repotting and candle cutting in same year

[badabing888]

As the title suggests anyone doing it?

Ive got a number of 6-7yr old pines in training most were repotted into proper medium in august and since have grown strong.

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I was going to cut back to start to slow some down / remove leggy growth

[dansai]

Young Black pines are very strong growers and can cope with a lot more than older mature trees. I have cut back some in the last week that were repotted this year and that grew strong. You can also cut back to healthy green needles at anytime with JBP. Reactions can vary depending on timing, heat and vigour. Some that I repotted this year that have been slower to build back vigour I may cut back below this years growth in late Autumn to stimulate back budding. It can be a bit hit and miss though, so will only do it on some that I feel need it. This can produce buds that set before winter and then grow in spring. My climate is pretty warm and we get plenty of winter sun so sometimes they start growing straight away and often produce juvenile growth.

[shibui]

Top growth drives root growth and vice versa so it is better to allow repotted trees to grow to get lots of healthy new roots BUT
As already mentioned, young trees are more resilient and can cope with things an older tree might not.
Depends on the degree of root reduction.
Depends on many other factors and care before and after the repot.

Your tree looks to be doing very well - lots of new shoots up top and root tips already showing through the colander. I can see this tree has recovered well so I'd be happy to trim if required.

Another question could be: Does the tree NEED to be trimmed this year. Good results can still be had by pruning back to older growth next summer so candle cutting may not be critical this year. Decide on a cases by case basis and what results you are trying to achieve.

[badabing888]

Thanks all the primary goal is to get more light inside and slowly get ramification started

I gave 2 of them a candle cut that were most leggy / crowded and also as a experiment to see results!