Now that's funny.
I ment to load them last night, but our hotel room A/C broke and the manager introduced me to Jack last night while they fixed it. By the time Mr. Daniels and I got done with our visit I just didn't want to mess with the computer.
Another one of those restraint issues
Not a bad time of year to work on JBP, but might not be the right time to work on THIS one... I'd probably recommend letting it grow for a while first. Maybe do some branch selection if you want, then let it grow a while. Get a bigger trunk on it.. Put it in the ground and let a sacrifice branch run... Need it to get a good bit thicker before you think of end styling and if you leave it in that little plastic pot, it won't grow much. Looks severely root bound to me- would probably love to stretch it's roots out some and grow free for a while.
If you are just slipping it into a new pot/ grow bed/ box... without doing much to the roots, it should be fine. I wouldn't do it much later than this- even a simple "slip pot"- but moving a tree up to a larger pot without prunning the roots is not terribly stressful usually. The thing to be carefully of is- if you put it in a soil that is drastically different from the soil it is in, the roots may not take in the new soil which can cause a whole other set of problems down the road... And, If it is really pot-bound... You might want to wait until Spring when you can feel a little better about working into the root ball some, loosening it up to get new dirt and air to penetrate it... Your call of course!
You can take out yellow needles, but be sure to avoid making it look like a poodle; a sparse interior with all the growth out on the tips. The oldest needles can contain buds you'll want to activate and get growing as branches proximal to the trunk. If you remove those needles, the likelihood of bud break there is gone too. This article may be useful as you look at your pine and are contemplating what needs to be done:
