Pruning Japanese pine trees, referred to as candling, is the act of purposely removing the branch tips on a pine tree called candles.
This pruning typically is done two times during the year, when the candles develop, and the process follows the same concept in allowing you to decrease the tree size whilst still allowing new growth of candles.
Many gardeners would love to achieve this style of pine tree pruning and it is possible to do it yourself by also removing the dominant candles held in clusters on your pine tree.
Below we cover will create a groundwork of questions to endeavor into the methods that we use to prune the pine tree using the Japanese candling style of pine tree pruning.
- What does the ideal Japanese-style pruned pine look like?
- What is the Momiage pruning method?
- What is the Midoritsumi pruning method?
- What is the Megiri pruning method?
- What are the tasks involved in Japanese pine tree pruning?
What Does the Ideal Japanese-style Pruned Pine Look Like?
Pine trees are trimmed and shaped to produce an intended aesthetic appearance. A pin that leans toward a Japanese-style should have its branches configured to look like half-clouds. They are rounded on the top and flat on the bottom side.
I’ve heard people say that from the bottom of the branches, looking up underneath the foliage of each branch it has the appearance of being veiny just like in a leaf or flower or other veined structure.
What Is the Momiage Pruning Method?
In general, there are three different styles of pruning Japanese pine.
Each of these styles is meant for a different time of a year to maintain and hold the design.
The first kind would be Momiage.
Momiage is typically done in the late fall, but in colder climates, you should do this a bit earlier in the season.
In the Japanese tradition, you would only use your hands during the Momiage.
This menthod is visiting to remove needles – specifically old needles.
The old needles are removed until around 10 pairs of needles remain on the tips of the branches.
But if it is difficult to remove the needles by hand, and you damage other parts of the tree, you can use shears.
What Is the Midoritsumi Pruning Method?
Midoritsumi pruning, on the other hand, is an important aspect of pruning in the Japanese pine pruning system.
For this type of pruning, it is important to do Midoritsumi pruning early in the summer season.
Midoritsumi pruning is a form of practice in maintaining pine trees.
In any case, it is typically done first at the taper and worked down the pine tree. .
This is actually when the candling method comes in, since the branches that are candle-like present themselves at this time of year.
Again, this should be done by hand so not to injure and cause brown needles, but it is even less desired to break them by hand.
While this would be acceptable more of a challenge to break off at some point than by hand, a blade is accepted to a degree (like shears).
Here are some things you may want to consider taking into account:
- Take out unnecessary candles (the longer candles in the lengths of the middle leaning 3)
- While maintain the returned candles down to about ⅔ original height.
While all of this is still very much important and understably but still essential, most gardener educators expect that this will be the most difficult and fragile part of pruning pine trees in Japan.
Just remember this: The reality is that by engaging in the actions above, you may shape the tree by changing its direction, slow the growth of new branches, by getting growth energy into those, because whole idea is to retain the athetic looking tree shape.
What Is the Megiri Pruning Method?
The final practice of pruning session occurs at different times of the year.
Not everybody participates in or wants to engage in this type of pruning session.
The Megiri practice of pruning is typically done in late summer (June- July).
One reason individuals don’t do this practice is that (if you have several trees to prune) this method can be very time-consuming.
The practice of Megiri pruning is similar to how we prune bonsai trees.
You will complete the following steps:
First, prune the weaker, newer shoots with shears (not your hands).
Second, come back in a couple of weeks, and prune the strongest new shoots with shears.
People normally do Megiri pruning to protect trees from strong winds that may occur during storms and in the warmer season protect against plant diseases.
Important Note: You also do not want to Megiri prune any weak or sick pine trees. If the pines are sick, you may compromise further the trees in any weak or sick health state.
What Are the Tasks Involved in Japanese Pine Tree Pruning?
There are multiple kinds of pruning tasks in the Japanese style.
Every one of these tasks plays a part to get that intricate shape and style we recognize as the signature style.
The pruning tasks include:
- Needle Removal – annually removing dead and fading needles promotes bud production (related to Momiage)
- Needle Shaping – selectively choosing to remove needless needles to influence shape
- Poodle (pom-pom) conversion – turning a “cheap”-looking pine tree to a Japanese style pine tree
- Whorl Pruning – pruning the whirls (the clusters of branchlets) to affect the shape of the pine tree impacting shape and aesthetics
- Waterfall Branches – pruning the branches as to create a cascading or “waterfall” shape going down the tree
Conclusion
Pruning a Japanese-style pine tree includes specialized techniques that include Momiage, Midoritsumi (candling), and Megiri.
This is an intricate process that requires careful attention to timing and detail.
If you correctly execute the techniques mentioned above, your efforts will yield well-shaped Japanese-style pine trees. Let’s take a close look at each of those particular techniques: