Are all Arborvitae trees, by their very nature, multi leader trees?
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
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- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
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Degroots Spire - single leader trees?
Comments (29)Thanks for your interest. I am in SW Ohio. 6a I have 40 arborvitae (21 different varieties) and 30 are spires. Here is what I have learned: -Buy small plants in spring. -Prune them down to 1 strong central leader. -Get them in the ground right away (or keep them in a shady spot - remember that small pots dry out really really quick). Many of my plants get moved to better locations, so don't feel pressure to make final location decisions right away. -Dig the hole large 2+ feet wide/ deep. I always add peat, sometimes sand. If you mix it well, this stuff will disappear into the soil nearly unnoticable. -Add mulch. I always add a circle of rocks around new plants so that I won't step on them. -Water deeply, then resist the urge to overwater them, but don't let them dry out. -During hot dry summer times, I water new plants 2x per week. -One year later (late winter) do some light pruning to focus energy on central leader. I also remove limbs from the bottom 10% of the plant. Repeat this for a few years. -No fertilizer needed. I usually water plants regularly for 3 years, and then only when things get really dry. -Every 2 or 3 winters, I will go through each plant and knock off the orange foliage and take out empty bird nests. I also have 30 chamaecyparis (23 different varieties) that do really well in my yard. Mostly cham. obtusa. I don't keep most of those as single leadered plants, but I do prune the heck out of them for the first few years, which I think is really important for getting adult plants with attractive shape and form....See MoreMaple tree training new leader
Comments (18)Yes, bamboo and/or other sticks never needed in tree pruning......ever. We must "leader train" some two to three thousand youngish trees a year. What hilarity would ensue if we started taping little sticks up in these growing sticks! So no, I isn't laughing at your expense, just I find that whole thing amusing, when people do things with plants which, if you stop to think about it, are completely out of line with what these organisms did for the first several hundred million years before us monkeys showed up, and managed very well, thank you! No, a lead branch basically never needs to be pulled, pushed, pried, or otherwise mechanically forced into proper orientation. That's what those same hundreds of millions of years of natural selection has done for these plants. They've figured out how to grow on their own. I applaud your recognition of a problem in modern landscaping that even many pros seem to be blissfully unaware of: As houses get bigger, the plant material has shrunk in scale. Giant house-little ornamental tree, maybe some black-eyed susans and a clump of Russian sage, but no maples, elms, basswoods, oaks, spruce, pines, etc, all of which would eventually grow to be in scale with the giant house. So I get that. What you've got to realize is trees actually grow fast. Plant a tree which is well-suited to your environment, plant it properly, water adequately when needed, and you're quickly going to have nice tree. It goes much faster than people are inclined to believe. The type of pruning you want to do can be described as either "leader training" which I referred to earlier, or better still, "subordination pruning". There's a guy down at U of FL who has done as much as anybody-Ed Gilman-to describe and refine these methods. Maybe take a visit to some of those web pages-it sounds like you're ripe to learn. And if you do, you'll know more than half the people on this forum right now about young tree pruning and care. +oM...See MorePruning Emerald Green Arborvitae leaders
Comments (4)hey i dont like zip ties... because they have a half life of a million years.. and sooner or later... you forget and kill things .... you want one leader ... you need to start removing the others.. there is NO need to do them all at once ... make it 3 year plan i would cut one back to at least half way .. by which point.. what is left should be pretty strong.. and not bend ... you will have to go back every few years.. to make sure it does not make a new strong leader ... you WILL HAVE a gaping hole.. and the plant will fill that in next season ... i would also consider cutting back another by 25% ... and next year.. shorten that one 50% .... and jsut work your way around .... i would use twine on the exterior in nov.. and just tie at the bottom .... and wrap it around the tree.. its not torture.. it doesnt have to be all that tight .. you just want to hold the branches together enough.. that snow can not accumulate inside.. and start splaying them out ... is this a major issue in your area??? have you seen others damaged??? i used to tie mine every year.. and simply gave up ... during particularly strong storms.. i just go out in the middle of the storm.. and knock snow off.. to not allow significant buildup ... ken...See MoreRe: Pruning a Multi-Leader (11') Maple Tree
Comments (11)"So, do I prune 1/2 of the material on the 2nd & 3rd leader, now (dormancy)?" Now or anytime before bud break in the spring. "Then wait until mid- Summer to trim-off the new growth since Spring, plus 1/2 of the older growth?" Trimming the new growth back is what matters most when keeping those branches stunted. Trimming the old growth back more is optional but not necessary. "Then follow-up with removing the rest or entirety of the 2 unwanted leaders next Fall or Winter?" Hopefully the middle leader will take over, fatten up, and fill in a lot this summer with the sides staying cut back. Then ideally, you can remove those branches completely next winter. As for the 25%, 40%.... I think it's best to prune trees in stages if possible. Typically in the summer, I will remove low branches first after leaf out (or chop them back if they are needed for overall growth.) Then 3 or 4 weeks later I will corrective prune out forks and fix leaders. Another 3 or 4 weeks later I will do tip-backs if the branch growth is too long, wild, and droopy. This gives the trees time to recover between prunings and limits the likelihood of suppressing growth by removing too much canopy at one time....See More
6 years ago- 6 years ago
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
- 6 years ago
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
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