AusBonsai

Hello,

I recently was given a 48 inch tall gardenia. It has a long trunk and then a topiary like bush on top. Will gardenia tolerate a trunk chop way back to where there are no leaves? I cant find anything out there about how tolerable gardenias are to heavy pruning and chopping. Any help would be appreciated!

Jason

Do an air layer just below the bushy top to give yourself an instant tree, then chop down lower to get a second tree later on. Gardenias will re shoot from old wood, but you don't know whether the dormant buds have been rubbed off in the process of producing the tall standard tree that you have now. As it is coming into winter in Ohio at the moment, I would not do it now. Wait until you are in spring/summer.

I have an indoor setup with a 1000 watt metal halide. Problem is, when i acquired the plant, it is full of mealybugs, so I don't want it near my bonsai trees and is one of the main reasons I want to chop so I don't have to put the time into exterminating the tree of the bugs. You are correct, with winter right around the corner it has to be indoors which from my understanding makes them that much more susceptible to pests,

Jason