Ok, Ive been out chopping at my brugs and some just didnt grow up like they should have..I had more sideways growth then upward on some...Ive never seen anybody tell on how to cut a brug to get it to grow like a standard....Judy
Shaping your brugs
Oh, how timely a thread! I'll definately be "watching" this to see the suggestions so I can put them in to good use.
LoraB.
Oh Judy, it probably depends a bit on the genes of that particular brug but also where you took the cutting from that started your brug. If it was above the Y it usually bushes out but below the Y cuttings get taller and are easier to get to be a standard.
If yours are bush form with no tall leader, you will need to wait for a sucker to shoot up. They can come up from the soil or even from lower branches. They are easy to tell for they are straight and tall. I leave them on the plant till they reach the height I want, usually 6 ft plus and then I cut them off. They grow so fast when attached to the Mom. I sometimes leave a few nodes on so I get more.
Even a bush form can be trained if you have a decent leader. I trained my GL as a tree and it was a bush. I just cut off all the side growth and all the extra trunks. I will say the trunk was not real straight and it continually got side growth which I had to clean off but I did get it tall and with a wild canopy.
If yours does have a nice staight trunk up to a high Y, just cut off all the side growth tight to the trunk up to the first Y and cut off all the suckers if there are any.
Seedlings usually make great standards. With a little support they grow straight and tall.
Kell, I was standing in front of my Miss Anna yesterday with one tall branch....Im going to chop it off today and put it in a bucket for next year..the trunk of this brug is so big now that Im just going to have to let it go...sooo many new brugs so little space.....so sad to let them go...thanks for the help....Judy