SU2
Omono
I've got a bit of a problem- during the nights where it was too-cold to leave things outside last winter, I'd play 'tetris' and somehow manage to jam them all into my screened patio- however, with what I've got this summer, that would never ever work as I've learned about not over-pruning and now have a collection of large bushes-on-trunks basically!
So- these specimen are bougies/crapes/ficus and some random things (jacardanda, BC, grape vine, firebush), and they're having a great growing-season, and I guess I'm picturing/wondering-about the idea of doing a pretty-hard-prune late in the growing-season, for the purpose of lessening the space they take-up! I guess I'm thinking that, if I time a hard-prune just right, I should have the new growth hardened in time for winter and the only 'large', sticking-out branches will be that new growth that I can easily-enough wire upward to reduce any specimen's foot-print!
Does this sound like a solid approach? I have ~25% more trees than last year now, including several really large ones, so am going to have an even worse time this winter and want to be ready, hoping for thoughts on when is a good window to do that last hard-prune as well as whether my thinking here makes sense / is the right way to approach this! Thanks a ton for any suggestions/help on this one
[btw, it'll be my first winter with BC's- I collected 2 larger ones in Jan while dormant and they're now bushes (never pruned any of their branches, though I did remove a bunch of the redundant ones), those are a worry for me if I have to bring them indoors- however, unlike my bougies/crapes, I can expect the BC's to truly go dormant / lose their leaves, I guess I'm just wondering whether I can do the "dormant prune in preparation for the growing-season of '19" right when those leaves have fallen-off, or if I should wait til right-before-Wake-Up? Also have the impression that I'm able to leave my BC's outdoors all winter, because they're in full dormancy, is that the case?]
So- these specimen are bougies/crapes/ficus and some random things (jacardanda, BC, grape vine, firebush), and they're having a great growing-season, and I guess I'm picturing/wondering-about the idea of doing a pretty-hard-prune late in the growing-season, for the purpose of lessening the space they take-up! I guess I'm thinking that, if I time a hard-prune just right, I should have the new growth hardened in time for winter and the only 'large', sticking-out branches will be that new growth that I can easily-enough wire upward to reduce any specimen's foot-print!
Does this sound like a solid approach? I have ~25% more trees than last year now, including several really large ones, so am going to have an even worse time this winter and want to be ready, hoping for thoughts on when is a good window to do that last hard-prune as well as whether my thinking here makes sense / is the right way to approach this! Thanks a ton for any suggestions/help on this one
[btw, it'll be my first winter with BC's- I collected 2 larger ones in Jan while dormant and they're now bushes (never pruned any of their branches, though I did remove a bunch of the redundant ones), those are a worry for me if I have to bring them indoors- however, unlike my bougies/crapes, I can expect the BC's to truly go dormant / lose their leaves, I guess I'm just wondering whether I can do the "dormant prune in preparation for the growing-season of '19" right when those leaves have fallen-off, or if I should wait til right-before-Wake-Up? Also have the impression that I'm able to leave my BC's outdoors all winter, because they're in full dormancy, is that the case?]