Can a shrub be half dead and half alive?

14 years ago

DH planted my Nishiki willow at the edge of our home near the street to compete with 5 or 6 mature trees and their roots. After 3 months of scarce waterings (hose barely reaches!) I moved it closer to the house and have been watering it meticulously.

The back half of the shrub appears to be completely dead with brown dry stems that I have pruned to the ground. The front of the shrub has green stems (by scratch test)and is putting out new leaves.

Will the whole thing eventually die or come back stronger next year? Should I completely eliminate the brown stems or will new growth sprout from it? My poor willow!

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Comments (9)

Iris GW
14 years ago
Yes, it could be. Prune out the dead stems. You'll probably get new shoots from the base of the plant next year.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
seriously.. you plant it... dont water it.. and then move it in august .... and then contemplate its halfdeadness

the ONLY thing going for it.. is that you probably couldnt kill a willow if you tried.. AND YOU DID >>> rotflmbo ...

try to drown it.. presuming decent drainage... mulch it.. and ignore it.. until next spring...

and then make your decisions ....

if you cut now.. and see a green ring.. that branch might have rebudded ... so personally i would wait on pruning..

ken
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Well....let's assume we know this to be true.... DEAD IS DEAD.....AND IS OF NO FURTHER USE! So removal is up to you....if the main trunk is serving a purpose then it might be considered as permanent....it stays. From this then, I assume the branches are 'suckers'...growing from a foreign source. Suckers are not offshoots---they are inadequate to supply bloom and are just nothing to put up with. So get out the heavy pruners and cut them out. If this destroys the shrub, then so be it. Replace it with another. About the blooming.....question: is the tree close to the lawn and do you fertilize it with a high nitrogen lawn fertilizer. It could be that you have applied too much nitrogen around the tree and it likes it....it grows leaves...and keeps growing them....but denies bloom. Its blooming a little now.....so feed it with a zero nitrogen and a higher phosphurus and potash fertilizer. When you fertilize the lawn do that area by hand so that the tree doesn't get any. Prune branches back that are dead or damaged. Protect from winter wind and give it a healthy mulch around its base.....but keep the mulch about six inches away from the base. This might help it next spring. If I'm wrong about what you have now as being suckers, then this plant might resume its healthy growth.
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whaas_5a
14 years ago
ONLY prune out stems that are dead. Scrap the bark with your fingernail, if its green, don't prune it. It don't want to create a flush of growth this late in the season.
woodside
Original Author
14 years ago
Ken, why you clownin' ?! :D

I lurk on a few forums- hosta, conifer, perennial, woodland, shrub, etc... and love reading your posts! I feel scolded. But it's all good :)

Some of the stems did have green rings, which I thought were curious. Better stop pruning...

In my defense, I have yet to kill a hosta! And I have inherited quite a few of them at our "new home" in Illinois. I will post some pics so you can see my work isn't all bad! But this is also my first year in gardening and I am discovering a passion for plants that I've never had before- I'm just excited to learn the names of things I have walked by and never noticed before.

Oh, well, live and learn!
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
14 years ago
If the plant is alive, you can prune it back very hard in early to mid spring. This will regenerate new growth all over and should produce an evenly-shaped shrub.

This is a willow and all willows like moist soils. Placement where you can water easily and as often as necessary is a good idea :-)

btw........I'm not sure you can kill a hosta! At least, other than intentionally and even that's not as easy as it sounds.
woodside
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks gardengal48. Also appreciate your help with my bare root hellebore issue... :)
whaas_5a
14 years ago
Funny you mention the hosta. I sprayed a randomly planted hosta with BRUSH killer. Foilage quickly died off...thing came backt he next year!
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
things you have to try real hard to kill:

hosta
maple
willow
etc ...

you are a newbie.. listen.. many do not consider themselves a REAL GARDENER.. until they have killed EVERYTHING at least 3 times ...'

you have a long ways to go on the willows.. lol ... though someday you might wish it had died ... many become extremely problematic in time ...

BTW .. it can be pruned ANYTIME... i was just giving a newbie the bigger odds.. by waiting.. you can always cut more off later.. you cant paste them back on.. lol

ken
woodside
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks Ken. That makes me feel better. I think I have a penchant for things that are hard to kill- wild vines, tough perennials, hardy reseeders. You have to have a healthy respect for those forces of nature. And my gardens are wildly unplanned which I like.

Getting my pictures together this weekend. Should post some pics by next week.

Thanks all.

Can a shrub be half dead and half alive?

Comments (9)

Iris GW

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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Can a shrub be half dead and half alive?

Comments (9)

Iris GW

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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