Ginko Biloba...As per request..Please add yours

[shibui]

I started off thinking that ginkgo would be tender and treated them very carefully. Probably because of the common name of maidenhair reference to maidenhair ferns which are quite delicate.
However I have found that mine are among the toughest species I grow here. Roots can be cut really hard. Tops can be pruned really hard at all times of the year and they just sprout and keep growing. They are also quite drought hardy and will tolerate being as dry as pines. Mine have survived where many maples perished from lack of water.
Ginkgo are planted as street trees in very polluted cities because they are one of the few trees that are tough enough to survive highly polluted air.

They may not be bulletproof but they are among the hardiest trees I grow. I would not hesitate to chop and repot at the same time or in the same season.
BTW there is talk that ginkgo will grow from root cuttings so when you repot.......

[BirchMan]

Thanks shibui. I’ll wait til July then go as hard as i dare.

[TimS]

Layers can take some time, but do work allegedly with the wrapping wire around the trunk method. Ginkgo absolutely will back bud and reshoot from a trunk chop. I dug a6ft one out and cut it back to a shoot that was at maybe 2 ft up the trunk from the base. It has shot away well and is still budding on bare wood 2 years later

This might be a general question for deciduous hard pruning, but TimS what time of year did you do this? I'm gonna cut mine just above the horizontal branches for an insurance policy. I won't risk repotting this year unless you guys reckon they're that bulletproof? In the past i've taken that term too far at times...

I did it early-mid winter iirc, I thought it might stress the tree but it grew back quickly. There were shoots below where I cut it, so I’m not sure what would happen if you did it below any shoots. I’m guessing it would just bud up randomly on the trunk is all.

Ginkgo has proved very tough, and while slow to thicken and heal scars, not too problematic for getting reasonable shoots from. They won’t ramify like most other trees, but they can be developed well.

[longd_au]

This is my Ginko. It's about 10 years old. It is just starting to turn yellow.
I found them very hardy. Mine keeps sending out shoots from the base making it hard to train into the typical flame shape.
I just let it grow each year and cut back in winter. Planning to put it into a bonsai pot this spring and try reduce the leaf size.
I defoliated it once this season and the new leaf are a little smaller.

gingko.jpg

The cuttings have lost their leaves

gingko_cutting.jpg

[MJL]

Gingko fans may be across this but if not - here's a resource to get lost on for a few weeks!https://kwanten.home.xs4all.nl/index.htm

[juan73870]

Whoa! Creator of that website is seriously into ginko, hey!

[TimS]

Thanks for the link Mark, the creator has gone to a lot of effort!

[Matthew]

Not bonsai but my garden ginko that now naked thanks to some nasty wind, tree is about 2 feet across at the base. beautiful trees

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[tombops]

So after reading all this it seems I've got a long way to go with my little gingko but thought I'd share none the less.

[Redsonic]

Not bonsai but my garden ginko that now naked thanks to some nasty wind, tree is about 2 feet across at the base. beautiful trees

Beautiful!