AusBonsai

is it safe to cut all the branches off a large healthy serissa

Hi Penny, I have many Serissa, many of them large, but what I would like to know is why you would want to cut alll the branches off? Do you have a photo of the tree you can supply befire I attempt to answer your question?

Penny, I have a large serissa and last year was not happy with the overall appearance. So starting from scratch again I hard pruned it to a bare branch format and it came back better that ever with tighter branch structure which I was able to manipulate to a better looking tree,

John T

I've found serissas most amenable to hard pruning. I just removed one of two major branches on my mini and the subsequent development is very good. Go for it....

Hey John and Melaquin, any chance we could see a photo of your Serissas please

penny this should answer your question...

SERISSA

Pruning and wiring: When in bloom, remove fading flowers to encourage further flower production. Prune as needed; the Serissa is a fast grower and may need radical or repeated pruning to maintain its shape. Will bud back on old wood; in fact, some books recommend occasionally pruning back beyond old growth to help the plant maintain its shape. Wire during the growing period. Serissa will grow air roots and is often used in exposed root or root over rock styles. Eliminate unwanted suckers extending from the base. Suitable for all styles except formal upright and broom. Suitable for extra small to medium sizes.

taken from this webpage,,, http://www.bonsai-bci.com/species/serissa.html

it was in a local garden centre and very overgrown so it was hard to see wat was what,i paid 45 sterling took it home and started snipping,im a novice at this but the tree had obviously been worked on,my original idea was to cut everything off branches as well and grow them from scratch so they would be very refined.i thought i might be able to do the same with this serissa as many people do with trident maple, very small with fat trunk.i wasnt going to cut the trunk just have refined branches,as the trunk is around 35-40inches tall,with some taper. i gave it an hair cut today, to me its ok for now ,to you probably v very strange like me.ill try to upload a pic im new to computers too. what would you do with it be gentle as its hard to get good trees in uk when your on a tight budjet. i would love a trident maple...one dayyyyy.thanks for your info i also did some wiring on branches

nice tree penny, its hard to find seriss with this size trunk so good find. i think you would be fine to chop back maybe not to a bare trunk but to refine branching you should be good
serissa are netorious for thickening up slow but ramificatiion should build up very quickly.

jester will be able to confirm this


jamie

thanks jamie ive seen some of your trees amazing your so lucky... i wont take branches off just prune it looks ok in the pics i was quite surprised...i bought a chinese elm for 50 pence the other day its not a bad little tree but i think it was allowed to dry out all its leaves were off....lee penny

It would be a cold day in hell before you would find a serissa of this magnitude in a local garden centre, even a bonsai nursery would not have one so advanced. I have been growing a little root over rock for 9 years and photos from Day One show the trunk to be almost as thick as it is today. Congrats on your find and the price is fantastic. Yes, some gentle guidance on this one and you should have a fine tree in a year or two.

i have another smaller one but it has no leaves on top branches but ok lower ,,,no leaves for a few weeks now on top,im keeping it at between 10celcius and 15 this is cold for serissa,could i be doing harm,or will it do the tree good to be cool over winter,because im worried about bigger one, they are in conservatory overnight and outside through day

Hi Penny, definitely a nice tree with a reasonably thick trunk be Serissa standards but more importantly there is some nice movement there that can be taken advantage of. The only reason that I personally did not want to tell you that it is Ok to cut off all the branches was because of the climate there. If it was in Australia, I would have immediately said go right ahead. I wonder what Stymie's view would be.???I must admit I have heard of lots of Serissa dying in the Northern Hemisphere as they are afterall Tropical Shrubs. A few months ago I chopped one down to a stump and stuck it in open ground. Nothing happened for a month and then it started going feral!!

I had trouble with my first serissa... it didn't like the cold of a winter bench in Sydney so I used to bring it in at night to give it protection. My house isn't heated so there was no drying issue. It survived the winter but not the next season. I have had another on the bench for years with no problem... 5 degrees to 45 degrees [albeit both in moderation]. But I have always been warned that serissa like warm weather better than cold. I would wait until spring before hacking into it [said only with the very nicest intent] in cooler climes than Oz.

So Melaquin are you are going to show us your Serissa?/ C'mon the suspense is killing me!!!

Penny, I'm truly amazed by your tree. Serrisa usually expire before they reach that stage in the UK. In fact, I have been so frustrated by them that I stopped growing them several years ago. I don't know where you are housing it but it needs a minimum temperature of 12C (54F) and a humid atmosphere. If you have a South facing kitchen or bathroom, these are the kind of places most likely to suit it. The best of light anyway and absence of draughts and direct heat sources. These are difficult conditions to maintain in our average British homes. Pruning can be pretty drastic if you maintain it in the best of health. I'm in Sheffield, where are you? Have a look at us on http://www.weetrees.co.uk sometime, where the majority of people are in the UK and may be able to help further. All the best =Don.