Questions tagged [pruning]
Questions about how to best cut plant branches.
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questions
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When is the best time to prune a Magnolia tree, and how much?
I live in Derbyshire, UK and have a Magnolia tree which in recent years seems to have gone a bit out of control, i.e. much bigger than I think it ought to be for the space it occupies.
I feel it ...
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2answers
37 views
How do I go about pruning a mature fig tree to a smaller size?
I've recently purchased a house that has a rather large fig tree next to a two-story garage. It's gotten a bit unruly as you can see from this photo:
I've read that fig trees should be pruned in the ...
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2answers
35 views
Cutting bush down to manageable size
When I moved into my current house, there were two fairly large "spiky" bushes. They grow fairly quick and I have to prune it quite a few times a year. I ended up buying an electric hedge trimmer to ...
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1answer
38 views
Frost killed my lawn but my oleanders are still blooming
Last week, we had frost and saw alot of stuff die back but these oleanders are still flowering and producing blooms. I read online that the best time to prune oleanders is by the end of September when ...
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1answer
37 views
Avocado plant “gone wrong”; can I lop off the top and get it back on track?
I have an avocado plant (indoors) which I grew from seed just for fun. Alas, I've neglected it and now it is 'leggy' and the top quarter is twisted 45 degrees.
Can I cut it back close to the root and ...
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1answer
28 views
Butternut squash lost growing tip, is it worth keeping it?
One of my butternut squash plants lost its growing tip. Probably cut while mowing the grass, since they are planted on the borders of the garden and not in the raised beds because of the space they ...
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0answers
31 views
Is it possible to get this badly-pruned magnolia back to a natural shape?
We bought a house a few months ago that has a magnolia tree in the front, as shown below:
As you can see, it's sort a mess, with long thin branches shooting upwards and down. If you get inside of it, ...
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2answers
37 views
Can't bacteria enter the tree even after a proper prune cut?
I am now aware of the 3 cut method of pruning the tree to avoid damaging the bark. I am at the brink of loosing a tree because of bad pruning and not noticing that.
Now this may sound a silly ...
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1answer
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How to graft a plum tree
these days I am going to prune my plum tree, I will perform the pruning following the guidelines of this article that talks about pruning a plum tree (it is in Spanish but nothing that Google ...
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7answers
103 views
Why does it matter so much in which season to prune?
When I read about pruning the proper season to do it is often specified, and differs between plants. Why should the season matter? Are there actual risks to pruning at the wrong time, or is it just a ...
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1answer
31 views
Can I remove water shoots at any time?
My established Bramley trees throw off an enormous amount of water shoots:
This was taken earlier in the year; the ones I didn't cull have grown up to a metre in a single year (I think they must be ...
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2answers
31 views
How to prevent a crab apple tree getting any taller?
Last spring (18 months ago) I planted a 6/8 Malus John Downie crab apple tree. It has an unusually long trunk, the lowest branch is almost two metres up.
As it is growing, the leader is going straight ...
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1answer
50 views
Some of my walnut trees have double trunks. Is it safe and wise to remove one?
I have bought an orchard which has some walnut that are about 10 years old. These walnuts have been never pruned. Some of them have two or three trunks. Is it safe or wise to remove one of them?
Can ...
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4answers
70 views
Should I be removing the oldest limbs from my palm?
I’m trying to figure out how to care for this palm. It’s not growing fast, it’s just grown it’s first frond after 2 years in the same pot. We repotted it when we got it 2 years ago.
A few questions:
...
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1answer
85 views
How can I prune a dead brown inside overgrown confider leylandii hedge
As you can see form the picture there are 4 leylandii trees that have grown into the hedge.it was getting difficult to maintain these so in my own head I thought it better to see if instead of getting ...
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1answer
55 views
Can a Maple tree be pruned to grow tall and narrow?
I have a maple tree that's poorly placed. Maples grow too wide and it's starting to crowd the house and other plants. A tree that grows tall and narrow would have been a better choice. But before I ...
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Should I top or prune these chilli peppers?
Picture illustrates my chilli pepper plants. They are of three varieties; a Kashmiri chilli (the tall ones at the back), a peri-peri (bushy; white flowers with pale green fruits) and a purple variety ...
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0answers
38 views
Avocado pruning, fertilizing and repotting advice
My very leggy avocado plant is about 1 meter tall and seems to be suffering from chlorosis. I think I need to prune it to make it more bushy, fertilize it and repot it. In what order should I do these ...
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53 views
Tips or thoughts on pruning old giant leggy jade?
I have an old leggy jade tree that has a lot of horizontal growing branches. The stems are thick and woody and are already spilling over the sides of the pot, so there's actually only one or two ...
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1answer
48 views
How should I deadhead my peace lily?
From my research I've found that I'm supposed to cut the dead flowers at the bottom of the stem, but as the stem of the flower goes down it becomes wrapped in a leaf stem. I'm looking at a couple ...
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1answer
24 views
Are these stunted fronds on my date palm?
When my date palm was installed it had a few of these things around the edge of the trunk. Are they stunted fronds? Should I remove them? The palm itself is healthy and appears to be growing well.
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1answer
46 views
Identify a shrub with pink new leaves and green older leaves
I just moved into a new house (in Washington state in the US Pacific North West) and we have this large shrub in the front yard:
The old growth seems to have green leaves whereas the new growth is ...
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0answers
17 views
Spotting and dealing with water shoots
This well established Bramley tree had been left to grow wild for a few years until I pruned it strongly last year.
It's now throwing new growth up like crazy and I'm not sure if these are all water ...
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1answer
30 views
What are the longest pole hedge trimmers available?
I have several tall hedges... Some over 20 feet. I'd like to keep them pruned but it's expensive to keep hiring a landscaper.
What products are out there for really long reach hedge trimming, and ...
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1answer
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How do I cope with a wisteria gone wild?
It is entirely my own fault and I have no excuse.
Having planted it, I have stood by and done nothing for three years except screw a trellis to the wall ... and then another trellis ... and then ...
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1answer
69 views
Avocado from seed - to prune or not to prune?
I trid to get an avocado tree started from a seed a couple of years ago. The advice from this website was to wait until it was around 6-7 inches tall, then cut it down to about three inches to ...
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2answers
29 views
How should I prune my lilac to shrink it?
I have a few lilacs on my property, but this one in particular is next to my house. When and how should I prune it? Ideally, I would like it to be about two feet less in diameter, but I’m worried that ...
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1answer
14 views
Prune young shrub sappling?
I have this young Fragrant Sumac shrub. Do I let it go or do I prune it now to encourage branching?
https://i.ibb.co/d5KDwqr/IMG-20190608-195336317.jpg
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1answer
45 views
Avocado pruning and repotting advice
Firsty I'm new to the site so hope I'm posting in the correct place!
I grew my avocado tree/bush from scratch as an experiment with my nephew and a few months ago I cut it in half (see last picture ...
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0answers
30 views
How do I properly cut and cultivate my lemon trees to keep them smaller?
I started growing these two lemon trees from (random storebought lemon) seeds a few years ago and they grew considerably over the last summer after putting them in larger pots.
Because I live in ...
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0answers
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How to prune a Zelkova seedling turning into a multi-trunk tree?
In October '18, I started growing several Zelkova trees from seed. One of them, pictured below, is doing remarkably well. However I'm concerned about it's branching structure. Almost immediately ...
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3answers
64 views
Tree not getting leaves in one section
I live in Illinois, and have a new construction home (I moved in April 2016). This tree was left and original to the land. Not sure what kind it is. The first year I moved in it was fine through fall. ...
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1answer
40 views
Did the landscapers kill our redbud?
We have a small redbud that we planted two years ago. It was barely a seedling when we planted it; this spring it was about 4-5 feet tall. No real buds this year, but leafing out nicely.
Then a few ...
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1answer
23 views
What is the proper way to prune a multi-variety stone fruit tree being trained in fan shape espalier?
I bought a multi variety stone fruit tree (cherry, prune, apricot, peach) and tied each branch/variety onto wires in a fan shape to minimize the tree footprint. But as I read more on espaliered fruit ...
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1answer
111 views
Is my red oak tree dead? Only suckers growing:(
I need help! I got this tree approximately two years ago May 2017 to be exact and it was fluffy lots of leaves!! However, this year it did not grow any new leaves only suckers, can anyone please give ...
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Spacing for Loquat trees
The previous owners of my property left me three young loquat trees. They are all in the same planter, and are much closer to structures (and to each other) than most advice I see online at 8' from ...
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1answer
29 views
Can I keep this tree without it destroying my fence?
I have an unplanned (privet?) tree growing right at the base of a fence. It's currently around 15' tall at the peak, but not particularly wide.
I don't dislike this tree, except for the danger to ...
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1answer
155 views
How to reduce leaf size on Ash bonsai
Five years ago I asked here about ways to train this ash (Fraxinus excelsior) seedling into a bonsai.
The little ash bonsai has now grown and it's in his 4th year. See the photo below. Any suggestion ...
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0answers
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Training Japanese vineberry
Context
I have been growing this Japanese Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius) for 2 years, and it was already 2 years old when I bought it. See annotated image below.
I have usually pruned it by removing ...
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1answer
22 views
How does removing spruce tips affect the tree health and growth?
I recently learned that spruce tips are edible. Having an abundance of spruce growing around here I'd like to harvest some for culinary experiments.
My question is, how will this affect the trees' ...
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1answer
30 views
Does this palm look pruned right?
I bought a Chinese Fan Palm last year which I have in a large container. The palm is growing well but the trunk doesn’t look like it has been pruned correctly.
Does this look strange to you? Would ...
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1answer
93 views
Is it too late to top this cayenne chili plant?
I'm trying growing out chilies for the first time (well, first time from seed, last year I bought some and aphids obliterated them after one happy month), and I'm having some mixed success.
The ...
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1answer
33 views
Anti-fungal after pruning a honey locust?
I recently had two companies give me quotes on pruning the deadwood from my large honey locust tree.
Company A was marketing itself as stronger in tree health, and they boasted spraying anti-fungal ...
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1answer
67 views
How to get rid of sprouts on the trunk of my willow tree
I have a willow tree that I pruned back most of the top. Now I have sprouts coming out all over the trunk. I can cut off the new sprouts in unwanted areas, But is there a way to keep them from coming ...
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1answer
50 views
Is this a climber? Any idea what it is?
enter image description here
I inherited this beautiful rose plant when I bought my home. I live in Florida. I studied pruning online and thought I did pretty well, but I don't know if I should ...
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1answer
55 views
Shall I cut off the suckers when my apple tree is in bloom?
I was away for 4 weeks and my apple tree became totally full of blooms!! I had not cut its suckers this year, and the last 2 years they may not have been cut properly.
This is a beautiful Golden ...
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1answer
57 views
Advice on caring for large potted Ficus Benjamina
I live in Berlin. When a friend was looking to offload her large Ficus Benjamina, I volunteered to care for it. She has been in my home now for ~10 days and appears to be getting used to the place (...
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2answers
40 views
When should I prune my forsythia?
I have three forsythia bushes we planted up against the house. They are pretty sparse. They don't appear any thicker then the day we bought them 2 years ago.
what time of year should I prune my ...
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1answer
66 views
Need advice for pruning indoor Avocado saplings
I have four Avocado "trees", which are now aproximately 1 - 1,5 years old. I did not prune them until now, because I did not know any better. I have read, that saplings should be reduced by half in ...
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2answers
71 views
What do I do with this pile of branches, collected from pruning?
After pruning my trees I piled up branches and I was thinking of shredding these with some wood shredder and using them as mulch. But unfortunately there is no shredder nearby this village and I can'...
