Was wondering what is the best time for a first heavy structural pruning and wiring of elongating species. I have read several things with different explanations:
Early spring as buds are breaking - tree is in growth mode and has whole season to recover and grow. (However, isn’t this when the sap is rising and will allow the tree to bleed a lot?
Late spring, after buds have extended - tree has settled into growth phase, new growth signals tree to take up water, can recover from injuries/stress (However, doesn’t this waste all the energy needed to grow that foliage?)
Mid -late fall - tree has absorbed its late summer energy and is slowing down for winter so will not bleed as much.
Mid Winter - They Mirai Live video “Nursery Stock Alberta Spruce” shows Ryan doing a hard prune and wiring of DAS in mid-winter.
Any other times? Does it vary by species?
Also - should heavy pruning and wiring be done at the same time or different times?
I my experience, dwarf alberta spruce is not a great example of elongating species like larch since it tends to have a primary flush and then a bit more later. Mid winter is probably the safest if you can keep it frost free. Early spring is generally my choice, particularly things like larch - I don’t see much bleeding and they then push the resources into the remaining branches.
I think you will find that elongating species is a term that Ryan developed to group coniferous trees that don’t fall into the other, better recognized horticultural categories. The key trait in my opinion is that these trees tend to grow more or less continuously during the season. Yes, they have times where they slow down and others where they push hard, but the growth is fairly constant. The other trait is that they tend to be moderate to high mobility and therefore are planted in soils with a high fraction (up to 100%) of akadama or similar water holding media.
Pines have a well-defined spring growth flush, and the best bonsai results are obtained with well-timed growth management. Yes, some of them will produce a second or even third flush of needles with proper pruning, but most won’t. In addition, they tend to like a drier soil such as equal parts akadama, pumice, and lava.
Junipers have been used for bonsai for many years, and growth management is fairly well-defined although it has evolved a fair bit over the past 20 years. I agree they can look like an elongating species with fairly continuous growth, so growth treatment is similar, but being such a well-known species they stand alone. They tend to like a slightly moister soil than pines so 2 parts akadama and one part each of pumice and lava is often used.
Okay thanks much. I recall Ryan Neal saying junipers invest a lot in their foliage so that makes sense not to keep pinching it off. And it sounds like I will be doing some serious spruce pruning early next spring!