When the trunk of a tree has reached the desired thickness, I evaluate the sacrifice branches to see if it makes more sense to remove them all at once or to remove them in stages. In many cases, removing large branches can cause vigorous new shoots to develop. This is especially true for species like […]
Search Results for: pine
Starting the refinement process on a field-grown Japanese black pine
About two years ago, I picked up some field-grown pines from Lone Pine Gardens in Sebastopol, California. The next winter I repotted the trees into smaller containers and let them grow freely to encourage as much root growth as possible. This year the trees are healthy and ready to be worked on. The process is […]
Exposed root black pine: seven-year progression
Here is a look at the development of a semi-exposed root black pine over the past seven years. Very little wiring was done during this time, but the tree was decandled every year it was healthy enough to do so. The tree is sixteen years old. June, 2013 After cutback January, 2014 June, 2015 July, […]
Cutback and decandling a field-grown black pine
I was happy to start working on a field-grown pine earlier this week. Long spring candles and healthy green needles suggested that the tree was strong enough to decandle, so the work started there (thanks for the help, Max!). We also removed some branches that were too large to use in the final design. Here’s […]
Decandling a cascade black pine in two stages
Decandling is a pruning technique where spring growth is removed to stimulate a second flush of growth over summer. The basic technique can be an effective way to produce dense foliage on black and red pines, and there are several variations that can help us balance vigor between weak and strong branches at the same […]