The last two posts featured shohin black pines that were strong enough to decandle (see post one and post two for details). Here’s what to do when the lower branches are weak. The new growth on the lower branches looks good on the tree below, but the shoots are short and the buds are small […]
Black Pine
Another look at balancing vigor on a black pine with a sacrifice branch
The pine below is getting close to its final shape. Japanese black pine – 15 years old from seed As you can see from the photo, there is a large gap in vigor between the sacrifice branch and the lower branches. After decandling and thinning needles on the lower branches – standard work for pines […]
Balancing vigor on pines with sacrifice branches
Decandling time is a good opportunity to balance vigor between sacrifice branches and the rest of the tree. This is especially true for pines nearing the end of the development phase. Last year I let the sacrifice branches grow on several pines while decandling the lower branches. As a result, the sacrifice branches became overly […]
Spring maintenance on black pine – pulling needles and decandling
I’ve been working on the black pine below for twenty years. Every year, near the end of May or the beginning of June, I remove the spring growth and reduce the number of old needles. Japanese black pine I typically begin the work by removing the spring shoots (decandling) before reducing the number needles on […]
Initial branch refinement on Japanese black pine
The pine below, grown from seed by Eric Schrader, is in the early stages of branch development. The major sacrifice branch came off a couple of years ago, and the tree has been decandled at least one or two times before. Japanese black pine – 13 years from seed Lower trunk (tachiagari) and surface root […]