No signs of Austrian Black Pine needles pushing from candles?

[Bonsai Noodles]

Quick note: this is niwaki, but with everyone's horticultural knowledge here, I hope I'll find some answers.

I bought an "Oregon Green" Austrian Black Pine for a niwaki project (at one point, considered a trunk chop and to pot it, but I'll mess with my mugos for now). Before I transferred the tree from balled/burlap (unsure how long it was in the container) into the ground (about 3 weeks ago), I had to tease a lot of the roots/rootball out because it was in really compacted clay soil. From what I've seen, Austrian Black Pines prefer well-draining soil. I removed about 30-40% of the root ball, trying to leave roots in tact. However, I think I may have damaged the root ball because I'm not getting any needles from this year's flush of growth. No foliage was removed since I wanted to give the tree at least one/two years to recover and build a strong root system.

Is late needle hardening typical of Pinus Nigra? Or is this a sign that my tree is not doing too well? I expected some level of transplant shock, but I didn't think it would be this bad — or maybe I'm over-analyzing. On the bright side, the candles have tended to curve upward, even after I put it into the ground at an angle (in typical niwaki fashion). The tree is in well-draining soil (maybe too well-draining) and gets full sunlight (like 8+ hours every day).

Thanks!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Over here they're just about ending their candle elongation and extending their needles. So yours is behind, but the fact that the candles are moving against gravity makes me think that they might just be a little late.
Repotting for these European species is usually done in spring. So touching their roots after that season might be detrimental. But.. Austrian pines are resilient. If it hasn't flushed out in three weeks, I'd be concerned.

As far as I can tell, I don't see any major worrying signs.

 

[Bonsai Noodles]

Over here they're just about ending their candle elongation and extending their needles. So yours is behind, but the fact that the candles are moving against gravity makes me think that they might just be a little late.
Repotting for these European species is usually done in spring. So touching their roots after that season might be detrimental. But.. Austrian pines are resilient. If it hasn't flushed out in three weeks, I'd be concerned.

As far as I can tell, I don't see any major worrying signs.

Sounds good, thanks! I’ll follow up in about a month for posterity.

 

[Bonsai Noodles]

Over here they're just about ending their candle elongation and extending their needles. So yours is behind, but the fact that the candles are moving against gravity makes me think that they might just be a little late.
Repotting for these European species is usually done in spring. So touching their roots after that season might be detrimental. But.. Austrian pines are resilient. If it hasn't flushed out in three weeks, I'd be concerned.

As far as I can tell, I don't see any major worrying signs.

@Wires_Guy_wires

No needles yet, oh no!
Do you think it’ll make it? I hear pines aren’t very good at indicating when they’re dead

I did check the Home Depot where this batch came from, and the same batch there had needles elongating (at the top, lower needles still not elongating). I guess this batch in general has had it rough, but my little root work might’ve set it back even further…

 

[Pj86]

@Wires_Guy_wires

No needles yet, oh no!
Do you think it’ll make it? I hear pines aren’t very good at indicating when they’re dead

I did check the Home Depot where this batch came from, and the same batch there had needles elongating (at the top, lower needles still not elongating). I guess this batch in general has had it rough, but my little root work might’ve set it back even further…

I wouldn’t worry, it is a little slow but appears healthy. My Austrian Black Pines takes about 1-2 months to harden off new growth.

 

[Bonsai Noodles]

I wouldn’t worry, it is a little slow but appears healthy. My Austrian Black Pines takes about 1-2 months to harden off new growth.

Reassuring, thanks! Slow ones, they are.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Can you snip one of those buds off? Check if it's green and juicy inside. If it is, the waiting game continues.
If it's dry and dead, it might not do anything for the rest of the year and produce new shoots next year or it might slowly die. Hard to tell, but since it hasn't dropped any limbs I have hope.
European pines can go a year without producing new growth, but it's rare. I would expect it to make some new buds over the course of fall.

 

[Bonsai Noodles]

Can you snip one of those buds off? Check if it's green and juicy inside. If it is, the waiting game continues.
If it's dry and dead, it might not do anything for the rest of the year and produce new shoots next year or it might slowly die. Hard to tell, but since it hasn't dropped any limbs I have hope.
European pines can go a year without producing new growth, but it's rare. I would expect it to make some new buds over the course of fall.

I did check one of the needles, and yes, candles are green and fleshy it appears. I guess that's a good sign! I've never had a case where I didn't have a pine that didn't push out new growth/stopped, but it's good to hear that's possible. Will keep this updated for posterity. Thanks again.