Should I trim my young weeping crabapple tree branches now?
Comments (7)
ostrich
last yearRelated Discussions
Should I cut branch fr this pear young tree
Comments (5)Lou: There is an important question here for the future of your tree, but the photos do not give a clear answer. Are both of these leaders the result of your graft, or is one of them the graft and the other rootstock growth? If one of them is slightly higher than the other, the lower one may be emerging from the rootstock, and should be cut off immediately if you want your tree to be the variety of your grafted scion. Why is that wooden stake in the middle of photo #2? Has it got something to do with supporting the chicken wire around the tree, or are you trying to straighten up one of the leaders? Whether or not both of these leaders are emerging from your grafted scion, I would cut one of them off at the base, then drive a steel stake at one side and tie it up to grow vertically. Then I would prune the remaining leader back a few inches to encourage side branching next season. If your graft has grown over 3 feet in the 2nd season, I think the growth rate is good, but I agree with Ace that your should kill back the competing grasses in a 4-foot diameter circle around the tree, then mulch with an organic material like pine chips to a depth of several inches. If you get a good layer of mulch around the tree it shouldn't be necessary to add any additional fertilizer. And if you take any more photos, back up and give us an overall view of the tree, and a better close-up of the grafted area that is unobstructed by leaves. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA...See MoreShould I trim off the lower branches on my young Kousa Dogwood?
Comments (4)Actually, I have done this exact thing, starting with a much smaller 1 year old Kousa Dogwood seedling. Although its tendency was to grow in a multi-trunked habit, I trained it to grow with a single trunk. It was a painstaking process, pruning carefully over 5 or 6 years, and removing no more than 10% of the total wood on the small tree each year. So for example, I didn't remove an entire lower branch at one time, but headed it back by about 1/3 each year over 3 years. Once a tree gets considerably larger and its roots get established, you can remove more wood. I even transplanted it to a different spot around year 4. It is a very pretty and healthy specimen. The tree had its first blooms during year 7!...See Moreoverlapping branch on weeping river birch: cut now or in winter?
Comments (5)ken is wrong in his advice about no pruning when the tree is very young. That can be the best time to remove very small errant branches. Yes, all leaves work to create photosynthates that support the plant's growth but as tom said....that small branch is not going to make one bit of difference. Try to clip that branch to an outward growing stem so that you don't leave any stubs. In the winter, when all the leaves are gone, take a look at the tree's infrastructure, the skeleton, so to speak, to check for other very obvious problems. It will not hurt or set back the development of the plant to do some very minor detail pruning....See MorePlacement of Weeping Norway Spruce, Dwarf Bald Cypress, Crabapple?
Comments (0)Hi there, This is my first time writing for landscape design, so I hope I'm in the right place! I just had a fence installed a few months ago, and finally getting around to making a bed in the last bit that was empty. I purchased: 1 Lollipop Crabapple tree 1 Weeping Norway Spruce 1 Dwarf Bald Cypress I just planted the weeping spruce and the crabapple tonight, so I'm able to easily move them. I have to adjust them anyway because they were planted a bit high, but it was getting late and wanted to get them in the ground. Now for the help. I originally thought to put the lollipop crabapple tree in the corner because I know "eventually" it can get 10x10 feet. Does anyone have one and have an opinion on that? I read you can trim them, but not sure how much you can trim without hurting the tree. I do want it to grow, but it is very small right now. I just took out an ornamental pear tree from that spot that I planted last year because it had a disease, unfortunately. It was tall and went over the fence. Now I am staring at this little guy, and it seems off! haha I know it is quite bare, even when these get planted, but I am just not happy with it. Would anyone care to share their opinion? A few options I thought - remove crabapple and find another spot for him. Maybe put him down near where I have the cypress hanging out. Move Weeping Norway to spot the crabapple is, maybe put some rocks near him so the branches can cascade over rocks? We don't have the biggest space, so we tend to purchase unique trees/shrubs and don't follow must rules when it comes to gardening. We tend to like more of the rock garden/japanese inspired designs. We like things that look unique, and I purchased the crabapple mainly for the birds. Any advice I would dearly appreciate! :) Thank you! Here is a better picture of the space - even though I did more and extended the bed down (past the weeping spruce) - I am replacing the boxwoods along the chainlink with a elderberry tower to give more privacy. This is when the ornamental pear was in place. I really miss it, but it has pear rust and it gets very bad late summer - and I noticed the tree has weakened this year :( Would rather remove it while it's small and not have to deal with it later....See Moreostrich
last yearThanks, floral_uk! I just snapped some photos today and here they are:
Here's a closer shot of the Rosy Glo Crabapple - please pardon the lack of trimming yet! I must get to that soon:
The 5 little shrubs there are Little Quick Fire which were planted there this year. They were separated by some variegated leaf hostas which were divisions that were planted in the ground in June this year. So I think that you got the picture now! :-)
What do you think about this design? I am sure that after trimming the branches of the Rosy Glo Crabapple, it will look much, much better than this mess!!!ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last yearlast modified: last yearostrich
last yearThanks, everyone! cearbhaill, I just went out and did a slight trim - what a different a minor haircut makes! The whole thing looks much neater now. Thanks! Now, I don't think that it shows much of a different in the photo below, but trust me, in reality, it is much neater. Some branches were literally growing along the ground!!! The branches are just a few inches off the ground but it is not that apparent in the photo though...
Ken, I think that the photo before looked surreal because my phone camera somehow added some bokeh effect to it, so that the background is blurry! It didn't do that to this latest photo.... who knows why? These smart phones are getting too smart for their own sake! LOL!
In terms of the staking, the little tree actually was not staked last year. Then it started to really lean badly towards one side, probably due to the wind direction. So this year, I just staked it gently, so that it will grow up with a straighter trunk. You can see that there is still a slight lean but not as bad as before. I agree that the stakes should be removed soon.
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)