Earlier this year I collected a field grown Japanese black pine and I tried not to disturb too many of the roots when removing it. The tree appeared to be healthy, but this year the candles did not elongate. Does anybody know a cause for this? And is there anything to do to help the tree?
It looks a lot like a Scots Pine that I have the in ground that did not like the transplant into a grow bag. Sat all year last year looking dead. Is pushing some new small buds/shoots this year, including some from the sides of the candles that did not elongate. I suggest you maintain the right soil water/oxygen balance to get root growth and do a little mild fertilizing. The strength of pines is in the roots so we both need to grow a bunch of roots.
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I may be totally off base here, so someone correct me if I’m wrong. My JBPs were not doing much of anything, so this year in the spring, I took off a lot of the old needles. I am continuing to do this in the summer but not nearly so severely, just plucking the ones that look diseased or turn brown. I also cut back the candles left over from last year (I got the trees late summer last year), leaving about 1/2".
They are doing much better, particularly the one I repotted this spring - new growth, new needles, etc. I missed the boat on taking off most of the needles on the new growth, but plan to do this next year.
The trimming and needle removal seemed to stimulate the growth of the tree - It’s hard to tell from your picture, but maybe this will help yours.
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It may also be that if the tree was collected this year, you might be expecting too much of it. The tree is probably putting energy into developing new roots and recovery.
Even if you don’t do anything else to the tree, I would def recommend plucking those discolored and brown needles though. If there is any disease, removing them will keep it from spreading.
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I will pluck those needles as soon as I can! Thanks for the recommendation, that didn’t cross my mind
You confirmed my suspicion here. I collected these jbp in late February, and I lost one mid April. I’m guessing we removed too much energy from the root balls, and therefore the tree didn’t have the energy for a strong push. Thanks for your reply!
Update: since plucking the dead needles and thinning a few more needles, along with living the tree into better lighting, the tree is now showing new needle growth. Pretty strangle but I’m glad the tree is growing again.
Great! glad to hear it!
- Maryann