Hello All,
This marks the first post on the forums. I received this JOB last October from a nursery located near Dundee, MI. I currently live in Florence, SC. I am waiting to decade following recommendations lined out in Ryan’s Multi-flush Pines video. Just had a couple questions on styling. I am planning on bringing some of the branches down some to create more negative space and pad isolation. There are also some places where more than two branches are originating from the same area that I want to reduce to two to prevent whirls or inverse taper as well as removing any vertical or downward growing branches. Is the end of June for my region the best time to decandle and remove unwanted branches.
Remember, the largest pines are decandled first. Smallest …up to about the 3rd week in July. July 4th weekend’s a good goal to shoot for in the in-between. Fertilize it (heavily?) up until decandling time.
Get it decandled (if you’re satisfied its healthy), needle-pluck to balance energy, and then get the branches in the right locations with that new Cu wire you just got. Then wait 4-5 weeks before introducing fertilizer, and keep that on 'til (thru?) November.
I wouldn’t fertilize at all once the tree is declandled. Let the second flush grow out, it will have small needles/shorter internodes/increased ramifications, and leave it untouched until shoot selecting in the fall. If we fertilize after decandleing we will get long needles long internodes which defeats the purpose of decandleing in the first place.
The 4-5 weeks part of my reply is wrong. You begin fertilizing after 2nd-flush when the candles have begun hardening off. Fall fertilization is the most important time to set the tree to grow well the following year.
You must have rewatched the growth perpetuation video yesterday…I did as well, and if you didn’t that’s a funny coincidence because this exact concept was discussed and was just going to say the same thing about fertilization. I second the idea of late fertilizer to perpetuate growth the following year. You can watch it here if you’re tier 2 or 3 - Growth Perpetuation
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