Pruning for central leader on new 2' Hetz Wintergreen Arbs

2 years ago

Hi folks,
I just received 4 2', 1 gallon Hetz Wintergreen Arbs. I chose these because they tend to grow with 1 leader and do well in snow. I had to buy online as they are not available locally.
Of course, many of them ended up have competing leaders 🤔
I will be planting them today. Should I note prune / make subordinate cuts on the secondary leaders at the same time as I plant them? Should I wait and let them establish first? As they are only 2 gallon pots, I assume they should establish easily.
Thanks for any tips!

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Comments (8)

saabturbo99
Original Author
2 years ago
*that should say "should I not prune". I'm asking if I should wait until they establish to prune...or if it ok to do it at planting time.
saabturbo99
Original Author
2 years ago
Here are some pics.
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There's no way on this plantent, where you live, that Holmstrup will winter burn. Some idiot wrote that. Snow loads, nah, that's wrong too. That's a fine cultivar for what you're doing. Perfect for your space requirements - can be brought into practitically any nursery on earth at a 6 foot height, the list just goes on and on. Degroot's Spire - the same holds true for. Although, now you're looking at paying the bigger bucks. What I imagine for your purpose is a Holmstrup planted every 24".. Ken's suggestion of 18" for Degroot's seems good there, for that cultivar. Pruning: cut em flat across the top and walk away. It's that simple. Anything else and you're creating more work for yourself in the end. Hetz Wintergreen aka Wintergreen is now encroaching into that plant that after time will require that you maintain the entire plant, meaning, your ladder ain't gonna fit very well into that spot. Then... it just grows too fast. Wrong plant. Don't even consider Woodwardii either. Hell that's 10x the wrong plant. You want height not width. If it were possible to find larger plants: Malonyana and/or Malonyana Aurea would be welcome to that site. These selections are all pillars, which is an important concept in your design. They grow vertically and not (very much at all), horizontally. I've seen a 30 foot tall hedge in zone 4a in Iowa of Holmstrup and it was outstanding. I was on a garden tour this summer. Dax
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saabturbo99
Original Author
2 years ago
Here are some pics...
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
every leaf is an energy making a machine.. to grow the roots to get the plants established ...

whats your hurry ...

since you mention snow.. i always worried if i cut away half the plant ... it would have been the half that survived winter.. so i usually defaulted to doing it in a year or 3 ...

are they severely pot bound ??? ..... its will be enough stress if you have to do some root pruning ... so lets not multiply stresses ...

tree time is counted in decades ... not what you can do this afternoon ...

always include your big city location ... it might make a difference ...

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saabturbo99
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks Ken. I'm on Long Island. They were pretty badly root bound. I teased the roots out, uncircled the worst ones, and snipped the excess. Hopefully I pruned enough! Don't want girdled roots! I'll wait on the leader training a bit.
plantkiller_il_5
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
, the pics you provided don't show us the leaders

ron

I would leave for now
alley_cat_gw_7b
2 years ago
I'd let them get over the root disturbance for a season before you start trimming them...their not go far your first year anyway, you will have plenty of time. More importantly to get them planted correctly for now...
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
and note a couple are not perpendicular in the pot... skew the root ball a bit and plant them straight ....

giant plants in small pots... be aggressive with unwinding the roots ... and cut off any you break...

ken

Pruning for central leader on new 2' Hetz Wintergreen Arbs

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Pruning for central leader on new 2' Hetz Wintergreen Arbs

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saabturbo99Original Author

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saabturbo99
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