Help Scott pick his keeper

[markyscott]

Fall 2019. 4 years since collection. 3 full growing seasons from a bare trunk. Removed the wire today and pulled off the remaining leaves. We’ve had some cool weather, so fall came a little early this year. Time for cut back now.

 

[markyscott]

After cut back.

 

[markyscott]

Just time for a repot.

 

[Hartinez]

Just time for a repot.
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It looks so good!! Great balance between the 2. The primary trunk at the chosen front cradles the small trunk beautifully.

 

[markyscott]

So I repotted in late winter and did a cutback in early spring (just a hedging really - I didn’t have much time). Here’s the tree today.

 

[markyscott]

After thinning and cut back. I took more care this time and selected shoots, thinned, removes all old leaves and wired some of the new growth.

 

[markyscott]

Fall work. Before and after cutback.

S

 

[johng]

Hey Scott, This tree has come along fairly well. At this point I think you could be pruning more frequently. At least one or two more pruning since July would have had your ramification much further along. By waiting to prune in the Fall, many of the twigs have gotten larger in diameter and need to be cut off or reduced way back for taper reasons. I truly believe that if you would start pruning as new branches begin to extend (even before completely hardening off) you will begin to develop a plethora of fine twigging. Do you keep in a tray of water during the growing season...I find this really helps mine.

 

[markyscott]

Hey Scott, This tree has come along fairly well. At this point I think you could be pruning more frequently. At least one or two more pruning since July would have had your ramification much further along. By waiting to prune in the Fall, many of the twigs have gotten larger in diameter and need to be cut off or reduced way back for taper reasons. I truly believe that if you would start pruning as new branches begin to extend (even before completely hardening off) you will begin to develop a plethora of fine twigging. Do you keep in a tray of water during the growing season...I find this really helps mine.

Thanks John - I appreciate your advice as one mistake I’ve seen people make results from switching to ramification development too early. They grow branches to length and then switch to pinching, resulting in uninteresting primary branches with no movement or taper and a poof twigs at the end. In attempting to avoid this mistake, I’ve mostly been focusing on branch development and less on ramification to this point. I think I’m ready to start being more judicious about what areas I allow to grow and what areas I prune more frequently as I start to focus on specific problems in the branch structure I’d like to address.

- s