Pruning Scotch Pine Christmas Trees

On our sixteen acres of Eden, we have numerous natural growth Scotch pine trees.  Every year we go out and buy a tree for Christmas, and I got to thinking, why don't I prune up some of my own trees and within a couple years we should have our own annual Christmas evergreen.

I went on line and discovered that you have to prune Scotch pine in the last week of June.  Any later than this and the cut branches will apparently not set new buds for next year.  I was instructed to cut between one and two thirds of the new growth 'candles'.  Below is a photo of this years new candles.

When we purchased our property three years ago, this little pine was situated right in the middle of where I wanted to put the vegetable garden, but it was a fairly nice specimen and I could envision it with Christmas lights etc.  So while I removed all the other scrub, its life was spared.  That would have been the first week of July, 2008.  At that time I did a bit of pruning (neither knowing what I was doing, or the correct time to do it.) Despite this, it has shaped up quite nicely.  So I gave it another hard pruning - I don't want it getting much bigger, just bushier.  Much bigger and it will start shading and stealing too much moisture and nutrients from the veggies.

Before the haircut.

After.

Before

After

This is what I hope to achieve!

And that is about all I have to say for today.

Musings and meanderings from the Musical Gardener.