Tropfrog wrote:

What I do to get backbudding is: in early spring when buds form on the tip af branches, reduce to two on every spot. In early summer when buds are fully developed cut all of buds left short at the same time, leaving just a few needles. I get backbudding next spring on one flush pines and later in the same growing season on two flush pines.

Great. Would love to see some examples of your white pines and spruces.

leatherback wrote:

Great. Would love to see some examples of your white pines and spruces.

I dont have any white pines. That was stated clearly in previous posts.

Also, I clearly stated that I dont know what kind of spruce it is, but it looks like a very hard case.

I dont post pictures of my trees here. Allready tried that a few times, didnt have any good experience with that. You might find some pictures on other places.

Tropfrog wrote:

leatherback wrote:

Great. Would love to see some examples of your white pines and spruces.

I dont have any white pines. That was stated clearly in previous posts.

Also, I clearly stated that I dont know what kind of spruce it is, but it looks like a very hard case.

I dont post pictures of my trees here. Allready tried that a few times, didnt have any good experience with that. You might find some pictures on other places.

As said, some plants can deal with general advice. Others cannot.
You advice allmost everybody who posts, yet have no tree worth seeing?

Dont bother lb today. He is a nice guy with a lot of knowledge to learn from. But once in a while he have a day like this, it will proboably be back to normal tomorow.

Tropfrog wrote:

Dont bother lb today. He is a nice guy with a lot of knowledge to learn from. But once in a while he have a day like this, it will proboably be back to normal tomorow.

Ehm.. One day later. Still feel that you should be carefull giving advice if you have never grown the species and thus do not know how they respond. And I still think it is odd that someone feels it is OK to tell everyone what they should be doing, yet is unwilling to share what they do themselves.

I personally do not trust the advise from people who are unwilling to show they know what they are talking about. Then again, we had this discussion before, and I know you will not change your behaviour.

I am happy you want to share your feelings my friend.

There are no advises given in this thread and my experience with the species is allready shared. Total transparancy there.

Ts have purshased trees that is not excactly the perfect material for his needs/wants. Purshased at a very low cost in order to take a chanse and maybe learn something on the road. We both agree that it is a risk, but not really anything to lose.

And, my friend. I must admit that my trees are not near the quality of yours. How could they? You have a 5 year head start and have proboably purshased starter materials that would cost 5 times what I have spent up here. Not to talk about the difference in development speed between Holland and Sweden. The last thing I really envy. But, you say that I dont share my trees. That is totally wrong, I do share my trees, just not here anymore.

If op wants pictures of my backbudding pines and spruces he is welcome to send me a pm with his e-mail adress and I will be happy to send.

The obvious solution to get branches precisely where you want them would be grafting. If you have acquired some nursery stock for reasonable prices, start practicing

Another option would be doping... I haven't tried it myself, but there are various 'performance enhancing substances', which for bonsai are much less regulated than e.g. in sports. One of the magical drugs is called "Fulmet", and apparently it is popular among bonsai hobbyists in Japan. It's a growth enhancing drug, used by farmers to get huge peaches/apples/etc, and apparently it also enhances branch growth.

About performance enhancing things.

I asked here about a specific one here some years ago. Clicio advised not to, so I experimented with some elms, because I had over a dozen. It had no effect. So, I tried some pines. It killed them.

Never again.

For the white pine, work based on the assumption that no buds will come on the lower trunk. I have one to play with in the yard and I do not see strong bud formation, and overall, weak growth. Have a look here for an anectdote by a well-versed British bonsai grower: bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATJapaneseWhitePine.htm

For your spruce, I would enture a guess that this is picea abies. Often used, rarely seen as good bonsai because of trouble in setting the branches (They stay flexible for a long time) and are reluctant to back-bud. Also, sensitive to hot roots, I understand. All reasons together too much of a belladonna for my yard, which is why I have not tried the species yet. Once again, a reliable place to get some of the basics from: www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATPiceaPruningstylingandwiring.htm

Keen in mind, the author is based in the UK. Typically humid cool summers and humid reasonably warm winters.

persimmon wrote:

The obvious solution to get branches precisely where you want them would be grafting.

For all pines this is a skill that would be very good to have, indeed. Pine rarely produce buds where you want them. I would also consider grafting where this mine. Or, actually that is not true. Were this mine, I would not keep it, as white pine do not like my care regime, and I am unwilling to change .