Anticipation is Growing

Thomas J.

Chumono
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Location
DFW area
USDA Zone
7
The time is getting much closer now for all these JBPs to be decandeled. Most will be done from early July to mid July since most are shohin size. A few of the bigger ones will be done within a week or two from now. :-)

y2_pe.jpg
 
Just started decandling some of mine. It is a little early for me, but I am having a crazy busy summer with some travel planned.
 
It always better early than late.

That is some super healthy JBP there. Wish I could shield the pot like Thomas on mine. How do you water your tree and still have the cloth look so clean?
 
LOL, actually I just cut these this morning since the others I was using looked pretty bad from last year. Have to make a good impression you know. :)


So the cloth insulates the pots? I’m not sure I’ve seen that before. Can you elaborate on that a bit?
 
So the cloth insulates the pots? I’m not sure I’ve seen that before. Can you elaborate on that a bit?

the cloth gives some protection from the hot Texas sun since JBPs need to be in full sun it protects the pot from getting excessively hot and cooking the roots.
 
Just started decandling some of mine. It is a little early for me, but I am having a crazy busy summer with some travel planned.

I'm a n00b...so, I think I de-candled much too early? (always saw on YT, that mid-May to early June was the best time to decandle)...

I de-candled around mid-May iirc. Only the longest candles, 2-4" long. Not many at all, only maybe 10-20 candles per tree (probably only 5-10% of the candles, because it's a big garden/niwaki tree). I did it early because I noticed a few of the candles were starting to harden off already.

My 2 trees are 4-5' tall garden (trained) JBPs, 2.75-3.25" trunk, 6-7 levels of branch tiers, maybe 15-20 years old (not sure..they're pretty mature though).
(I also have 4 baby saplings, 7yo I think).

Since you're in the same OC area... when is the best time to de-candle? Late-June or early-July?
Did I make a grave mistake by cutting the (only a couple) candles too soon in May?
Are you supposed to decandle 100% of the tree and EVERY single bit of new-growth/new-candle (any candle with new needles) down to a closer node?
Or, is only decandling the most vigorous/longest and perhaps the medium ones too, sufficient (let's say, maybe only 10-20% of the tree)? (and just leaving the candles alone, the ones that are hardly even 0.5-1" long)

...My foliage right now looks pretty much exactly like the OP's picture... although, mine is niwaki style, very tall, and the branch pads/tiers have a lot more space between them (at least +1' of spacing between the branches).


Additionally... I performed "Momiage" (needle plucking down to only 3-6 pairs per tip) on them last late-December. I assume this is a good time for momiage (from my research), correct?
 
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@Adair M

At noob (sorry, can't read or type your screen name) - When you decandle JBP depends on the number of days before first frost for northerners, The warmer the climate the later in the year you should decandle. I am in zone 5b and have a growing season that is only about 110 days long, give or take a few days. We decandle during the first half of the month of June.

I tagged Adair because he can more precisely answer the question as to when you should decandle.
 
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