Candle elongation in November

[Foddy101]

Is it unusual on a young black pine (2yo) to get terminal buds/candles begin to quickly elongate in early November?

[shibui]

I would say it is very common for JBP candles to elongate in November. Spring is the growing season. All my pines are growing this month.

[Foddy101]

Ok thanks Shibui, it just caught me off guard as it seems its pushed out 'brand new' candles from the tips of the current spring growth. In particular one spot where a shoot was snapped off when the pot got blown off the stand.

[shibui]

New information?
Makes it a bit hard to give good advice when you only give part of the story. Pictures are a great way to give more story without lots of typing.

Early cut/broken candles will also produce new shoots that grow fast. That's why we don't usually decandle early.

[Foddy101]

Yea sure sorry, picture says a 1000 words.

So here is the little pine, the green shoot on top is what has shot out and grown between July or August to now, there was another shoot identical coming from the same location, this was the one that snapped off:

314988849_596400758912173_7261188896714881929_n.jpg

314929052_1344791736348755_1435723361814579951_n.jpg

And then the new shoot here, this was a small terminal bud a couple of weeks ago

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Thanks!

[shibui]

The smaller shoot on the second tree is a bit late getting started but I can se the shoot below is still green so I assume that lower section grew earlier in spring? It is not unusual for JBP to put out second flushes of growth in a single season even if you don't prune so I'm guessing that's what this one is up to.

Note the long, bare sections between old needles and new needles on the current growth (necks). Those bare sections will rarely produce buds or shoots, even if you chop. For that reason we need to make sure those sections are not included in future plans unless those plans involve long sections without branching. During the growing phase you don't need to worry about the bare necks for a couple of years because you can prune back to any healthy needles below that section and expect good budding from the older needles. Just beware of leaving more than 3-4 years because older needles drop off after 3 years then chances of budding from that area will reduce.
Usually those long terminal shoots will be used as sacrifice branches and chopped off when the trunk has thickened. A shorter lower branch is used to replace the sacrifice. That keeps growth short and adds taper to the trunk. If you have few lower side branches to use as replacements you'll need to chop the leader while there's still healthy needles to grow buds.

[Foddy101]

Thanks Shibui,

Yes correct the long green section was this springs growth so I guess its a second flush. The tree must be enjoying the long hot sunny days we have had after months and months of rain

Oh great thanks for the advice I was actually going to ask about the bare sections as well. Two birds with one stone.