Advice on what to do with this JPB

[MrFancyPlants]

Don’t need to wire the sacrifice.

More growth or less cutting, will thicken the fastest. But, if you cut it back to one bud and let it rip, it will still thicken plenty quick, but will let some more light in.
Maybe take the middle path and reduce the sacrifice down to one bud in stages. You already took a good part of it, so let it go and try to get some movement nearment and ramification down low.

 

[ianmcglocklin]

So I made the first repot on this guy, from a 20 gallon or so nursery pot to this Anderson flat and from full organic to lava pumice DE, and only bare rooted 50% or so, didn’t want to cut off or disturb the root ball more than necessary. I had to plant the tree higher than I wanted to fit this Anderson flat and build up the substrate pretty high. Is than any disadvantage in doing this?

 

[ianmcglocklin]

I still haven’t learned how aggressive one can be repotting and root trimming black pines, especially the first repot from nursery soil and root bound to complete substrate switch and pound basket or shallow container. The tree had a ton of dead black roots that literally tore off without the slightest effort and even a large portion where the soil was dry and seemed to never be watered. It had white roots circling the pot and the candles were just starting to elongate indicating it was the right timing for a repot, but conifers are still new to me. I’m used to maples that you can literally pressure wash with a fire hose and they won’t even be phased.
Do I keep the tree as is and make sure the substrate that’s raised in the middle stays where it should, or repot it into something else that’s not as shallow and hold off on the Anderson flat until it’s next repot and root reduction, or simply take more off the rootball in order to make it fit properly?