Black Pine Suggestions

gregb

I agree with Bill to repot this in the spring and I would use a plastic collander and a largly pumice based mix. Fertilize well to beef up that trunk--your tree looks pretty young right now. Try to keep the lower branches for now; let them grow out to help in the thickening process. I also agree with Bill to read up on candle pinching and needle plucking but would wait to do this until your tree is beefier unless you're going for a shohin.

If this tree were mine, I might be tempted to cut the long shoot in the top right back to the area where it looks strong and there's lots of new growth--about 2/3 the way up the tree from the first pic you posted. That's about all the pruning I'd do for a couple of years, though. The rest of the time, I'd be fertilizing heavily with organic cakes. Another option if you have the space and time for it would be to plant it in the ground for a few years. This would give you a nice, fat trunk in a shorter time frame.