Pruning Shoots in Scots (or Mugo Pines)

[DrBonsai]

In Zone 5, is it too late to prune/cut extended shoots in Scots pine to get ramification and promote back budding ?
Leaving 5 or 6 pairs of this years needles on the shoot, would one expected to get new buds at the cut site ?

I did not pinch candles and intended to cut shoots after needle hardening and allow shoots to get energy back from
newly extended needles. However, I am afraid I should have done this much earlier.

 

[roberthu]

No experience with mugo or scots but I always play safe. If you feel it's too late, just wait for another year. You don't lose anything actually. All the needles will assist in building up strength and energy. So next year after you do prune it back, you will likely get more robust back budding and ramification.

 

[Paradox]

We dont treat Scots pines like we do Japanese Black pines. So if youre reading about candle cutting with JBP and thinking to apply to Scots, DONT.
Scots are single flush pines where as JBP are two flush pines so they are not treated the same at all.

Here are some links that describes the differences in care between single and two flush pines

Care guide for Pine Bonsai species (Pinus) - Bonsai Empire

www.bonsaiempire.com

Needle Plucking and Summer Pruning of Pine bonsai

Large Website located in the UK, Bonsai4me offers Bonsai Art, Species guides for Bonsai trees, Bonsai galleries and Bonsai Techniques.

bonsai4me.com

 

[Dendro]

In videos , Ryan Neil talks about Single Flush Short Needle Pine post hardening pruning in late June or early July.
In Chicago, it looked like the shoots weren't that developed or fully extended. So I thought we might be behind
Portland in timing. However, I was concerned that pruning now, at this time , would not lead to multiple bud development where the
shoots were cut. Basically, in Zone 5 or MidWest, when do you typically cut shoots for scots pine ?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I stuck to the Ryan Neil method for two years. But it proved to be unreliable for me.
I'm with Peter Warren nowadays. He has a couple videos on how to care for scots pines.

To my knowledge, Warren cuts the shoots off entirely in August. Which here in Europe is/was more or less a month before autumn starts.

 

[Alain BERTRAND]

For years, I have cut the shoots of my developing scots pines in september or october (I am in a milder climate that P. Warren). Now that I have more mature trees, I cut the top shoots at the beginning of July to allow for more growth on the lower part of the tree, and I trim both top and bottom again in september.