repotted do i candle prune

[painter]

i know ive read to only perform one insult per year on pines. i repotted in spring, and had a tough time removing much of the ground soil it had been grown out in then potted with, so i only removed about of a third of it. it is really vigorous and candles are huge and has up to 5 on some tips. should i perform anything this week as it is approaching my time of year to perform decandling? should i do it earlier to allow time to gain strength?
thanks.
hopefully i can post pics tomorrow.
painter

 

[jkd2572]

What kind of pine is it? On some you should not cut candles at all.

 

[Adair M]

It's still too early to decandle.

You can break some candles in half if you think they are too powerful.

 

[Jason_mazzy]

If its black pine you are referring to you wouldn't de candle until june or early July depending on growing season. Mine is usually July 4thish.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

What stage of development is the tree?
When deandling is the appropriate action, I still do it in the same year as a repot.

 

[painter]

this is a japanese black pine.
i realize adair it is early im just trying to get a plan in place. i usually do weak areas first in the second week of june and follow a week later for each of the stronger areas. thats also why i asked, i thought maybe do this pine a week earlier due to the fact that i just repotted
thanks
painter

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I know you didn't ask, but fwiw, if this was on my bench, I'd let it's grow unrestricted until about October 1, then prune it back to the red lines. Next spring, it will bud back and give some new options for branch-building.

Decandling at this stage creates more congestion out in the tips that ultimately I wouldn't use in the final design.

 

[painter]

thanks bvf i had something like that in mind but i will keep the top right growing and use it as a drop branch to be the focus of the tree; so it needs to thicken a bit
p