I bought this JBP recently that’s been growing in a grow bag. I finally got a chance to really dive into it to see what I’ve got to work with. Upon closer inspection I’ve decided that at some point I’d like to do a wedge cut to get some movement into the trunk. One thing that’s kind of throwing me is this nub that has a branch growing off of it. It looks as if the grower cut off the sacrifice leader and hoped that the branch next to it would take over. However, it appears that the tree had something else in mind. I planned on repotting it this spring, but now I’m wondering if I should put it into the ground. If I do I’d prune off the branch next to their cut site and continue to grow the current leader as a sacrifice. Thoughts?
The red line is where I would eventually saw off the nub. Yellow is where I’d like to do the wedge cut.
Yellow line shows the movement of the new leader which I would wire. Red lines show correctional prunes I’m thinking of making next spring. Want to leave foliage on for winter hardiness unless you think it’s okay to cut them off now.
I am not an expert on pines and don’t pretend to be so I am not the best person to give advice. I have watched a few of the pine streams, but a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous! But here goes anyway, if I am wrong then hopefully someone can come along and correct me…
The stub has deliberately had a live branch left on it and I wonder if this is to encourage sap flow on that side of the trunk. From the photo it looks like the next branch is quite a long way down. The branch may be their to prevent die back down that side of the trunk after the trunk chop. Whether it is safe to remove now I am not sure.
If that is the case then you probably don’t want to remove the stump and branch before you have done the wedge cut or at the same time. As I think it might be possible that if you do a wedge cut on the right side and remove the branch at the same time you may well hinder sap flow on the remaining half of the trunk and run into problems higher up the tree. I can’t remember if this is something that Ryan has discussed in any of the wedge cut streams but it would be worth watching them again to see.
Hmmm, leaving it there to prevent die-back is an interesting theory and sounds quite plausible. Ppl on BonsaiNut think that I should cut the trunk all the way down to those lower branches.
