JBP - refine or not?

Ghoulbath

Ghoulbath

Sapling
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Hey all. I acquired this JBP I got for a fairly good price. It’s not the prettiest and it’s a bit scrawny, but I really took a liking to it and want to start working on refining.

My question is, should I hold out on fertilizing this guy and decandle, or would you fertilize and just let it run this season? To me it seems the tree is not intended to be much thicker and is ready to be refined, but I’d love opinions from those much more knowledgeable and with a better vision than myself.

Thanks so much!
 

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Your tree appears strong and healthy. I would certainly decandle if I had it here.
Looks like last year's growth is relatively long? In such cases I don't hesitate to cut back into last year's needles to make the branches more compact. If the length is OK I would pull some of the older needles to limit branch vigour as well as the pruning.
Don't withhold fert too long before decandling. I've had very poor response when I've tried that. No fert for a week before is OK but not much longer.
 
I would decandle everything but the lowest branch. Timing depends on location; count backwards 100 days from your area’s first frost date and that’s about when you would decandle.

At the same time, if you have remaining shoots that appear denser, go ahead and pull some needles to make the foliage distribution look even around the top. Pines are all about balancing strength.

I start feeding again a couple weeks after decandling.

In the fall, you can prune new shoots back to evenly-sized pairs, pull needles again to balance strength and wire every branch.
 
Shibui said:
Your tree appears strong and healthy. I would certainly decandle if I had it here.
Looks like last year's growth is relatively long? In such cases I don't hesitate to cut back into last year's needles to make the branches more compact. If the length is OK I would pull some of the older needles to limit branch vigour as well as the pruning.
Don't withhold fert too long before decandling. I've had very poor response when I've tried that. No fert for a week before is OK but not much longer.
Click to expand...
I’ll fertilize now. Debating on what to use. I might do some biogold. Thanks!
 
Brian Van Fleet said:
I would decandle everything but the lowest branch. Timing depends on location; count backwards 100 days from your area’s first frost date and that’s about when you would decandle.

At the same time, if you have remaining shoots that appear denser, go ahead and pull some needles to make the foliage distribution look even around the top. Pines are all about balancing strength.

I start feeding again a couple weeks after decandling.

In the fall, you can prune new shoots back to evenly-sized pairs, pull needles again to balance strength and wire every branch.
Click to expand...
Great info thank you. I would keep about 6-8 pairs of needles on the remaining shoots and pluck everything behind it right?
 
Shibui said:
Your tree appears strong and healthy. I would certainly decandle if I had it here.
Looks like last year's growth is relatively long? In such cases I don't hesitate to cut back into last year's needles to make the branches more compact. If the length is OK I would pull some of the older needles to limit branch vigour as well as the pruning.
Don't withhold fert too long before decandling. I've had very poor response when I've tried that. No fert for a week before is OK but not much longer.
Click to expand...
There’s quite a bit of needles further back on the branches so I figured after decandling I would pluck those older needles
 
I usually front load with high nitrogen fertilizer. And then take it off when I decandle. Lots of energy for buds, but then it slows down for smaller needles. I also leave the old needles on where you are hoping for back buds. And needle cut rather than plucking needles, but perhaps I am splitting fir.
 
MrFancyPlants said:
I usually front load with high nitrogen fertilizer. And then take it off when I decandle. Lots of energy for buds, but then it slows down for smaller needles. I also leave the old needles on where you are hoping for back buds. And needle cut rather than plucking needles, but perhaps I am splitting fir.
Click to expand...
What fertilizer do you usually go with?
 
I’m currently using Tamahi fertilizer tablets, but I’m thinking about switching because you need to place them every 3 inches around the pot aesthetically doesn’t look that good. @Charl, how many tablets are you using per JBP?
 
Ghoulbath said:
There’s quite a bit of needles further back on the branches so I figured after decandling I would pluck those older needles
Click to expand...
Plucking is one strategy but may leave a longer, bare section. The more needles, the longer that bare section will be. Need to remember that the remaining needles will look OK for a year, maybe 2 then they die from old age leaving that entire section bare and it will be bare forever after (barring occasional back buds) You need to look to the future and decide if that bare section will look good in the final tree.
Pruning back into those older needles will result in similar response to decandling except the new buds will be further back along the branches, allowing you to develop ramification closer to the trunk.
Choice is yours.
 
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