Every year I wrap-up decandling season by decandling any shohin pines in the garden. By decandling small pines later in the growing season, summer shoots have less time to develop, yielding smaller needles – the desired outcome for small trees.
Shohin black pine – before decandling
When decandling this tree, I removed a few shoots that stuck out beyond the desired silhouette for the tree and repositioned a few others that had wire on them.
After removing the top shoots
After removing the shoots on the left
After removing the shoots on the right
I removed a few needles as I worked in areas with dense foliage. After removing the last spring shoots, I cut back a few more branches and readjusted a couple more.
After decandling
More thinning will be required in fall when the summer shoots harden off. Until then, the tree requires no care beyond the basics – water and fertilizer.
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