The following was received via email: Hi I live in York, England. I have a small monkey puzzle tree which I am moving to a new position is it possible to trim the top of the tree to keep it small?
Generally top pruning any coniferous tree is not considered advisable. Careful pruning of the roots is a technique that can be used to restrict size, however. If you want to restrict the tree's size on an ongoing basis, you will need to repeat the root pruning process every year or two. Not knowing why you want to restrict the growth of the tree, we can only assume that your garden is small. One thing that you may not have considered is to grow the tree as tall as nature will allow. The tree will naturally drop its' bottom branches anyway as it matures, so taking off branches at the 10' (or more) mark,would allow the tree to give a tall canopy whilst not interferring with the 'garden space' at ground level . Could be quite enchanting. The tree willl have an umbrella shape or rounded full crown and can be seen growing this way in nature.
