I have an old Scotch pine that needs to have the new growth pruned back. My question is: when is the best time to prune? Winter when it's dormant, spring when it's starting to come to life?

Thanks in advance

Rich

When it is pruning to get some more buds closer to the trunk, mid to end july is usually a good time. But read www.karamotto.org/?page=21

spring is the time for pruning ,late fall/early winter for wireing. i would strongly sugjest that you purchase a book on pine bonsai. they are the toughest species to grow and keep under control.there are certain routines of candle/bud pinching that must be done to reduce needle size and evenly disperse energy through the tree. if energy is not balanced lower branches will weaken and die while upper branches will grow out of control

Thank you for the reply. Could you recommend a book on pine bonsai?

bonsai today master series "pines" is the best ive seen. 30$ new but used ones can be found for cheaper. its geared more towards black (2 needle) and white (5 needle) pines but a scotts is a 2 needle so it will help out

Bugslugger1 wrote:

Thank you for the reply. Could you recommend a book on pine bonsai?

.. Or you read the page I sent you earlier, by Hans vd Meer, one of the world top bonsai artists..

I read the page you sent earlier. There is lots of good, hard info there--just what I need.

Attached is a photo of the tree in question. It's becoming unruly.

wow thats got some potential...the first thing i recomend to do is to get rid of the old needles.plucking them is ok but if you cut them just above the sheath at their base the chance of backbudding is better
leave 4 to 6 clusters on the top stronger ends,6 to 8 on the medium branches and 8 to 10 on the lower weakest branches.this will set you up for pruning in spring

So basically what you're suggesting is to thin the year old needles? Some (many) of the old needles towards the center of the tree are turning brown and falling off. From what I've read this is a normal activity for the tree. The new growth from this year is healthy and green, should I do anything with it? Or wait until spring.

Thanks for your help!

late summer to early fall is the best time for removing needles .reduce them to the tips as stated before .this process will help balance the energy of the tree, reveal the branch structure for future styling and increase the chances of backbudding.doing this now will give the tree time to produce new buds lower on the branches and alow future reduction of the longer branches.you should also fertalize with an organic fert once this is done

it will look quite sparce for a while but to get this tree back into shape will take 3 to 5 seasons of thinning and bud selection.
by the looks of things this should turn out to be a magnificent specimen with the correct care