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How to prune shrub in to tree

6 years ago

I have some tea olive shrubs I'd like to prune into trees. They have grown so rapidly and a lot of the branches are falling to the side, sort of weeping. I'd like to prune them to form trees but don't want to cut too many or the wrong limbs and ruin my beautiful plant.

Featured Answer

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

6 years ago

without pix.. its hard to give you any clear info ...

try to ID a main trunk .. or two.. or 3 ..... and start cutting away from the bottom up ... not leaving stubs ... ...

check out the link.. so you can get some idea ... of what you might want to do .. the key to things like this.. is having a goal .... and then working toward that goal ... if you can picture it.. you probably can accomplish it ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tea+olive+shrub&t=ffcm&iax=1&ia=images

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Comments (6)

mcbrayer0814
Original Author
6 years ago
I'll try to remember to take a picture this evening and post to help.
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waynedanielson
6 years ago
prune side branches off, starting at bottom. remember to take the time once in awhile to look at the plant from a distance. perspective is hardly underrated.
mcbrayer0814 thanked waynedanielson
(ryanga7a) Ryan M
6 years ago
Pruning from the bottom encourages vertical growth in shrubs like tea olives and camellias. I wouldn't remove more than 25% of the branches during one growing season, and I would wait to prune until winter. I don't have any references immediately accessible to back up these preferences, however!
mcbrayer0814 thanked (ryanga7a) Ryan M
Trent A (9a/Gulf coast)
6 years ago
In my zone (9a), it's a little late to be doing massive changes in form to anything.

Many ways to do it and all depends on the current form versus desired form, as well as the time frame you expect to see results. Your idea of a tree may be a single trunk, or a multi-trunk. The current shrub may transform into one or the other more successfully. Pics of your shrub and an example of your ideal "tree" form are essential.

My approach to limbed-up shrubs is gradual. Leaves are THE source of growth for the plant. Each branch is adding girth to the trunk in which it is attached. In general, if I want a trunk or branch to gain girth (diameter), I leave it alone completely. If I want a trunk or branch to maintain its girth relative to the entire plant's scale, I selectively TIP prune all the ends of the stems from said branch/trunk. Once I've done all that, I determine if any branch or trunk needs to go completely and cut cleanly outside the collar. I try to remove no more than 25% of the plant during the whole process. I come back next year and re-evaluate.
mcbrayer0814 thanked Trent A (9a/Gulf coast)
Logan L Johnson
6 years ago
This kind of thing would be best done in winter. Just imagine them as crepe myrtles, then it is easy ;). I'm trying the same thing with a george tabor azalea, so I'm interested to see how this turns out.

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