Decandling a shohin black pine

Every year I wrap-up decandling season by decandling any shohin pines in the garden. By decandling small pines later in the growing season, summer shoots have less time to develop, yielding smaller needles – the desired outcome for small trees.

Shohin black pine – before decandling

When decandling this tree, I removed a few shoots that stuck out beyond the desired silhouette for the tree and repositioned a few others that had wire on them.

After removing the top shoots

After removing the shoots on the left

After removing the shoots on the right

I removed a few needles as I worked in areas with dense foliage. After removing the last spring shoots, I cut back a few more branches and readjusted a couple more.

After decandling

More thinning will be required in fall when the summer shoots harden off. Until then, the tree requires no care beyond the basics – water and fertilizer.