Hi all! We have been going back and forth for literally years about whether or not to keep this JM in front of our house. It is too big for the space. About 3-4 yrs ago, a landscaper pruned the inside branches and thinned the leaves, and that looked good for about 1-2 yrs. Now it again looks too bushy. My main problem is that when leafed out, it hides the high arched window which is a nice architectural feature of the house. It is obviously too big to cost-effectively transplant. It is slated to be removed and replaced by something smaller (non-JM). Please let me know whether it could be further pruned and saved (and if so how to do - or resources of experts in the STL area if available). Thanks in advance for your expertise.
It's a catch 22 situation you would like to see the window which would also allow more light into your house but you don't really want ot get rid of the tree? Taking more off the top branches would be ok but you will still have the same problem of the tree taken up the space and light. If this was mine i would do the following see the pic cut all the top branches off where i have indicated,then you would be able to see your window and get the light but the tree is still there albiet drastically smaller but it has a better shape and hopefully it will re bud and come back after xx years, but this is me i like cutting things off and digging things up!!!! at the end of the day it's still a tree, can you live with this looking this small and with no uniform leaf structure for xx years? Reading between the lines it seems touch and go on wether you want to keep this tree? this way you have nothing to lose cut the tree it comes back eventually, or if not it's then dug out and replaced with something else, unfortuneatley only you can deciede on this one, you could try and get someone to come and remove the tree but as you said this might be costly to yourself , plus if you offered the tree to someone for free they would have to be very keen to try a big job such as this. Others might offer different views but this is what i would do if faced with this scenario. Good look !!
Roebuck, thanks for your reply. The tree underneath where your cut line is has not leafed out for about 2 years (since the prior drastic pruning). If it was pruned as you suggest would this area sprout buds/more branches? Or would the whole thing just die?
I'm (almost) certain it would backbud. Then, cirling the roots and removing the tree in the following spring could be possible: picture yourself a hexagon of about 1 metre of ray around the tree, cut off the roots every two sides, so on three sides, even the big roots, fill in the holes with a mix 50% sand and 50% compost. New roots are very likely to form there. The following spring, cut off the rest of the roots and remove it to be planted elsewhere. Since JM usually don't have roots getting deep into the ground, to me there's a good chance this would work.
As Alain thinks the same as myself i can't see any reason why you shouldn't get new budding taking place on the remaining branches either,it's not as though the tree is dying ,at present it leafs out regulary and it certainly looks to have some age behind it and no doubt it comes out every year without any problems. So by removing the top limbs obviously you know then that the sap has no where to go because there are no leaves to feed so the the next line of the trees defence is to promote new growth ie new buds to continue the life cycle of the tree. How many times have we all seen various varieties of trees not just JM cut back right down to the stump,then years later the same stump is covered with masses of new growth, where i live the council some three years ago decieded to do exactly the same as what i suggest to around 30 very large trees 60ft+ and had been there forever. They were blocking light to the surrounding houses and road users, took them over two weeks to basically de limb them all and just leave a 10 foot trunk with a few branch stumps remaining, they did look funny at the time but now they are all covered in new growth, so we know it does work it's just a case of can you bear to do this to your tree? If this was say just a common standard green leafed tree we wouldn't even be having this debate it would have been done years ago no doubt, we just seem to be scared because it has the prefix of JM ?
I'm not sure I can bear cutting it that drastically but your advice has given me lots of good ideas. I am going to thin it dramatically at the top. I think it has potential to be viable even in that location. Thanks. Any other ideas are welcome.
I think the tree would be better if it were planted in the bed in front of the sidewalk and next to the driveway. A mounding dissectum would be better in the area in front of your window. Or swap the existing sidewalk planting and the tree instead of buying a new dissectum.
JT1, thanks for your input. It is cost prohibitive to move the tree. It's just too big. I have pruned it substantially and it looks much better. I have decided to keep it.
That tree could be moved at nearly no cost if one was willing to move it themselves. Your pictures don't show your whole yard, but extending the flower bed on the left of your front door forward would be a great spot and the tree would frame your entrance nicely. Or possibly directly forward that flower bed into the center of the lawn it would still frame your entrance. I certainly hope the pruning you did, wasn't to drastic; as the tree had a very pleasing form in your pictures.
