I haven't shown this tree in the last couple years. After my move back from SoCal this tree took a year off. Many of the buds did not grow properly for the first summer so I left it alone, no decandling, no needle pulling.
During summer this year I was still hesitating to decandle the tree, but ultimately I decided to do so since it was growing well. The thing I was nervous about was that the needles that would be left to power the tree after decandling were already two years old. Well, it turns out that that's apparently not a problem for a black pine. (well, I did fertilize the crap out of it this year, particularly in the fall to get the new crop of needles the length I wanted.)
June 7th, 2014, after removing the weaker candles, but before removing the strong ones:
Last night (November 4th, 2014) before any work:
Me goofing around:
And after pulling needles and removing some buds, the tree looks better. But, I still have to do a bunch of wiring, and perhaps a bit more thinning, particularly on the top where things are a bit too dense. That one branch at the right of the very top maybe should come off, it's making the apex look too pointy.
