AusBonsai

I've got a black pine that is currently pushing new growth. While it looks very healthy to me with lots of new growth and back budding but I've noticed the candles are very short. In fact the longest one is only 5mm long. The needles are elongating. Is it safe to decandle this year?? It was repotted last year and I didn't decandle last year, just let it recovered. Can the candles elongate even after the needles have started to elongate?? I started feeding about 6 weeks ago when I first saw signs of bud swells and I fed it quite heavily the past 2 weeks. Many thanks in advance.

Without a picture I'd say you let it grow freely if it's in its early stages of development

I am very surprised to hear that the longest candle on your JBP is only 5mm long What have you been doing to it

It is far too early to decandle anyway so just let it grow for now and see what happens. As always a few photos would be very useful so we can see what is actually happening.

haven't worked out how to post pix yet. Anyway I just had a look at a magnified picture I took from this morning. It looks like the candles haven't fully extended yet. So fingers cross , may some more extension on the candles.