Hey this is a black pine I aquired and did an initial styling on about a month ago July/august, the candles are starting to emerge so I it should be okay considering I did a pretty heavey cut back. Im just looking for advice on how to take this to the next step as far as recovery and then most importantly how can I achieve strong back budding? To create density and refine the pads I want to create on this particular tree in the stage it is in, I’m in Sydney. thanks, any help would be greatly appreciated Alex
Hi Alex, to promote back budding you need to keep as much growth as you can on each branch ( in saying that you still need to needle pluck to even the energy across the tree). Feed heavily year round with high nitrogen fertiliser. If you are still developing don't worry about branch structure for now just concentrate on getting the tree super strong and healthy. Get it covered in growth, the stronger the tree gets the more chances it will back bud along the branches. Once it does you'll have to allow those new buds to grow out fairly strong before cutting back to them otherwise you may lose the branch if the buds are to weak to pull sap.
Once you are done developing the first year after you pot the tree up don't do any work, just allow the tree to populate the pot with roots and recover, the following summer you will be able to candle prune and begin the refinement process.