I have a newly planted Magnolia x soulangeana 'rustica rubia' approx 5ft high. It is very leggy, not having a main trunk like others , 7 or 8 branches starting 10- 12 inches from the ground . Could someone tell me the procedure for pruning please as we are having very high winds at the moment and i'm worried the branches may snap. The very healthy "water shoots"do need removing too don't they??
When my big one (Huge don't know brand, decidious in winter) gets too big and hangs in my face on the board walk I just snap some branches off and off it goes sprouting more. Just recently had to prune a magnolia down to basic sticks. (low growing with port wine colourd flowers) Thought it may not make it but its up and at it again with lots of new growth. (We are in summer at the moment). Having said all that you had better check this out. http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0603/magnolia_prune.asp http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=6162 And lastly advice from one of our big wholesale nurseries over in the next valley http://www.tesselaar.net.au/growingguides/magnolias.asp Liz
Magnolias need to be planted in sheltered positions anyway as they are subject to gales. At 5' tall it has already been trained, it's rather late to try and change it into a single-stemmed tree.
I find the deciduous magnolias respond poorly (multiple regrowths / suckers / epicormics) to pruning. Prune as best as possible to branch collars and remove rapid growing growth such as epicormics / suckers as soon as you are able. For structural pruning try to maintain open form and as Ron B suggested, plant is in a sheltered spot to begin with which will lessen the likelihood of wind damage.
Jimmy when you speak about succkers do you mean from down the bottom. Neither of mine do this. The smaller one had to have a major haircut along with a few other things as they were in my blackberry jungle (now cleared and re done) This smaller one is braching new shoots off the cut ones and I am thinning them out a bit so it is not to shruby but more open. So far looking very nice. [I thought we had killed it] The other one is about 15 foot high and has a habit of hanging down into walk area. Where I break the branches off they just shoot out again. It covers my old garage and keeps it nice and cool. Liz
The "latest and greatest" information circulating among professional arborist education right now, is that trees establish better if they are not pruned for the first couple of years after planting. Seems that pruning to a newly planted trees should be limited to essential removal of defects, and nothing more. Just read it a few months ago at a source to acquire Continuing Education credits for ISA re-certification.
"The first experiment to study the question was set up in the spring of 1978 to evaluate effects of top pruning and fertilizing at planting time...Any reduction of the combined growth regulator concentration from all expanding buds reduces the strength of the chemical signal received by the roots and subsequent root growth...Arbitrary top-pruning has no place in modern horticulture. However, top-pruning to aid branch development and structure is a valid consideration." --Carl E Whitcomb, ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF LANDSCAPE PLANTS (Lacebark, 1987 (Rev. 1991)) http://www.lacebarkinc.com/
