Buxus - Hard Prune

[Concept]

I have a japanese buxus that I got from a nursery about 2 years ago and is just sitting in a pot doing nothing.

It is very tall and woody and well out of proportion.

Is if safe to prune it right back to the trunk for new foliage to grow closer in or will this kill the tree? If so when is the best time to do this sort of work?

Thanks in advance.

[Watto]

October would be ideal, but if you cut back to bare wood there is a chance that there will be no growth so cut with care.

[k2bonsai]

My buxus are all shooting new grwoth at the moment but in saying that you really want to do major prunning at the correct time (already stated in a previous post) to maximise regrowth and chance of success. I try to never cut back to bare wood as buxus have a tendancy to die off, so cut right back to a single piece of green growth and you should be ok.

However i have found the above holds true mainly when you cut a single branch back to bare wood. I have found that cutting all branches back to bare wood works fine and new shoots emerge all over the trunk and existing branches. This is a higher risk and so only do it in the ideal time of year.

[Concept]

Thanks for the tip.

[Concept]

Im nervously about to do this work...

Would giving it a fresh hit of fertilizer help the re-growth, having plenty of nitrogen in the in the soil?

[Ray M]

Im nervously about to do this work...

Would giving it a fresh hit of fertilizer help the re-growth, having plenty of nitrogen in the in the soil?

Hi Concept,
No, don't fertilize the tree. Give it a drink of Seasol, using the 25ml per 9 litre mix. Do this at least a couple of times per week until you see new growth. After there is some good new growth introduce liquid fertilizer. I use Powerfeed and Charlie Carp. I alternate between these two. One feed will be Powerfeed and the next feed will be Charlie Carp.

Hope it goes well for you.

Regards Ray

[k2bonsai]

i just did some very heavy chopping of one of my buxus 2 weeks ago in sydney.... Already coming out in new shoots.

[Concept]

i just did some very heavy chopping of one of my buxus 2 weeks ago in sydney.... Already coming out in new shoots.

Did you take it back to bare trunk?

Another thing I realised is I re-potted this tree at the beginning of the growing season. Didnt root prune, just a larger pot. Would it be wise to let it settle and put this off to next year?

[k2bonsai]

As i was not chopping the whole thing back (ie wanted to keep some of the branches but shorten them) I was weary about not bringing some back to bare wood and others with foliage on them. I have found that sometimes buxus will put their energy into the branches with leaves and let the others die off. However this tends ot be mitigated somewhat by the initial health of the plant and by what time of the year i prune back in. Just let it be and wait for it to start shooting. No need to do anything with the roots if you slipped it into a bigger pot. Buxus have no problems growing roots and will fill the new pot rather quickly. Buxus and maples have some of my prefered root masses for working on. Ill take some pics tomorrow in the light for you.

[nananaja003]

Ill take some pics tomorrow in the light for you.
holiday