Mexican Weeping Pine (pinus patula)

The Mexican Weeping Pine (Pinus patula) is an evergreen conifer known for its distinctive, graceful weeping or drooping branches. Native to the highlands of Mexico and Central America, it is a fast-growing, elegant tree used in landscaping and timber production. 

Appearance: The tree features long, willowy branches with soft, bright green needles that hang down.

Size: In its native habitat, it can reach heights of  150 feet, but typically grows 25 to 50 feet  in cultivated settings.

Growth Rate: This is a fast-growing pine, especially in warmer climates. While it can tolerate brief periods of freezing temperatures, it is not hardy.

Soil: It prefers well-drained soil and can tolerate a variety of soil types.

This tree was acquired directly from the breeder & was shipped, via USPS. Out of the box, he was about 30 " long (or tall), as pictured here, after potting. (seedling; he had never been potted)

My first concern was beyond being able to satisfy the basic requirements of keeping  this tree alive, but how to begin the process of training him to spend the rest of his life in a container, which brings us the subject of candle's & candle-ing.

 

Pines, like the patula, typically have a growing tip called an apical..it forms at the very top of the tree..at the end of branches, the pine grows elongated shoots called candles. These are the mechanisms that control the growth of the tree.

By pruning or removing candles, the trees growth can be controlled. The process is then called candle-ing. 

I started by removing (pruning) the apical down to the 1st set, or whorl of candles..then pruned the topmost candles by about 50%..I did no further pruning or reduction of size, as candles lower down on the tree were just starting to form.

Dec. 2025:

That was all that has been done to the tree since Aug. '25; he has been allowed to rest & develop without interference & as of this writing (Dec. '25) has maintained this height, while the rest of the tree continues to develop.

This photo best illustrates the effect of the apical removal; these trees were of equal height when recieved..the tree on the left (Monterey Pine) has remained untouched since then & has grown 4-6 "; the Mexican Weeping pine continues to develop lower branches & structure, while remaining the original height.

This photo (right) shows the candles at the top of the tree (7ea) arranged in a circle, called a whorl . 

I removed 3 of the candles, leaving 4 in a North-South-East-West configuration.

 If I decide that the remaining candles need reduction (likely), I will not hesitate to prune them up to 50% in length..that will keep the upper branches from developing much faster than the lower branches, which are just starting to develop candles.

Dec 14, 2025

After some more research & dissembling on my part, I removed the remaining 4 candles at the top of the tree. I am reassured that the effect will be to effectively limit any further growth in height. As I have no prior knowledge or experience with conifers, in general or pines, in particular, I have approached this tree very carefully & conservatively, but I reason that either you must 'stunt the growth' or inhibit height of any tree specimen when they're young OR let the tree grow & "chop" him down, as a mature tree. If there are other techniques, I don't know about them, but I'm open to learning more                

Mar 17, 2026

Well, that didn't take long..2 months have gone by & he has grown-back the candles (see below). However, the central leader has not regrown, so he will no longer gain height or grow any taller, which was my goal.

In general, he seems to be doing fine..new growth is bright green, as opposed to the blue-green of established growth & I see no sign of the  tip-browning that the Monterey Pine exhibited before it failed.

                                              

These candles will become the top-most branches of the tree; about mid-point, there are juvenile or rudimentary branches forming, with candles at the ends and about equidistant below this middle branching are another set of young branches with candles that will become the lower branches..that is if I can continue to keep him alive.

April 6, 2026

Our resident pine continues to thicken & if you have a little imagination, you can sort-of start to see what he's going to look like when he's grown. At the top, a crown-like array is forming (in spite of the fact that I pruned the candles that make up the array last December)

This tree grows from the top-down, as you can see from the changes in color & thickness of the needles. The topmost span of needles are green-green & longer than the next set, which are longer than the lower set. Just for fun, I measured them..Top Set: 5 inches Middle Set: 4 inches . 

I'm anxious to see this tree develops over the next few months...

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