Liquidambar Trunk Chop

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Patmet
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Liquidambar Trunk Chop

Post by Patmet »

I bought this Liquidambar Styraciflua at around 2m tall, in a grow bag from a bargain section at a nursery. I gave it the trunk chop in winter 2021.

It's coming into it's third year since the chop now, and I've made some rookie mistakes along the way, but I think I can correct them over some years. The intention has always been to develop it into the classic up and out broom style. I don't have many deciduous trees but this has proven to be very suitable here in Southern WA. The hot wind in summer absolutely hammers the japanese Maple I have and the leaves get burnt to a crisp, but the Liquidambar handles it no worries. The autumn colour is always great too. Before I did the chop it got yellow and purple colour but since the chop it's consistently been purple and then bright red.
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Before chop April 2021
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After chop August 2021
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The season's growth Jan 2022
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Before work September 2022
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After work September 2022
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Autumn colour 2023
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Before work June 2023
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After work June 2023
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My next step to deal with the branches that are too strong compared to the rest
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Albo
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Re: Liquidambar Trunk Chop

Post by Albo »

I like it a lot.
Nice solid trunk and how good is that autumn colour!
Liquid amber grow strongly in my area so keen to see how how this develops.
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Re: Liquidambar Trunk Chop

Post by shibui »

Liquidamber - difficult to kill and still gives good autumn colour in warmer areas. What's not to like?
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John(JP)
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Re: Liquidambar Trunk Chop

Post by John(JP) »

Love it and ditto what Shibui says
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Patmet
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Re: Liquidambar Trunk Chop

Post by Patmet »

Not as much autumn colour as past years but still nice. It’s been a bit warmer than usual this autumn here, and the position I have this tree in the garden now is a little bit more protected and less exposed to the cold which would make a difference.

Now that I can see the structure again I’m feeling happy with the progression over the past year.
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Patmet
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Favorite Species: WA natives
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Re: Liquidambar Trunk Chop

Post by Patmet »

I went fairly hard pruning this back in preparation for spring. It's moving forward nicely in my opinion but there's some branches that are very straight, have little taper, and ugly thickenings. I want to rectify some of these primary branches sooner rather than later.

There's a couple of branches that I'm still waiting for some buds to hopefully form to cut back to I'll mark in the pictures.

I've also noticed I really need to start growing branches upwards to fill in the centre space so I have left a binch of buds to start those branches.
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Before
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After
Screenshot_20240627_122142_Gallery.jpg
The ugly branches I really need some new buds :fc:
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Akhi
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Re: Liquidambar Trunk Chop

Post by Akhi »

I am looking forward to when you expose the nebari, love the solid trunk
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