see link for general discussion.. read it many times... then ask us any remaining questions ... read the part about non-draining clay.. and advise if you have that ... mulch should also be covered there. .. all conifers.. and all trees... like a good soaking drink ... full drainage .... and then NEAR DRYING ... before you do it DEEPLY again ... once well wetted.. thru the mass planted ... you might need only water once a week.. or once a month.. depending on the soil and ambient weather... BUT only you will figure out your soil ... insert finger often .. to about 3 inches.. when it starts feeling dry down there ... that is close to when you will be nearing the time to water deeply again ... never mind if the surface feels moist ... or dry.. we want to figure out how it is at a bit of depth .... over watering will kill them all ... they are not a lawn ... and lawn irrigation rarely work .. and they are not water hungry annuals and perennials ... so go read up... and come back with more specific questions... was it potted.. or ball and burlap???? .. that makes a difference as to how the water will be retained below ground.. a wad of potting media.. versus a clay ball ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Thanks, I did end up trimming the juniper. I will do as you say for it to train it further back from curb. I saw one at a local nursery here named "Bordines" years ago. Theirs is monster wide. I loved it. Mine's healthy like theirs too. The pine tree hadn't been cut since I've owned it except the leader cut a bit. It was little but bushy when I got it. I knew it would be 50' tall someday. I planted it in too shady of a spot so it looked anemic. I moved it 3-4 years ago. The only cut I made was in the leader to make it bushier. It has a small bottom because it was light starved in earlier years. I don't care about Xmas tree shape. I want natural and healthy. I did trim the pine minimally. I'll see if it's enough. My neighbor's yards look like scorched earth grass these days with privets and yews only. My yard's all healthy and green. Ken, will the lower layers get wider? I didn't know that. When I look at pine trees around town, most of the limbed up ones look sort of dried up and marginally healthy. There are some healthy specimens by very expensive lakefront condos that are massive on the bottom and get smaller as they go toward the top. They aren't limed up but they're not close to road yet. If mine start to grow over the curb at the bottom layers, even I would cut them back without being asked. I don't expect people too need a machete to walk down the street (we don't have sidewalks). There is an easement but the city even plants trees in it after they tear it up for road construction, etc. The only risk is if they ever need to tear up my side of street, bye bye pine. I don't think they will because other side of street was massively torn up in 2000 or so to put in giant sewer pipes. There are many trees planted by road everywhere in the city. The block over used to have beautiful canopy of all elms that met join the middle over the street before Dutch Elm disease claimed them in the 70s or so. Thanks for the pruning advice Ken. P.S. Tree is about 40' from house.

You can shorten up the less well-positioned one, preferably to a lateral branchlet which faces outward. Seems like an issue, and maybe will be, but for the most part, pine-family members are pretty good at sorting this sort of thing out. But you won't hurt it by doing as I described. Up at my tree plantation, pine shoot tip moths have gotten into the terminal leaders of a number of my Norway spruce-and to a lesser extent, white pines-and I will probably be up there at some point with pole pruner-these are taller plants-and either take out one of the resulting multiple leaders, or shorten them as I describe here. Just depends on what the tree is showing you. Dern bugs-in quite a few cases, I've lost 4 feet of new growth, these things having grown rapidly in the recent years. But in the long view, it isn't really going to matter much. They'll reform a new leader, or I will help them to select one, and away they'll go. +oM

If I remember correctly, Moses was an English professor/teacher in past years. (Understandably) I don’t think he answered what a1an really wanted to know. Though a1an could speak to this better than I. This is what I would like to know: If my grafted rose has 3 canes arising from the bud union, and I prune 2 down to the bud union in early spring, will new canes arise from the bud union? If I prune (all) 3 canes down to the bud union, will ( or, at least, can) new canes arise from the bud union? A new grafted BR rose arrives from Palatine with 6 strong basal canes arising circumferentially from 6 different spots on the bud union. Only a single piece of bud wood was used to produce this rose. Was that single piece of bud wood cut into 6 tiny pieces, with each tiny piece grafted to the rootstock, thus producing 6 strong canes? Or did the 6 strong basal canes develop from the single piece of bud wood grafted at a single locus? IF the latter: HOW did that occur (what is happening at a cellular level, if you would)?