Big Day - the Tree gets its first trim

Well, this was the big day. After all the potting and planning, I was finally ready to take clippers to wood and start the process of turning my little Scotch Pine tree into a Poodle Tree. I figured it was probably better to trim too little than too much, so I left more branches that I originally planned. I can always trim more later if I want, but I can't glue them back on. I've seen some trees that have more branches and they look pretty cool, so maybe this will work out. (My daughter Caitlin says they look like one of those trees from Whoville in a Dr. Seuss book!) In the end I cut off quite a bit, and now the wait begins, to see how it all works out!

First thing I had to do was shape the tree by getting rid of all the extra branches that I didn't want. Most Poodle Trees only have a few branches, with the needles at the end creating the poodle effect. Deciding what to leave and what to cut was interesting and a little scarey. Once I got it all trimmed back, you could start to visualize what the final product might look like.

Then, to create the poodle effect, I had to cut back the candles at the end of each branch. This was where I was a little confused about how much to cut and how it would effect the shape of the tree. I tried several different things on different branches. On a couple I just cut the candle at the end of the branches and removed all the rest of the shoots. On others I cut the candle on the end and the candles on all the shoots to see if that will create a bigger poodle effect. 

I cut the candle at the top of the tree and also on the four short branches that were about six inches below the top. I was hoping that would create one large poodle, but it might mean a poodle at the top and then four smaller ones on the branches. If that doesn't work out I might trim some of the lower branches later.

I'm told that as the tree grows cutting the candles will stunt the growth and the branches will become thicker. That should be interesting because my tree has some interesting, angled branches. I'm not sure what to do with the needles that stick out of the branch below the shoot. I think I'll wait and see what happens before doing anything about them.

Here's what it looks like after the trimming. Now I guess we just sit back and let Mother Nature do her thing!