about pencil-thick, and was about 10 cm tall. Its top was cut off, and it had a lot of little buds throughout.
The following pictures were taken on 6/November/2007:
I think the above two are better views of this black pine.
I was not very happy with the three tops. But I did not feel right about cutting any of them off. I wired them about two months prior
to taking the above pictures. I kept on looking at it, but still it did not feel right. It looked too heavy and unbalanced. Most of my early
trees have been suffering this problem. I seemed to have no clue about how train the top. And I still find it difficult shaping crowns.
After two months, I decided that it was still ugly. I needed to do something drastic. I felt that I must get rid of two, leaving only one
to train as the new leader. Details of the three tops:
I should eliminate branches A and B, and keep C. Simply because A and B are smaller than C. Importantly C has branches C1 and
C2, which I could further develop. And that will give this tree four main layers.
Having made the decision, I cut the branches off sometimes during November, 2007. The timing might not have been best. But I just
could not wait.
The following pictures were taken on 27/January/2008:
I think it is more harmonious than before, but is still very unbalanced. The two top branches must be developed more, to be in proportion
with the two below.
Since January 2008, I have also shortened the length of the lower two layers, and I have also moderately succeeded in back budding, and
improved ramification of the lower layers a little.
I did take some more photos recently. But they look indistinguishable from the previous ones, so there is no point including them here.
* Measurements:
Trunk diameter: 4 cm. Measured right on the surface.
Tree height: about 70 cm. Measured from the soil-surface in the pot.
Pot length: 39.5 cm.
Pot width: 30.5 cm.
Pot height: 9.5 cm (including the "legs".)
The pot is Chinese. It is the middle-size of a set of three. I paid about $50.00 for it.
