FoldedFrog
Mame
Hey all,
While I’ve come a long way regarding my understanding of pines, I’m not sure about this particular situation and the literature I’ve seen is a little sparse regarding the macro view of husbandry and when one should actually skip a year of decandling. I purchased this nice sized black pine (pics below) last year from the monastery in Conyers GA. It wasn’t one of the monastery’s trees and I’m not sure of the back story on it.
When I got the tree it was incredibly leggy although the limbs were pretty well bifurcated to secondary and tertiary levels but they were all straight and spindly with little back-budding and tufts of needles mostly on the very ends of each limb. It was planted in very broken-down soil that resembled red mud. The only thing I did when I got the tree home was apply some wiring to the limbs to get started on compacting the tree and make it look a little less like Don King. As for anything else, I waited until this spring to repot and was surprised at the relatively small root mass compared to this giant grow-out pot that it is in. I did a little root pruning and replaced it in the same pot (albeit much more shallow bonsai soil) to give it breathing room for a season or so.
Despite the odd situation with the limbs and the soil it’s a nice size and the trunk has some pretty good movement. It has a 3” thick trunk, a pretty nice nebari. The tree is about 28” high – now that I brought the limbs down and in. The whole thing with the pot is about 34” tall.
Finally, here’s my question: The spindly limbs beg to be thickened with more foliage and vigor. I have been breaking the longest of spring candles in the strongest areas to promote back budding and balanced energy. There are some good buds forming on the older wood particularly in the stronger areas. Would you guys decandle this tree this year of leave it to strengthen? I am suffering from cognitive dissonance because, with the lack of foliage carrying over from last year combined with my repot, I feel this tree needs some strengthening. However, I don’t want the limbs to become even more leggy.
Most of the reading I’ve done says that the decision not to decandle comes from years of experience and increased skills. I believe I know the answer, but it might be beneficial to have someone else’s perspective.
PS - I know it isn’t near time to decandle. We have a very long growing season around here so I don’t typically decandle my small pines until mid-July. Since this tree is pretty large, I would probably do it in mid-June so my question is mostly academic at this point. Any input would be appreciated.
FRONT
LOTS OF SPINDLY LIMBS
BACK-BUDDING
While I’ve come a long way regarding my understanding of pines, I’m not sure about this particular situation and the literature I’ve seen is a little sparse regarding the macro view of husbandry and when one should actually skip a year of decandling. I purchased this nice sized black pine (pics below) last year from the monastery in Conyers GA. It wasn’t one of the monastery’s trees and I’m not sure of the back story on it.
When I got the tree it was incredibly leggy although the limbs were pretty well bifurcated to secondary and tertiary levels but they were all straight and spindly with little back-budding and tufts of needles mostly on the very ends of each limb. It was planted in very broken-down soil that resembled red mud. The only thing I did when I got the tree home was apply some wiring to the limbs to get started on compacting the tree and make it look a little less like Don King. As for anything else, I waited until this spring to repot and was surprised at the relatively small root mass compared to this giant grow-out pot that it is in. I did a little root pruning and replaced it in the same pot (albeit much more shallow bonsai soil) to give it breathing room for a season or so.
Despite the odd situation with the limbs and the soil it’s a nice size and the trunk has some pretty good movement. It has a 3” thick trunk, a pretty nice nebari. The tree is about 28” high – now that I brought the limbs down and in. The whole thing with the pot is about 34” tall.
Finally, here’s my question: The spindly limbs beg to be thickened with more foliage and vigor. I have been breaking the longest of spring candles in the strongest areas to promote back budding and balanced energy. There are some good buds forming on the older wood particularly in the stronger areas. Would you guys decandle this tree this year of leave it to strengthen? I am suffering from cognitive dissonance because, with the lack of foliage carrying over from last year combined with my repot, I feel this tree needs some strengthening. However, I don’t want the limbs to become even more leggy.
Most of the reading I’ve done says that the decision not to decandle comes from years of experience and increased skills. I believe I know the answer, but it might be beneficial to have someone else’s perspective.
PS - I know it isn’t near time to decandle. We have a very long growing season around here so I don’t typically decandle my small pines until mid-July. Since this tree is pretty large, I would probably do it in mid-June so my question is mostly academic at this point. Any input would be appreciated.
FRONT
LOTS OF SPINDLY LIMBS
BACK-BUDDING
Interesting that we are all from Georgia also!
