Newly forming buds after decandling

[tmjudd1]

It seems as though removing all but 'two' new buds is standard practice. Why is this? Why not 'three' buds? I can't seem to find any explanations as to why only two buds should be left. Please enlighten me...

 

[MananaP]

It seems as though removing all but 'two' new buds is standard practice. Why is this? Why not 'three' buds? I can't seem to find any explanations as to why only two buds should be left. Please enlighten me...

Are you talking about fall procedure of choosing two lateral buds?

Leaving 3 buds or more in the long run will create inverse taper for that branch, also this is done for ramification of the branch(1 = 2 = 4 = 8 = 16)

 

[River's Edge]

It seems as though removing all but 'two' new buds is standard practice. Why is this? Why not 'three' buds? I can't seem to find any explanations as to why only two buds should be left. Please enlighten me...

Generally two or three are left, for different purposes. Two side by side for bifurcation in the process of ramification. One side bud and central bud when elongating apical sacrifice and wanting a fall back in case. Three buds when desiring a lower primary branch, new apical leader and a sacrifice branch in the same area for development purposes. This last one requires careful wiring and pruning as times proceeds so as to not create knobs or inverse taper at the site.
Like most things in Bonsai one cannot apply a standard rule in every circumstance. Just as there will be exceptions or objections to what i have stated above. Developing Bonsai requires interpretation and application of techniques to suit ones objectives. Knowing how the tree responds to the application and what additional steps will be required when one applies the technique. Hope my rambling makes sense

 

[tmjudd1]

Generally two or three are left, for different purposes. Two side by side for bifurcation in the process of ramification. One side bud and central bud when elongating apical sacrifice and wanting a fall back in case. Three buds when desiring a lower primary branch, new apical leader and a sacrifice branch in the same area for development purposes. This last one requires careful wiring and pruning as times proceeds so as to not create knobs or inverse taper at the site.
Like most things in Bonsai one cannot apply a standard rule in every circumstance. Just as there will be exceptions or objections to what i have stated above. Developing Bonsai requires interpretation and application of techniques to suit ones objectives. Knowing how the tree responds to the application and what additional steps will be required when one applies the technique. Hope my rambling makes sense

You pretty well addressed both issues that have been bugging me in my decision making, as exactly what to do. "Knobs and/or inverse taper." Give me a day, or so and I'll post a photo(s) of one of the actual subject tree's. Perhaps that will give you a better idea of what I should do. Thanks for the reply, please stay tuned!

 

[Adair M]

Choosing to keep only 2 will “always be correct”.

Choosing to keep 3 will be correct “sometimes”.

If you don’t don’t know whether to choose to keep two or keep three, keep two.

 

[tmjudd1]

If you don’t don’t know whether to choose to keep two or keep three, keep two.

Thanks guys. I think I'll just stick with two.