Huge boxwoods------great find .. hopefully

Joe Dupre'

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A buddy stopped by Sunday with a truck LOAD of huge boxwoods. He was driving by and noticed a snarled mess of boxwoods on someone's front lawn. Seems the guy pulled them out with an 18 wheeler (?!) and just wanted them gone. My buddy kindly helped him out by loading up his truck with about 6........front to back in a long wheelbase truck bed and about a foot and a half over the roof. He stopped by my house and told me there were several left and the owner said I could come and get them. Now THAT'S a buddy. They are way lanky, but healthy, so we'll spend the next few years seeing what we can do with them. Hopefully, it's late enough in the year that they'll make the transplant.

This is just two! The big double trunk went into the landscape and the single trunk went into a mortar tray. The single one may make an impressive bunjin in a few years.

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rockm

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Nice potential on those. That single trunked one is a relative rarity. Typically older hedges have multi-stemmed trunks that don't have all that much "heft"
 

Joe Dupre'

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I thought, being evergreen, you couldn't make that drastic a cut back. I'd definitely cut them way back if they bud back like a deciduous tree.
 

Joe Dupre'

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Just curious. About how long before I can tell if they'll make it. Brown leaves in a couple days? a week? a month?
 

Soldano666

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They'll prob stay green til spring and start to brown up when they're suppose to start growing. Just guessing
 

Joe Dupre'

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If they don't make it, I might just do a tanuki so as not to waste those beautiful trunks.
 

rockm

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Just curious. About how long before I can tell if they'll make it. Brown leaves in a couple days? a week? a month?
I've dug VERY old boxwood (over 150 years) that lived for two years, pushing new growth too. They died in year two, total collapse, root inspection showed no new root growth. The things lived on reserves for that long.

I'd give these at least a year to claim success. Perhaps more.Don't assume new growth means you're in the clear to work them or that they're fine. Make sure the soil around them drains. They can be susceptible to problems and slow when their soil is wet.
 

Joe Dupre'

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Thanks for the heads up, rockm. I'd be very tempted to work on any tree that's putting out good new growth. I've found that same thing out with a couple of other species..... the hard way.
 

Kendo

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Hai I think the too much strong cut for shin. This not for so long living in many cases. If we digging up then we keep shin. We let him come out on his own. SOme it take 5 year. This is time to wait. Hai Thank You.
 

rockm

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I thought, being evergreen, you couldn't make that drastic a cut back. I'd definitely cut them way back if they bud back like a deciduous tree.
They have to be treated with some caution as far as cutting back past foliage. I'd be cautious to do it at first. Best way is to cut back to the last healthy twig with a number of leaves. See if that cut produces backbudding FURTHER BACK on the branch or stump, not just at the cut site. If you do get new foliage further back, repeat the process over a few years until you get foliage near the trunk...
 

Joe Dupre'

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Both of them had back budding on old wood when collected, which is encouraging. I'll just let them grow all next summer with no pruning so they can get healthy. As Kendo suggested, it's probably at least a 5 year project.........likely 10-12 years. They were yanked out of the ground and came out with a root ball about 12" in diameter and 8" deep. I made clean cuts on the roots and just planted them with the original soil intact. You have to deal with the hand you're given.
 

Cosmos

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That sinuous single-trunk one is pretty spectacular, hopefully it survives under your care and you can post its progression here.
 

Joe Dupre'

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The boxwoods are showing signs of life. Leaf buds have been slowly plumping up and getting greener. Today I found a few on each tree that were just starting to split and open up. I don't know if it helped, but I had been misting the trees two or three times a day to lessen moisture loss. Fingers still crossed. They will be allowed to grow freely this summer to gain as much strength as possible.
 

Forsoothe!

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The first order of business is to get them to live, -at all. Put them into the ground, untouched, and if they are alive in 2020, make decisions then.
 
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