Ilex crenata holly advice

[RustyNail]

hello everyone,
wasn't sure where to post this. I picked up this soft touch compact holly (Ilex crenata ) at lowe's a few day ago for 3 bucks it looked real bad. so I repotted it and made 2 out of it . my question is should I prune and try to shape now or wait till later ? .

thank's for your help.

 

[iant]

I'd probably not prune it for a year just to let it get strength and get to know the plant. Pruning can be done mid summer in some trees if they're vigorous and you want to try to encourage ramification. You need to decide, however, how big of a trunk you want on these when they grow up. If you want to thicken them you can just let 'em go without pruning for a few years.
Ian

 

[Cypress]

If you're planning on letting it thicken by just letting it be, let me say that I would really advise you to just prune branches that will create problems now. For example, where you have three branches coming out of on spot. If you remove one now you will avoid an awful bulge and reverse taper down the line. It's good to nix the few problems before you let it do it's thing for a while.

But on another note, I just picked up on of these little guys the other day at Lowes as well! Great minds, haha. I did exactly what I described, prune just a very few branches that were causing issues, and then slip potted it into a pond basket. Didn't disturb the roots at all except to remove the very top layer of soil so I could see where the real base of the trunk was. Wish you the best of luck with this guy, I'll be checking in on this thread from time to time for sure. Will post some pics of mine here eventually.

 

[Paradox]

I would leave it alone and just let it grow until next year. It is a bit late in the year to do major work on them from what I have read. You are supposed to do most work on them in early spring. I have 2 of them that I got back in April. I repotted and pruned both in early May and both are adding new growth. One is growing like a weed.

 

[RustyNail]

thank's for the reply's good info.

cypress thank's for reminding me of that, where you have three branches coming out of one spot. If you remove one now you will avoid an awful bulge and reverse taper down the line.
I remember reading that somewhere but forgot it. see the (Great Mind) must be your's lol.

thank you Iant and Paradox also for the info .

i'll look at the limb's tomorrow when my eye's are more open and remove one.
would like a bit larger trunk .
then just wait till next spring and make up my mind, if only I had one lol.

good luck with your Ilex crenata hope they do good.

have a good one.

P.S. could not remember how to use quote..

 

[Cypress]

thank's for the reply's good info.

cypress thank's for reminding me of that, where you have three branches coming out of one spot. If you remove one now you will avoid an awful bulge and reverse taper down the line.
I remember reading that somewhere but forgot it. see the (Great Mind) must be your's lol.

thank you Iant and Paradox also for the info .

i'll look at the limb's tomorrow when my eye's are more open and remove one.
would like a bit larger trunk .
then just wait till next spring and make up my mind, if only I had one lol.

good luck with your Ilex crenata hope they do good.

have a good one.

P.S. could not remember how to use quote..

Yea, no prob. Just want to add that I don't really know how much root work you did with your repot, and that a light prune can always wait until spring. Whatever feels right to you. I was mostly getting at if you're going to let the tree do it's own thing/fatten for a couple years, it's always better to take care of obvious issues sooner than later!

 

[RustyNail]

well it was pot bound so I took around 1/3 or so off the bottom and some off the sides. the pot was all roots nothing else was in the pot blew my mind and dry from top to bottom. i used what i had on hand mircale grow potting soil with a mix of bonsai pro mix for repotting to help with drainage.
it looks a lot better now than when I got it..i agree with takeing care of issues now than later.

thank's again Cypress.

also have 2 small shimpaku juniper and 1 Gensing Grafted Ficus
remember I am still new at this so I probably will kill one or more ..