Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: My CamelliaPLEASE help!, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Core--

Do you know Mike Quinn ("mqiq77") in GA? He has been my adviser for years......I sent him a pile of cuttings about 3 years ago and he rooted them all. I think i will send him some more--as the consensus now seems to be that I cut the shrub back--pretty severely.....SO! That is what I will do in about a week.....

Much of what you said, he also has suggested--and I, myself, have already thought of doing.....The growth just looks too straggly and "not well".....I have never grown any other camellias--so i do not know what a 12+yr. old camellia should look like???/
So be it! I will give it a severe pruning back--clean up all the old mulch and dropped leaves, and spray well with Daconil. Kind of--start over.......Nothing else I can do!

This is NOT a "one time" event--as the leaves have been having this problem for 3 years in a row now. Never before 2007!
After seeing all my pictures and reading about all my woes--he thinks that I have given it the good old "college try" and it is time to cut it back.

Have you ever cut a mature Camellia back to the heavy wood? How did it fare after that?

Thanks again for all your input.
Here is a close-up of the blooms from 2007...The way it looked back then! All healthy and robust!

Gita