# White pine back budding **URL:** \ **Category:** Beginners\ **Created:** [March 26, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/white-pine-back-budding/698 "2018-03-26T17:45:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MichaelUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@MichaelUK](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/MichaelUK)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/white-pine-back-budding/698/1 "2018-03-26T17:45:32Z")
I have a white pine grafted on to Black pine root stock. It is almost a showable tree however their are no back buds. The tree is very healthy and has good health distribution. As the tree is healthy and has a good image, I am stuck at how to preserve the shape/size but also promote back buds. Am I right in thinking that I should let the tree run all spring, re-accumulate a lot of sugars and starches and when the sheaths drop, cut back the candles? Would this trigger the back buds and also maintain the size, as well as produce buds at the tip for next year? Or… if the tree is really healthy and putting out long extensions, should i pinch the longest candles in half/third to maintain the shape and size? Would this trigger back budding? I feel option 1 is best but as i am not an expert I would prefer to use your knowledge. THANKS a million guys. ---
**Author:** ![Fletch\_173](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.bonsaimirai.com/fletch_173/32/18001_2.png) [@Fletch\_173](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/Fletch_173)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 10:09pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/white-pine-back-budding/698/2 "2018-03-26T22:09:29Z")
Grafted White pines “miyajima white pine” can be treated as a single flush short needle pine, meaning pinching them to maintain the silhouette won’t result in excessively long needles. Pinching tho is a refinement technique, transitioning strength from strong to medium to weak. Allowing the new growth to elongate and harden off will encourage back budding because more water and nutrients will be flowing through the branch and the tree will take advantage of that by producing back buds. ---
**Author:** ![Fletch\_173](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.bonsaimirai.com/fletch_173/32/18001_2.png) [@Fletch\_173](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/Fletch_173)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 10:17pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/white-pine-back-budding/698/3 "2018-03-26T22:17:34Z")
Hope that answered your question, glad to see more people working with JWP they are one of my favorite! ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/bonsaimirai/original/1X/0b2961bd2f3fea96595d86cd9291a87f00a89ecf.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![MichaelUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@MichaelUK](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/MichaelUK)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 8:50am UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/white-pine-back-budding/698/4 "2018-03-27T08:50:15Z")
Thanks a million for this reply. As you state letting it harden off and re accumulate its resources and having a good amount of traffic. Should I then cut the candles as the sheaths drop leaving a small amount for new bud formation for next year? ---
**Author:** ![KurtP](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.bonsaimirai.com/kurtp/32/16188_2.png) [@KurtP](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/KurtP)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/white-pine-back-budding/698/5 "2018-03-27T17:51:12Z")
WATCH Ryan’s early vidio explanation of pines. WP, Red pines, black pines. Fletch-- yours is prettier than mine. Needs … some moss . ---
**Author:** ![Fletch\_173](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.bonsaimirai.com/fletch_173/32/18001_2.png) [@Fletch\_173](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/Fletch_173)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 2:40am UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/white-pine-back-budding/698/6 "2018-03-28T02:40:10Z")
Yep sheaths dropping on JWP is an indication that the new growth has hardened off ---
**Author:** ![Fletch\_173](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.bonsaimirai.com/fletch_173/32/18001_2.png) [@Fletch\_173](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/Fletch_173)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/white-pine-back-budding/698/7 "2018-03-28T02:42:38Z")
Thank you Kurt, I can say that after being repotted this year it was properly top dressed haha ---
**Author:** ![KurtP](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.bonsaimirai.com/kurtp/32/16188_2.png) [@KurtP](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/KurtP)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 3:49am UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/white-pine-back-budding/698/8 "2018-03-28T03:49:49Z")
I’ve been followng Ryans white pine process for the last two summers. Back budding good. Top died…global wsrming…😂 ---
**Author:** ![DavidJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@DavidJ](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/DavidJ)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/white-pine-back-budding/698/9 "2018-05-31T16:06:04Z")
MIchaelUK, check out my recent comments on back budding “eastern white pine” (pinus strobus) - Design section on the Forum found in North America. Although not Japanese white pine, I used the JWP technique of pruning off the entire fully hardened shoot on strong branches as part of an experiment with good results. The back buds appeared this spring, not last year when I cut them. They were only little green dots at first but they are growing. I’ll see if they develop into shoots this year. You could try this on one or two shoots and monitor the results.