grow a second set of candles last summer, but it did generate a significant number of buds for new candles. Those buds are all generating candles this spring. If I pinch those candles now, all I will have this year is cut off candles and more buds for next year. Would I be wiser to let these new candles grow out this year and then aggressively candle again next spring?