[IBC] Black Pine Question

rreed19

I need your advice about a black pine. I try to follow the training
a method shared with me years ago which calls for cutting all the candles in
the spring. So, I did this on one of my black pines about a month ago.
It responded by producing smaller candles all over the tree that are
beginning to open new needles. Some of the largest candles are about
an inch and a half . The smallest candles are about a quarter of an
inch. What do I do now? I live in New Orleans.

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TreeBay

There are as many ways to grow black pine as there are persons who grow them! Some involve partial candle removal, some involve staggered candle removal, etc.

I do my candle pruning in the summer, with the important thing being that the candles need time to mature during the growing season. So, I haven't cut mine yet!

As far as your next step, it would probably involve selecting from among the new candles to help equalize strength. You'd want to do this when the candles were still buds, but if they have grown out you'll need to get going! You probably have between two and six new small buds/candles that have appeared. They probably vary in size and number according to their position on the tree and the strength of the branches to which they're attached.

This is what I would do if the tree is healthy:

At the end of each twig, remove using a bud shear all but two of the new buds/candles according to this basic plan - in the areas of strength (apex and outer branching) choose the weaker two buds/candles; in the areas that are typically weak (interior and lower branches) select the two strongest buds/candles. This will help equalize strength.

After those candles have grown out a bit and you don't feel you are in danger of knocking them off, you could start removing last year's needles from the base of the new candles and along the branches.

That should get you going through fall, when you would typically be doing some needle plucking.

Hope that helps, and remember you'll get many opinions, which differ according to personal experience, training, climate and length of growing season, etc.

Regards,

Matt

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