Casuarina Cunninghamiana Advice

[Rory]

Okay, I have a little dilemma with this recently purchased Cunninghamiana. -> Where to cut and what to cut <- Thought I might pose this little query out to the members here for thoughts.

This is the gallery of the different side profiles:
gallery/album.php?album_id=525

Cas Cunn Cut Test - Not sure what to do here.
If I cut at purple and blue, I have a kind of straightish middle which will look a bit okay if you grow it much taller.
If I cut at the orange, (which I'm leaning towards), then I may get a stack of new growth to choose from under the cut to work with.
If I cut at the red, I will produce a more tapered look, but then I run the chance that the pink potential branch will end up being the new leader and may not bud back between the red and the potential pink branch which would be devastating to lose that tapered area from pink up to red.

I haven't had much experience with taking massive cuts like these on cunninghamiana. I have done it 3 times on fairly thick stock, but not as thick as this. I lost one, and the other shot from everywhere, and the 3rd shot sporadically.

[kcpoole]

You should be able to cut back to at least the red line, but I would go even lower to the first shoot on the right and use that as the leader. Tile the tree to the left at the next repot, and use your pink as the first branch

Ken

[Brian]

cut it back to the pink line. I guarantee it will re-sprout again. I just did this myself.

[Rory]

Okay, I've cut the top off, but I left enough for 2 leaders to grow, so depending on which one goes okay, I may cut a little more off, but for now, just leaving 2 leaders to see. I couldn't cut below the red line, because the other shoots are just dead twigs coming off, and are not living.

Have bent down the 1st branch on the left in preparation.

[Rory]

You should be able to cut back to at least the red line, but I would go even lower to the first shoot on the right and use that as the leader. Tile the tree to the left at the next repot, and use your pink as the first branch

Ken

Yeah, tilting the tree is a definite improvement, and if the top leader dies back, then i'll cut further down. Thanks for the suggestions.

cut it back to the pink line. I guarantee it will re-sprout again. I just did this myself.

Thanks for the help. The only problem is if I had cut it back to the pink line, it would just be a stumpy toad stool, I prefer to have some tapering at least, as its at least 1cm thicker below the pink line than above.

[Rory]

Some fresh growth is coming out of the woodwork - so to speak - and I'm happy with the look. Hard to tell from this pic, but the new leader is thickening very quickly and would be just over half a cm already. For now, I think I'm just going to let the leader grow till it reaches the moon, then start to cut back and grow again etc.

[Rory]

This one has had a repot and the roots pruned. I have potted it with a slant now.