JBP advice any?

[Loma Rica]

I got this JBP at the nursery a little over a year ago and transplanted into a large cedar box w/a 1-1-1 soil mix. The attached pics show when I brought it home, then after I did a bit of trim on the sacrifice branch, and now the lower branches growing well and all their new candles. I plan on cutting the sacrificial branch in a year or two but for now I want to develop the lower branches before the “Big Cut”. Today (see photo below) I snapped all the longest candles in half to balance energy and will come back say the 1st of July and decandle most all of the tree except the one top sacrifice candle. Meanwhile I’m fertilizing, full sun, and letting it dry just enough before watering. Anyone see a flaw in my plan? This is my first JBP this size and since it was nursery stock my options were limited (straight trunk and some twisted roots) I’m in zone 9B in northern Calif. For fertilizer I use biogold in saucers and a bit of 10-10-5 liquid every 10 days. Any help would be appreciated, this is my first post (just joined) thanks!!

 

[Ryceman3]

From what I understand your plan sounds pretty solid. Would be good to transition to a new sacrifice/leader once you remove the original sacrifice to help blend a transition into the new trunk line. Fertiliser and decandle plan is decent. The winding roots are a bit problematic but there is a chance they will fuse to create a blended/integrated mass down the track and that could work to add meat to your base.
Good luck with it and welcome to the forum!

 

[Loma Rica]

Thank you, I have noticed that the root ball contours have softened over the last year so I’ll bet your right as to the blending, I’m still not sure what the design will be down the road after the sacrificial limb is gone, perhaps the tree will tell me. Thank you