English Beech

[Fred]

Hi Folks

I have an English Beech I would like some pruning / styling advice, please. The top died and I have brought up a new leader. I can give the trunk some movement by tilting it to the left.
My questions are:
(1) Do I keep the original front or turn it around.?
(2) How short, where to cut back the apex too and the side branches?
(3) Does tilting it to the left improve it?
(4) Do I need to try and bend the apex up further?

I have included pics:
(1) As it was originally front on,
(2) the dead removed, front on,
(3) " " " " " and tilted,
(4) " " " , a new front,
(5) " " " , the new front tilted

Fred

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[craigw60]

Hi Fred I reckon you should not worry too much about styling at this stage but rather get the tree in a bigger pot in a nice open potting mix then feed and grow it for a couple of years to get it really vigorous.
Craig

[Scott Roxburgh]

Nice tree!

I agree that the best option is to plant it deeper in a larger pot (so those top roots are covered), fertilize and strengthen it for next year's work

Scott

[kcpoole]

I like the look of the 3rd pic, the tilted one
I woud actually prefer it to be cut back to the branch below and regrown from there with the til like you have

Cut back to that branch and wire it as the leader, then plant in bigger pot to get it growing much quicken to thicken this section to look in keeping with the lower trunk

Ken

[Fred]

Hi Folks

Thanks for your advice. I will take it on board.

Fred

[Fred]

Hi Folks

I have had a reassessment of the tree and have decided on a new front. This gives better rootage, a lower bottom branch ( a former back branch), with a left/right/ back branch combination.
I will lower it in the pot to hide some of the root.

I am tempted to remove the heavy top branch (formerly the old bottom branch) and the heavy branch brought up as the leader and form a new leader from one of the thin branches at the top of the truck where it has been cut off.

The tree will eventually require a smaller pot.

What do the folks think? Can I utilize the old thick bottom branch or the present leader either cut back short as the leader?

I have attached two new pics, one of the proposed front and one of the proposed new back.

Fred

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[Jamie]

gday fred, im a little concerned on how you are going to get the leader up? are you planning on keeping in with its straight trunk? if so what you can actually do is when you angle cut it back, you can hollow out where the branch is (the deadwood bit from angle cutting) and that will allow the branch to flow quite smoothly into the new leader instad of have the buldge that can occur from wiring a new leader up.


other than that i think it is just a time thing that it needs to give more branching options

[Fred]

Hi Jamie

My plan was to remove both the heavy top branch and heavy current leader and use one of the couple of thin branches that nestle around the base of the forward pointing top branch. There is also the possibility of using a small branch low down on the old leader but this would mean the cut where the dead was removed would slope forward.

I assume you are suggesting that I remove the old leader completely with a backward facing cut and use the thick branch pointing forward as the new leader. How long should I leave the old branch/new leader.

To help in the decision of the height to aim for, the tree has the following dimensions at present:
(1) Trunk diam where roots begin to branch out - 50mm,
(2) Height from soil to underside of new bottom left branch - 150mm,
(3) Height from soil to underside of old bottom branch and now branch facing forward, to be new leader - 270mm,
(4) Height from soil to top of where dead cut off - 320mm,
(4) Height from soil to top of current leader - 660mm.

For a 6:1 ratio of trunk diameter to height, the tree would need to be 300mm high. This would be at where the sloping cut is now. If we go by the guideline of the bottom 1/3 of the trunk has no branches, then the tree would need to be 450mm high.

If your advice is to reduce the height of the forward facing heavy branch as the new leader, then could you please indicate on the photo where to cut too.

Could you also explain in a little more detail the process of being able to make the heavy branch / new leader more vertical.

Fred

[Fred]

Hi Jamie

I forgot to mention about the straightness. I intent to tilt the truck backwards so that I don't have to bring up the new leader so vertically.

Fred

[Jamie]

hi fred, here is a little mudmap for you, it works for whatever new leader you choose. left hand tree shows the angle cut to where you want the new leader to start, right hand shows with the red arrow and the S is where you carve out and Scallop out the wood from the cut and the blue arrow shows where you wire the new leader and it should come up fairly well in line to where you want it. you will find that the live tissue looks like it collapses a litlle but its not to stress it will be fine.

mudmap for fred.jpg

hope that explains it a little better.

jamie

[Fred]

Hi Jamie

Thanks for the explanation and diagram. That makes it clearer.

Fred

[Jamie]

no probs pleasure to help

glad you could understand my rough mudmap

[Fred]

Hi Folks

An update.

I wasn't happy with the over thickness of the top branch and the leader and so I gave it the chop in favour of a new leader and using the lower left branch as the new first branch. I have left the lower branch long at this stage to at least give the tree some leaf area to grow. I intend repotting it into a smaller pot in the early Spring before bud burst.

I have attached a pic.

Let me know what you think.

Fred

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