When is the best time to wire the shoots on my Japanese black pine? (This question also applies to my red pine) The new shoots have tendency to grow up and need to be laid flat. Should I do it before the buds push in spring? Or perhaps after de-candling in June?
The new shoots are too delicate to wire.
What color is the stem of the new shoot?
If it is green it is not ready for any type manipulation.
Once it has developed into branch with bark, then you can wire it.
Personally I would not wire until the branch is more than 1/4" in diameter, too delicate otherwise.
Pictures with reference would help 
I just reviewed my notes on the multiflush pine streams and could not find any specific comments about wiring. I did note that all of the streams I have watched are in June through August and seem to recall some wiring being done in all. I have a wiring detail drawn for at least one.
I agree that the new shoots are too delicate to wire until they have put on their vascular growth for the year. To me that means late fall to early spring would be the best time to wire last season’s shoots. Later in that period if you cannot protect from frosts/hard freezes since wiring induces some damage to the branch which won’t heal until the tree starts to grow. Spring would also work, but you have a higher probability of breaking off new buds so you have to be very careful.
Summer after decandling is the ideal time to wire since you will be needle plucking and have plenty of room to work. You can also wire during Fall shoot selection but branch manipulation will reduce winter tolerance. Finally, yes you can also wire in late winter before buds push. You just have to be careful in your application to not break buds off.
We’ve done wiring during summer and fall sessions at Mirai, but winter class was solely focused on repotting.
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Thanks all. This was a generic question about my trees so I didn’t post any photos. From this feedback, I am planning to decandle and then wire the previous years shoots in June.