A month or two after decandling season is a good time to check and see how the summer growth is filling in. If everything looks good, there’s no need to make a change. If the new growth is weaker than expected, there’s still time to strengthen it before the end of the growing season. This […]
Black Pine
Balancing summer growth on black pine
Black pines are one of a number of species that don’t naturally produce balanced growth. These pines are likely to produce strong shoots near the apex or at the ends of lower branches and weaker shoots everywhere else. Of the many ways to balance this growth, the most effective I know of is to decandle […]
Decandling a field-grown pine
I kicked off this year’s decandling season by working on a pine that had been left to grow freely for a few years. Black pine with long shoots When decandling, we have the option to simply remove the current year’s growth or, if the tree is growing vigorously, to cut back to any spot along […]
Fall work basics – black and red pine
If you haven’t finished your fall pine work, there’s still time! Fall and winter, right up until buds start elongating in spring, is a good time to prune and wire dormant conifers including Japanese black and red pines. The first step is to prune branches in crowded areas, the second step is to remove extra […]
The middle stages of pine development – my favorite!
When you have a good trunk to work with and the goal is to improve the branches, you’re working with a tree in the middle stages of development. For pines with large trunks, this stage can last five to ten years or more, depending on your goals for the silhouette. The two pines below were […]