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Japenese White Pine Trunk Reduction 4 years 2 months ago #55573

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Can someone explain how I can cut the tree attached back just below the thick wires near the Apex of the tree? The upwards facing branch near that point will be the new leader ideally. Thanks for your help everyone

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Japenese White Pine Trunk Reduction 4 years 2 months ago #55574

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So everyone has an idea of climate I am in the Northeast area of the United States. Philadelphia

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Japenese White Pine Trunk Reduction 4 years 2 months ago #55577

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Can someone explain how I can cut the tree attached back just below the thick wires near the Apex of the tree? The upwards facing branch near that point will be the new leader ideally. Thanks for your help everyone


Turn the upper part of the trunk into a jin?
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Japenese White Pine Trunk Reduction 4 years 2 months ago #55578

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Turn the upper part of the trunk into a jin?


My thoughts exactly!

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Japenese White Pine Trunk Reduction 4 years 2 months ago #55580

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Interesting I haven't been bold yet to try the technique? Would it be like widdling a piece of wood into a point. Methods to prevent stress death, etc?

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Japenese White Pine Trunk Reduction 4 years 2 months ago #55585

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You can just cut it off. The tree is healthy with loads of lower branches. It won't notice.

Do consider whether you want the trunk to increase in size though. If so, you can leave the top in for a few years to get more girth on the trunk and remove it later. If you do consider removing: Cut it leaving a stub. Then in summer cut flush with the branch you want to keep and it will still heal over with a trunk this young.

You do have a lot of places with more than 1 branch on the trunk. This will eventually lead to swelling and as a result bulges and iverse taper. You might need to reduce the number of branches.

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Japenese White Pine Trunk Reduction 4 years 2 months ago #55586

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Interesting I haven't been bold yet to try the technique? Would it be like widdling a piece of wood into a point. Methods to prevent stress death, etc?


With a sharp knife you cut the bark all around the trunk at the bottom of the to-be-yinned area. Cut off all the branches above it, leaving stubs. Pull off the bark. Then decide what you want to keep from the rest of the wood.

I would not make a top-yin personally. The tree is way too young and to me it would look odd until you do get some barking of the trunk, in 15 years.
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Japenese White Pine Trunk Reduction 4 years 2 months ago #55597

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I am interested in the trunk development.

My question to your initial response: reverse taper. I have removed a few branches in the area of the eventual final result, cutting so called t branches and leaving sets of two branches that create 45 degrees of separation. I have left a few small buds from last season underneath what will the the first set of branches eventually in the hope that it will thicken up the trunk even more, but maybe those should go to allow the nutrients to flow into the smaller branches that I want to include in the tree?

The one spot I have left a full spiral of branches to coexist is where I want the top of the tree to be with the understanding that its best to cut back a white where there is plenty of buds.

Will cutting back to the area prevent the trunk from expanding?

Here is a more top down angle . I know it has a while for it to be complete but the variety is my favorite and I'm in this tree for the long run so in no rush to a finished tree. I'm working to promote growth in the core and get as many options as possible.

After my own research, jinning or Shari any branch at this point would take away options and be a little risky at this time.

Any opinions on what to do with the leggy top growth..

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Japenese White Pine Trunk Reduction 4 years 2 months ago #55598

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What LB is referring to is the multiple places where you have more than one branch coming out from the trunk.
If you don’t reduce that to one branch, the trunk will start swelling as branches elongate and thicken, resulting in a unsightly bulge, hence bringing to reverse taper.
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Japenese White Pine Trunk Reduction 4 years 2 months ago #55624

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Yes I have left some options for the next year or so to see which branches naturally express vigor. I plan to reduce my V branches to one branch at some point but I want to see how it continues to progress. I think that would allow for more growth for now and prevent any energy going to healing the tree. If that assumption is wrong please lmk. I'll make some cuts while the tree is still dormant.

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