Advise on Pruning pine tree (scotch pine topiary)

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

I have a pinus sylvestris topiary tree. I like some advise on pruning the tree. I see the candles have emerged just after planting a month back.

This is what i did - I already removed a faster growing primary candle, and i wanted to let the secondary candles grow, so as to create a S-shaped tree

My question - I would like to get the tree taller ensuring one of the top candle grows taller as the main primary branch, and few other candles there in the top become secondary branch.

a) So, should i let the candles grow as it is to promote the primary and secondary branches in the top, or should they be pruned? (As per my understanding removing candles, will stop growth, and breaking candles half will develop multiple buds the next year)

b) If the candles open up the pines, how do those candles with new pines become a branch? would those pines then need to removed manually or will it drop only after 4 years? since I would like the candle to become a branch and then pine to be growing at the top of a branch.

c) Also, when the new candles becomes a branch in the future, i would like the pines at the current top branch in the picture to go away. Should that be manually removed or would that fall after 4 years (the reason i am looking is so that the existing pines don't get much of the food, so if those pines go away, then the newly candled-upcoming branch become healthy and taller)

Featured Answer

roshanrosareo
Original Author

6 years ago

Update 06/30/2020 - I am happy with the purchase and in the 2 months I had, it is growing good and is opening the candles to become pines. I know which leader to train and who to prune now. pictures attached. Thanks again everyone.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
6 years ago
every leaf.. or needle in this case .. is a food making machine to convert sunshine into energy ...

i would not remove any canopy for two years after planting.. while the tree grows a mature root mass so as to become established ...

yours has been planted one month.. and you have already removed future needles ...

trees grow in tree time.. which id counted in decades ... not weeks after planting ...

ken
roshanrosareo
Original Author
6 years ago
I didn't remove the needles, i removed only the candles since i didn't want the food going to every candle, so that the food can only go to the required candles which i want them to become a branch. Then, should i be good?
Related Professionals
Oklahoma City Landscape Contractors · Lynchburg Landscape Contractors · Bemidji Landscape Contractors · Port Saint Lucie Home Additions · Detroit Home Additions · Atlanta Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Williamsport Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Kalispell Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Tacoma Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Stamford Landscape Contractors · Saint Marys Landscape Contractors · Spokane Landscape Contractors · Champaign Home Builders · Utica Home Builders · Rapid City Home Builders
plantkiller_il_5
6 years ago
the candles open to become needles ,,which after further growth become branches ,,and so on and so on

halving the candles doubles ( or whatever ) next years buds

only needles drop after 4 years

ron
wayne
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Some clarification is required here, the tree is a pine, the candles become branches or leaders and both will keep producing more buds each season that become more branches. If you prune to direct growth by removing the leader then shorten the remaining candles, the chosen new leader should out grow the rest of the candles in that whorl of the tree that you are working on. But you probable need to shorten all the rest of the candles in each cluster of growth to keep the tree in balance unless your objective is to make a lower branch your main stem then just cut off the main stem just above the whorl of branches that your chosen new leader is, I hope this answers your question.
roshanrosareo thanked wayne
Embothrium
6 years ago
The section of straight trunk that is already present is going to stay straight. So any variation from a continued straight trunk you manage to create later is going to be perched - perhaps quite incongruously - on top of this existing straight section. With the time to have begun developing the entire specimen into a different pattern having been back when it was dinky.
roshanrosareo
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks everyone. I pinched the main leader that was the highest candle (not there in the 2 pictures). As of the time of the picture, I left 6 candles in the main whorl hoping 1 in 2 out of 6 will become the primary leader, and the remaining 3 out of 4 i might plan to make it as side branches. I didn't prune the candles in the lower branch whorls since it has been only a month of planting, and didn't want to pinch or shorten more candles. Hoping, I could get a S shaped topiary in few years. And I am not sure if the candles are going to dry up or would open, since it is first year of planting. Hoping for them to open, but not have seen much growth in last 2 days, compared to before a week time.