Beginner Gardening: Help with pruning! , 0 by tapla

tapla wrote:
I answered a similar question today about cutting back a dracaena hard. Here is my reply, and it applies to your questions as well: when cutting back a plant hard, what the plant will comfortably tolerate, and what you can get away with is largely dependant on the current vitality and where the plant is in its growth cycle. Temperate plants that utilize the protective mechanism of dormancy can be cut back hard during the winter dormant period, but extensive reductions, both above and below the soil line, are best performed in summer on tropicals/subtropicals (houseplants), when the plant has good energy reserves and cultural conditions are conducive to rapid recovery.

If/when your tree is bursting with energy and the timing is right, you can literally cut it back to within an inch of the soil, leaving nothing but a short stub of a trunk, and expect the tree to regain its equilibrium and recover; perhaps not exactly as the tree you knew, but in terms of vitality and growth, it should be fine. As a bonsai practitioner for more than 20 years, I have treated hundreds of various species in such fashion and realized the expected results. This is a common practice, called a 'trunk chop', and is used to help us build rapid taper into the trunk so the tree looks both old and natural. If, though, your plant is stressed and its vitality not what it should be, you're forced to do your pruning in small steps to avoid a 'wobble' in the trees energy flow it cannot recover from. Your job is, and your focus should be, to be willing to make the effort to provide the cultural conditions that keep the tree growing robustly, so you CAN move it along quickly to achieve your vision of what you'd like it to be.

It would be a good idea to hold tight and refrain from any significant pruning at this time, either above or below the soil line. In addition to it being an 'out-of-season' effort that carries the assurance that the recovery period would be lengthy, the plant may react unfavorably in coming weeks if the light in its new home is not as bright as its former location by shedding some of it's leaves.

There is much more to maintaining healthy trees in containers than one might at first expect. The necessity that most people are ignorant of (in the classic sense) is the need to maintain (prune) the roots and ensure the serviceability of the soil on a regular basis. We can leave that for another time, along with discussion about other cultural aspects if you're interested, but soil and root maintenance are very important keys to longevity and vitality.

Take care.

Al