sounds like a lot of worry for something that may never happen .... especially prophylactic chemical use ... in my z5 MI .... near the OH border ... white pine grow 3 to 5 feet per year,once established .... re-leader extremely quickly ... and are basically weed trees ... in the sense that you cant beat them back with a stick ... once they get going .... some of your presumptions MIGHT be wrong ... the fact that it is in the wide open.. suggests not just your conclusion.. but the conclusion that the odds of any given bug finding it low ... and that you will be able to ladder up the thing for 10 years ... i would bet on MAYBE 3 years ... since you wont be putting a ladder up against fresh weak growth .... so.. i would wonder if all your worry is worth it .... also .. given their growth rate.. i hope you planted it a good 20 to 30 feet from your house .. they are not strong wooded ... and subject to shedding large parts in 20 or 30 years.. in harsh weather.. like winter ice storms and wind .... good luck ken

I'd guess it got hit by white pine weevil when young, and had competing strong leaders for a few years until one took the lead but left the others still as very strong-growing branches Resin

Carole, I planted one last year, but it's a 2 footer, so not much help. Most of the info I've found said it is slow growing and 20 - 25 feet tall and 10 - 15 feet wide, but that is at the 10 year mark. For some reason plant sites list the 10 year growth on conifers instead of telling us what we want to know, how big at maturity. I've never done it, but you snip off a portion of the candle in spring when it extends. I think if you go to Search in Gardenweb at the top of the page and look for past posts on Vanderwolf's pyramid and candle pruning, you'll find the answers. If not, post on the conifers forum. I only prune off what's broken as I want all the growth I can get out of mine, but you need an answer. Are you holding it over till fall? Barb

Ok here goes ; ) Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Fernspray Gold’ (I'm going to try to get all tree names right!)... bought as a teeny tiny bonsai starter back in 2010 I think- one of the only plants I brought with me to this house when we moved 4 years ago. Developed a leader shortly after the move, I kind of like it. Pinks in front. Acer palmatum dissectum 'Red Dragon', in front of a Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Green Arrow’ that a buck rubbed autumn before last... someone here might remember helping me figure out why the middle portion was dead! As suggested I decided to keep it, after cutting off the 3/4 that was dead. I don't know what kind of tree it looks like now but it's still interesting to me, and I don't have enough other stuff out there yet to justify ripping it out anyway. Ah well. A bright yellow barberry gifted by my mom behind the maple. Still want to grab some big rocks for around some of these guys. Picea pungens, 'Globosa' from westernevergreen in my first online conifer order, in spring of 2015. So exciting to see them all getting a little bigger; seeing the new buds in spring are one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Right up there with watching the kids sleep and smelling the dog's paws, that level of good. Next are the other 2 from that order, Pinus parviflora 'Adcock's Dwarf' and Pinus parviflora 'Goldilocks'. These things are all obviously still very small but I've loved watching them, especially this spring. Then I have some decent growth on the Picea abies 'Pendula' that I also bought 2 years ago, from a nursery here. And this spring we splurged on a nice sized Picea pungens 'The Blues'... (I went a tad crazy this spring with big deal favorites). Then of course I have the curly thing that was the subject of this post-- I can't remember now exactly what variety it is, have to find the tag in the garage. Next I have my two most exciting plant purchases ever, the Tom Thumb and Kohout's Icebreaker I mentioned initially, which part of me thought I should wait until I had more space filled to buy, since they are so tiny and will remain that way for such a long time... but the other part of me thought I kind of have to get them early if I want to see any growth whatsoever! These two are my second online order, from coniferkingdom. At first I felt a little bit sick spending so much on such tiny little babies but then they gave me a free Picea omoriko 'Pendula Bruns' on top of it and while I have no idea where I'm ever going to put him, it made it all OK from there on out. And then when they arrived, I was so pleasantly surprised with the size of the Tom Thumb, though the trunk itself is pretty skinny. (Oh my gosh how cute is that tiny little thing? Can barely see it.) We've got a couple teeny tiny maples out there too, sprinkled in some. It's all still a little pitiful looking from the street but once things grow enough to sort of disguise gas/electric boxes and rainspouts and such, I think (hope) it's going to be really something. : ) thanks for asking Ron... feels good to be remembered!! -Nicole