It’s been a year-and-a-half since my last update on an old cork-bark black pine. I didn’t thin the tree last fall so the foliage was extra dense when I brought it into the workshop.
Cork-bark black pine
The cutback took several hours. Although it doesn’t look like it, I removed close to half of the foliage.
After cutback
It was nice to see that the tree had maintained good density, but a few branch pads were out of shape so I added some wires.
After wiring – 24″
I repotted the tree last year so I don’t need to repot again this winter. The next step will be to decide whether or not to decandle in spring. In the meantime, I’ll make sure the tree gets good sunlight and and a little fertilizer through the rest of the dormant season.
For photos of how the tree has developed over the past fifteen years, see “Increasing density on a cork-bark black pine.”
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Keith says
What fertilizer do you use during the dormant season?
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Keith – I’ve been using a low concentration of Dyna-Gro recently. I plan to use some low-nitrogen organics as well as many plants are still active this time of year.
Keith says
Thanks Jonas for the information. Do you think Bio-Gold would work for a dormant fertilizer?
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Keith – I think Bio-Gold can be a good dormant fertilizer, but I don’t know what the minimum temperature would be to provide benefit for the trees. If the temps are in the 60s it’ll be fine, but if they’re regularly below freezing I’d avoid fertilizing at all. Using it at lower temperatures won’t hurt anything, but I don’t know if the trees would get the full benefit.
Paolo Macchi says
Hi, So by “removing half of foliage” means cutting branches and needles plugging?
Could you have cut more than 50% without issues? At what point will you shorten large branches? Beautiful natural looking tree.
Jonas Dupuich says
Hi Paolo! The way I think of it, the more I cut, the more likely the tree will become weak and run into problems. When I pruned this year, I removed between 2-3″ from most branches. I plan to reduce some of the remaining long branches in a year or two.
In terms of the numbers of needles, I likely removed about 75%. If anything unexpected comes up this year, I’ll be sure to share the results.
Mark Comstock says
My dear Friend, thank you for all your informative posting. You show us the reality of refining trees, time and dedication. You put a face on what I and all my fellow newcomers will confront as we move our trees into the later years. I don’t comment much but I follow closely
Jonas Dupuich says
Thanks Mark! Hopefully there will be lots of young pines needing refinement in a few more years – I’m happy you’re working so hard to make that a reality!