Have you ever found yourself unsure about a young tree’s future? Me too. As young pines transition from trunk development to branch development, the main focus is on slowing the tree down and increasing branch density. I begin this process by decandling the tree and removing extraneous branches. I don’t need a final plan at this […]
Black Pine
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 […]
Decandling pines in early stages of development
Decandling young black pines is a treat. It’s during this phase of development that a tree’s basic elements begin to take shape. Sometimes there are clear candidates for the “first branch” or “future apex.” In these cases I’ll often add a little wire to guide these branches into place. Other times I don’t know exactly where […]
Decandling pines in development
Whether I’m working on well-established pines or pines that are have yet to experience much branch development, the basic decandling process is the same – remove spring shoots with the aim of producing summer shoots. One difference is that when I’m working on less-developed pines, I’ll often do more cutback and sometimes a little wiring when […]
Decandling established black pines
The transition from spring to summer marks the middle of decandling season, the time of year when we remove spring shoots from black pines to produce more compact summer growth. If a tree is healthy and received a lot of fertilizer in spring, it’s a good candidate for decandling. Based on this criteria, the black […]