AusBonsai

I have let my pines grow unhindered since October. My pines are all shohin or mame.
before

I am very late to decandle, but the reason was that I wanted to strengthen the tree and get lots of back budding. Best for this is to let it grow until the needles harden and in autumn cut back to the last needles (the base of the candle from the year before.)

As you can see this pine was not decandled last year.

You can see the old set of needles, nake of the old candle and the new candle after that.

notice that I did not decandle it, but cut it back to last year's needles so I removed two seasons of growth...I need branching closer to the trunk.

Here with red is marked where you need to cut to decandle...and with blue the needles I would remove later.

Remember if this nearer to the trunk needles drop you will not be able to cut back your branch to create ramification. The branch with two red lines shows where to cut for normal decandling and a cut back to old needles.

After cut back and wiring only 4 branches this is how it looks.


I see from this picture now that I missed some candles...or left them??? Need to see what I did.
I shall post the other pine tomorrow.
Any comments and advise are welcome.

Nice tree Neli,

I suspect you have learnt a lot on your travels.

Regards,

Peter

Your trees have grown well after their upheaval from the nice temperate climate of Japan to your more tropical one.

Cutting shoots right back into the older needles is how I manage my trees that are developing. It should give you lots of new buds back there closer to the trunk so you can fill out the branches.
A good job

Good information... Will do this to mine next autumn.

shibui wrote:Your trees have grown well after their upheaval from the nice temperate climate of Japan to your more tropical one.

Cutting shoots right back into the older needles is how I manage my trees that are developing. It should give you lots of new buds back there closer to the trunk so you can fill out the branches.
A good job

Thanks Niel, coming from you it means a lot to me...good you approve. Learning things , doing them on other people's trees is different than the panic that grips you when cutting your own...he he he!

PeterH wrote:Nice tree Neli,

I suspect you have learnt a lot on your travels.

Regards,

Peter

Thanks Peter...I am not sure if you traveled too but I sure enjoy your posts...and knowledge.

matlea wrote:Good information... Will do this to mine next autumn.

Glad if I can help. Try to do it later in autumn after the needles hardened...and fertilize a lot before. Dont miss opportunities...to cut back with pines. If you feel your pine is strong, and you dont have hard winter...it can be done almost any time.