Two years ago, I started a few cork bark black pines by grafting (See “Creating cork bark black pine“). The grafts took, and that fall I began reducing the foliage on the host tree.
Now, one year later, it’s time to repeat the process. Both the scions and their hosts grew well last year, so I need to further reduce the regular black pine foliage to encourage the cork bark foliage.
I began by reducing the branches, leaving only one shoot on each tree. I then removed some needles. When there were branches growing above the scion that might shade it, I removed these branches first. The idea is to slow down the host tree and to provide the scion with as much sunshine as possible. Here’s what the process looked like for three young trees.
Cork bark black pine – 2 years after grafting
The scion
I left the grafting tape in place when I removed the grafting bag as it can help keep the scion in place while the union strengthens.
After removing one of the original branches
After removing a second branch
With the branches out of the way, I removed all of the old needles and a few new needles from the last remaining original shoot.
After removing needles
Here’s the same process repeated for two more trees.
2-year old cork bark black pine – the host tree is now five years old
After removing branches
After removing needles
Tree number 3
After removing branches and pulling old needles
Once the the cutback and clean-up was done, I repotted the trees – details next time.
