The magic time of the year has arrived, and the work begins! This is the time to take this giant gift JBP stick and start it on the (long) path to greatness, but I dont have any experience with pines and I need some guidance.
I'm in Florida, and the last of the frost is gone. Buds are popping on this ugly stick, so I did my best to clean it up for photos. I gave it a haircut (which gave it that unique feeling of a dollar store plastic Christmas tree) so we can see the structure. I brushed back the soil to expose the nebari, which seems mildly interesting. The tree stands 50 or so inches from the soil, and it is just a long stick with virtually no features. The only defined branch low enough to be saved starts about 3 inches from the soil line. Moving up from there, the only other attribute is a clump of new buds about 12 inches up the trunk, but between the base of the tree and that clump, there is not much in the way of taper.
I see a few directions from here.
1) I can trunk chop at the lower branch, and use it as the new top.
2) A variation would be to bend the trunk to put the small branch more vertical and the main trunk horizontal, and chop the trunk off leaving several inches to eventually jin when the new leader catches up in thickness.
3) I can chop above the clump of buds and do something creative with that. This path seems tough because of the lack of taper, but maybe someone can think of a way to bend in some movement to draw focus away from that flaw.
What I eventually want is a mid-size tree, possibly 20-30 inches. I'm not locked into any style at this point, just open to suggestions.
Is it possible or advisable to do major root work to get it in a proper pot and trunk chop at the same time, or should I chop now and repot later?
I'm in Florida, and the last of the frost is gone. Buds are popping on this ugly stick, so I did my best to clean it up for photos. I gave it a haircut (which gave it that unique feeling of a dollar store plastic Christmas tree) so we can see the structure. I brushed back the soil to expose the nebari, which seems mildly interesting. The tree stands 50 or so inches from the soil, and it is just a long stick with virtually no features. The only defined branch low enough to be saved starts about 3 inches from the soil line. Moving up from there, the only other attribute is a clump of new buds about 12 inches up the trunk, but between the base of the tree and that clump, there is not much in the way of taper.
I see a few directions from here.
1) I can trunk chop at the lower branch, and use it as the new top.
2) A variation would be to bend the trunk to put the small branch more vertical and the main trunk horizontal, and chop the trunk off leaving several inches to eventually jin when the new leader catches up in thickness.
3) I can chop above the clump of buds and do something creative with that. This path seems tough because of the lack of taper, but maybe someone can think of a way to bend in some movement to draw focus away from that flaw.
What I eventually want is a mid-size tree, possibly 20-30 inches. I'm not locked into any style at this point, just open to suggestions.
Is it possible or advisable to do major root work to get it in a proper pot and trunk chop at the same time, or should I chop now and repot later?