I divided my Hydrangea to make a standard - WWYD

a1an

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

It's September. I know things will be slowing down soon...

I divided a chunk of my Limelight Hedge with the goal to be grown as a standard.

It's got a good rootball in the 25G pot it is in

Do I leave all the stems I don't want to keep. I removed all the blooms off of them.

Leave the leaves so it makes more energy as it goes dormant for winter ?

Or should I remove everything NOW and just keep the single stem I plan to train as a standard ?

BTW, why all the hard work vs. buy. Locally, it's all grafted. Wanna try something -new- in the garden and make my own non-grafted standard

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Comments (7)

callirhoe123
2 years ago
I'd leave the leaves for energy and prune in the spring.
a1an
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Riddle me this. Leave the main leader alone until I reach the height I want. I have it staked and tied. When it branches out in 2022, remove all lower branches and leave a set of 4/6 branches uptop. Continue to leave the top alone until I achieve the height I want

God forbid there is snow damage or a bad prune.

How does snipping the -top- stop it from growing vert.

What if I the side branches continue growing and it sucks all that energy and the leader remains at the height it is today in 2022/2023 and all the energy flows to the side branching instead.

Someone give me the 101 noob lowdown on this.

Basically, how do I ensure energy continues to keep the main leader growing VERT and energy is not spent on the side branching. Remove the developed bloom next year, and the following year, and the following year - until I get the height I want

How do I maintain the -leader- so it continues growing VERT
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pennlake
2 years ago
The way it's done in the nursery by the own root producers is they cut it really short in late winter and train one bud up that season to create the trunk Create the head the next year. Problem with paniculata as every stem, or nearly so, will terminate in a flower each year so self brances from that point.
a1an
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Penn, if I'm reading this correct - hack the entire thing flush and let whatever new growth come up (which might be a nice strong 4 footer), let that be the leader . I must be mis-reading your post as I never considered this as a technique.
luis_pr
2 years ago
Just a fyi: I do not why I think this way but I have a feeling that hyed (or maybe it was someone else) who said he/she had already done this conversion from shrub to standard... Maybe he will chime in.
a1an
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Aside from the recent standards I've seen him post..on past postings, he just cuts large establishd shrubs, culls out the lower branching, and then establishes the canopy - since it's large multi stems with multi-heads. It's a great technique. I've been tinkering. Cut one hard this year. It was like a lollipop vs. a tree standard
a1an
Original Author
2 years ago
I know it's going to be stressful if I do this......

Dare I be Greedy.....

On the one obvious one I want as the leader, out of the divined chunk I made - looks like if I split this chunk right down the middle, I see a second candidate for a leader. So smaller rootball per transplant, and 2 leaders in 2 pots.

The rootball right now is a good 65-70% fill of the pot as is.

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I divided my Hydrangea to make a standard - WWYD

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I divided my Hydrangea to make a standard - WWYD

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