I can’t see the buds because are covered by the sheath, so I can’t see if they are ok or not :/
So bad timing I guess.. this doesn’t look like a fungus, right?
Do you still think that I can save some branches of the tree or do you think is dying?
That branch that is in the first “now” picture, may be dead. The others look ok. You may lose some twigs.
Take a look at the third “now” picture. Do you see the little short brown sheaths at the base of the needles? The fact that it is still there says those needles are not yet hardened off. It completely falls off when they are. When it does, you will be able to get a better look at the terminal buds. If you have green buds, it will be ok. If the buds are dried up, or there just doesn’t seem to be one, it’s dead, or soon will be.
While I have your attention, let’s go back and look at picture number 1 in the “now”. Your wiring is a little heavy handed. There’s three spirals of wire on one branch, one heavy and two thin. And another small branch has two wires. Perhaps it would have been neater to have used a wire a little heavier than the thin wire as to not have to double up? (I prefer using copper rather than aluminum so a thin wire holds better.)
Regardless, that same branch has four small branches coming from one point. Ideally, each crotch should only have two branches. I think two of those branches should have been pruned away. I know, it makes the tree sparse, but it will back bud. And if each year you get two new branches at each terminal, it doesn’t take very long to get a lot of terminals.
If I were working on that branch, I would keep the two side by side twigs, and remove the one on top, and especially the one on the bottom (the one with the three wires).
Look at these two diagrams:
Before:
After:
See how it’s almost always just two branches at each intersection? EXCEPT!!!, look in the very middle. There’s a place with three! One is the continuation of the main line, one goes to the left, and one goes... up! It looks like it goes to the right, but it goes up, and runs in the same direction as the main line. You need to do this every so often to give height to your pads. These little “third” branches are called “top” branches. And they serve to give height to the pads, and they will provide a place you can cut back to a few years from now when the main line gets too long!
Anyway, you seem to have a good eye for style, and I hope your tree recovers. I think it will live, but you may lose a few branches and twigs. Next time, wire in the fall!
Good luck!
