Some of you may remember I posted a pic of this tree not too long ago regarding it being a town tree. Anyhow, I contacted forester and know what I have to do if I do prune it. I’m just curious if anyone here would do anything differently?
Trim some of the lower branches back, thin and shape, remove any dead wood. Some basic cleanup pruning. Nothing real major. I actually presented my plan to the city forester because of the fact it is likely a town tree and he said we needed to agree on the pruning to be done and he didn’t question it.
Just curious if any of you see anything else or would do anything differently?
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I mainly agree with your approach. I'm mostly worried about pushing back low limbs. If there's a plan for providing them sunlight, go for it. Usually there is no plan and the pruned low limbs malaise, then die. Better to prune them a bit less than the ones above - a successive statement that applies until you've reached the top. Niwaki pine in particular are de-needled (fall momiage) more up higher and less down lower. This also transfers energy from the very energetic top to other areas, as does the removal of candles in mid spring (midoritsumi). Edzard on the Japanese gardening forum expounds on this, and other deep dives. I suspect he has a fairly direct connection to the 800 years of Japanese niwaki experience. The main idea is to manipulate the energy input from the sun and the energy that is already in the tree towards an intentional goal. If I have to, do limb removal to the main trunk for visual prospect or vehicle clearance. I try not to do the in between thing where the low limbs are pushed back in, wither, sucker sprouts on the interior, then die.
It's impossible to see inside, but it looks like I'd get in there and find the major structures that are aesthetically pleasing and do the cuts that meet those goals first. In general, I look to distill the essence of the tree to 1, 2, or 3 leaders depending on how they work together visually from the front.
The tree kind of lacks a "front" since everyone everywhere is looking at it from every side, but I bet the front should be the view from inside a window or two of the residence. I try to expose trunk wood at the front if it looks nice.
I often create layers around the main horizontal branches with visual gaps between them where larger branch and/or trunk wood can be seen. Not every circumstance works for that - sometimes cheery organic-shaped balls are the way to go, or just a good thin. Underlying the style is a concept - windswept, cliff-grown, pouncing tiger, etc. that the tree expresses to those who encounter it. That concept should not be whimsical or piecemeal, but rather part of a unified presentation of the grounds and the owners.
If I get repeat visits, I wait to apply paclobutrazol until after healing of the largest wounds is complete. Arborjet just put out label rates for ornamentals, so I can use their chart instead of the standard chart.
Jake Hobson's "Niwaki" is a great book. The sections on fukinaoshi (usually done in a nursery away from the public eye, so I don't go full fukinaoshi) and thinning are important for trees that have not been worked on.
I just finished stage 1 of two podocarpus I am redoing from standard box hedges into very small niwaki trees. I had to leave long branches, a couple of which awkwardly visually cross the vertical lines of adjacent trunks while I await interior resprouting, but I think the shapes turned out nicely. I'll try to take a picture and post. It's just the rough trunk structure that I set in this year.
A few random things I think about while pruning ornamentals:
I look for reduction cuts to increase taper, which is aesthetically pleasing.
Elbows should have a subordinate branch extending towards the direction the elbow points, if possible. A reduction therefore should not be made at the elbow, but one or two unions away from the elbow.
Prospect refuge theory perhaps dictates that the tree maximize both the feeling of providing refuge (does it appear/feel climbable to escape a predator?) and the feeling of being able to see (visual prospect) a predator lying in ambush. My client/s have a preference for both, but one more than the other. I have to get to know them before I prune their tree.
I generally spend 1-10 minutes looking at the interior of the tree and the surroundings before starting to cut. Can't take it back once you've gone there...
I try to chip the pruned branches and put the chips at the base of the tree.
