I have a mature English Hawthorne with a very dense canopy. Lots of twiggy branches, that are far out of reach, even with my pole pruner. I was wanting to thin these out to make it more open and airy. Looking for info on proper pruning/thinning. Or is this just the natural growth pattern for Hawthorne? I don't want to do it incorrectly and create other problems, ie water shoots. Anybody out there have experience with Hawthorne trees?
Note that the trees are called "hawthorns", with no "e". Since profuse flowering and fruiting are two goals with these, there is not much to be gained with thinning. Other than that, what to do in a particular instance depends on what each tree looks like now and what your point of view seems to be - things best sussed by competent arborists who can visit the site and talk to you about your concerns.
Hawthorns are very difficult to manage from a branching structure standpoint, and even modest thinning generally creates flushes of epicormic growth that can quickly overwhelm you. I am not completely grasping your objectives for thinning, but I'm leaning towards aesthetics? This is no easy tree to tame aesthetically unless you are prepared for annual maintenance.
Thanks for your reply. I guess my objective is to create a more airy look to the tree, rather than the dense mass of twiggy branches there now. But I guess this is the natural growth of the tree, correct? What I DON'T want to do is, like you say, create a flush of "epicormic growth" (had to look that one up :-) ), which would mean more work. I think I'll forget about the "thinning" However, there are some crossing branches that I would like to remove.
Starting with the crossing, rubbing, and dead branches is a great approach. Drastic thinning of 10% of crown mass and up is not recommended. Proper pruning cuts are key I might add.
I have many remnant Hawthorn hedging on my property from when this area was first settled about 160 years ago. Over the years they have escaped their hedging and are now beautiful in any season. This year they flowered very well (rain for a change) Hoping for a good berry show in autumn. However where ever there are seeded ones under power lines the power company prunes them and all they do is throw up new growth just like a hedge and never flower. If it were mine I would leave it alone except remove dead branches/twigs. Liz
Thanks for your comments. In addition to the main trunk, there are several branches growing straight up, which appear to be "water shoots" that were never trimmed off, and allowed to continue growing. These "water shoots" are now 1 to 3 inches diameter. At this stage, can these be cut off without incurring a flush of new water shoots? Or should I leave them alone.
I personaly would leave them but I guess it depends on your space situation. The experience here is the more you cut the more they shoot. Hence make excellent hedging plants. Liz
