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Omono
This episode of Ryan Neil’s podcast features Chris Kirk and Gary Woods of Telperion Farms talking about some of their methods of field growing, especially of Japanese Black Pines. This episode is full of good field growing knowledge, but they tend to be scattered around in their conversation and topics. Most of these topics are directly related to field growing Japanese Black Pine, though some methods will work with container grown JBP. The goal with these methods is to produce reliable back budding on their field grown trees. I wanted to take some of the key points of discussion in this podcast and condense it down to a summery of the important bits, with a more ordered arrangement.
According to the growers, their secret is in controlling the Auxin, Cytokinin, and Sugars in the plant with an emphasis on manipulating the Cytokinin and Sugar.
According to the growers, their secret is in controlling the Auxin, Cytokinin, and Sugars in the plant with an emphasis on manipulating the Cytokinin and Sugar.
- Auxin
- Produced in the growing tips.
- Responsible for suppressing bud growth behind the apical bud.
- Slower moving in the plant than either Cytokinin or Sugar.
- Cytokinin
- Produced in the roots.
- Controls the growth rate of the shoots.
- Carried with H2O through the Xylem to the furthest areas of the plant and where concentration is highest is where you see the most growth.
- Cytokinin travels up to 105x faster than Auxin.
- Sugar
- Produced by the leaves and needles.
- Travels up to 105x Faster than Auxin
- Sugar manipulation is what the growers at Telperion Farms concentrate on manipulating.
- Reducing sugar supply while maintaining Auxin and Cytokinin causes the tree to try to regenerate it from both roots and apical bud.
- All buds have the same size cells. Growth happens in areas of high Auxin, Cytokinin, and Sugar.
- Removing the Sugar production and leaving Auxin and Cytokinin will force the tree to replace leaves. Basically, the Plant has elements to grow, Auxin and Cytokinin, but needs to replace the Sugar factory.
- i.e. Needle removal along shoots leaving growing tips will cause back budding and not slow down the tree’s growth. Regular pruning of growing tips, while causing back budding, will also slow down a tree’s growth.
- Removing the Sugar production and leaving Auxin and Cytokinin will force the tree to replace leaves. Basically, the Plant has elements to grow, Auxin and Cytokinin, but needs to replace the Sugar factory.
- Telperion Farms is known for their field grown trees with long sacrifice leaders.
- Sacrifice leaders will cause trunk thickening, and as they let these leaders run they will needle pluck up to the growing tip, causing a large amount of back budding down the sacrifice.
- Trunk taper is achieved by planning out a second sacrifice leader. They will set up a secondary leader and let it grow out so that when they prune the main leader, the second leader is full of energy and will spring up quickly.
- Sacrifice leaders will cause trunk thickening, and as they let these leaders run they will needle pluck up to the growing tip, causing a large amount of back budding down the sacrifice.
- On JBP, they achieve back budding on the trunk and older wood through needle plucking and encouraging whirls (Junction formed each growth period) on their sacrifice leaders.
- Pulling needles on sacrifice leader and leaving 1 whirl:
- Back budding
- No more trunk expansion
- Pulling needles on sacrifice leader and leaving 2 whirls
- Little back budding
- More trunk Expansion
- Pulling needles on sacrifice leader and leaving 2 whirls and stripping needles except for a few on the terminal bud:
- More buds form.
- More Trunk Expansion
- Age of the tissue on the trunk has an effect on how well this method works for back budding. Ideally one would use this method on trees 5 years and younger. After 5 years it becomes more difficult to induce back budding along the trunk in this manner.
- Pulling needles on sacrifice leader and leaving 1 whirl:
- Cuttings and Seedlings – Generally their method of working on cuttings and seedlings echoes most of the methods I’ve seen in other publications and research.
- Root work is done first on rooted cuttings/seedlings and then they are grown for 1 – 2 years in a 1 gallon root maker pot. A root maker pot basically air prunes to prevent circling roots – likely similar results would be obtained in a pond basket.
- In the Springtime, they will wire initial shape into the seedlings.
- After 1 – 2 years, the seedlings are transferred into a root control bag and filled hallway with their nursery mixture. On top of that mixture they will apply a barrier and spread the roots over the barrier and fill the rest of the way with soil.
- Their nursery mix consists of 40% Pumice, 40% Composted Bark, 20% Composted Steer Manure
- They will use an Auger to punch a whole, and drop the whole bag into the ground.
- Trees planted in this way will stay in the ground for 5-6 years before dug up for additional root work.
- Without a root control bag, they recommend digging every 3-4 years to do root maintenance work.
- Using the root control bag method, they state you can plant nearly anytime of year, though they usually plant in Spring.
- Grafting in the field JBP
- They see good results grafting in the field, with quick recovery.
- Typically they graft in the Springtime.
- They wrap grafts in parafilm.
- Typically, on JBP they find it is too late to graft once the candles have fully extended.
- Grafting in Field, Junipers
- Typically graft when the bud ends start turning
- Also see success in grafting in June after initial spring growth has hardened.
- Both of these methods give good recovery time before winter.
- Grafting in Autumn can be done with grafts taking, but they will require more winter protection.
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