New Boxwood material.

Mike423

Shohin
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Here's another thread of some rough stock I'm deciding on what to do with. I found this growing under/in one of my Boxwood's I have as hedges in my yard. Due to branch placement and the fact that the majority of the main branches have become stiff and brittle I'm unsure as to where I'm going next with this one. I was thinking on maybe chopping it all the way down to the little shoot shown on the 3rd pic and maybe styling it as a shohin size tree or at least starting from that point. The portion of the trunk below it has some good movement.

I'm probably going to be doing some root work and start a ring tourniquet ground layer next year to produce a new root system before doing anything else. The root system is in poor shape and is basically one large root going strait down, probably due the the fact it was a seedling form the bush it was gowing under.
 

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jk_lewis

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If it were mine, it would get planted out in the sun somewhere, fertilized heavily every week or so and allowed to grow for about 5 years. In a pot, this will never get any bigger trunk.
 

Alex DeRuiter

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Do they grow well in the sun? I must have been misinformed...I was under the assumption that part-sun/part-shade is best for them as the leaves will brown/yellow in the sun. Does this depend on the species, or was this information just hokum?
 

coh

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Not sure if there is a variety-dependence, but I've got 1 boxwood in a bonsai pot and it gets pretty much full sun (northern NY full sun, that is - not the same as Florida!), and I've got another clump in a nursery pot and it also gets full sun. Leaves look great, no burning/browning/yellowing at all.

Chris
 

rockm

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Full sun that far north is fine...
 

Alex DeRuiter

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Hmmm....well, it's obviously something else then. I just have to figure out what I'm doing wrong...lol -- Good thing I haven't invested much in the boxwoods yet. Always time to learn ;-p
 

rockm

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If the leaves are yellowing, my guess would be too much water and too dense soil. Boxwood like moist, but well-drained, soil. They have been planted here in Va. for over 300 years and thrive in the sandy, loamy native soil here in the tidal Piedmont. In a container, use a soil that's 70 percent inorganic that includes some large-grained sand (I use swimming pool filter sand-crushed quartz) and 30 percent sifted organics (composted pine bark is good).
 

Alex DeRuiter

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That was my initial thought as well. This particular boxwood was planted in the ground, and the leaves weren't exactly yellowing...it was more of a browning. In all honesty I think the issue may have been with lack of water.

Another factor that was most likely part of the cause of its death was the fact (and please forgive me because this was when I first started studying on container and ground growing) that I trimmed the roots and put it in a pot -- I forget when, but it was most likely the wrong time of year -- and plated it into the ground a couple months later...so I probably freaked the tree out.

Now that I have a better idea of what type of medium to use and what type of light they like, I think I can probably grow them without a problem...probably. Let me acquire some and then we'll know for sure. ;-p

Thank you for your help, rockm. And Mike, I'm sorry to steal your thread but I'm done now! lol
 

Mike423

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That's fine:D axxonn I was planning on planting it in ground next year to layer it and make a new root system, I was just wondering if I should since the only place I have for it (my bonsai garden) is a full sun location. I had two small one year old seedlings last year that received full sun for a while and it made the leaves yellow. I thought that they didn't like full sun since this year they were kept in partial shade and look fine again. Maybe they yellowed due to the fact they were seedlings and in pots
 

mickaus

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I would cut it back to the shoot in the 3rd picture. That will give fantastic movement in time and without it there is very little taper.
 

mat

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Boxwood trunks take a long time to develop.

Are there any nice bases on the ones growing as hedges in your yard?
 

Mike423

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Yeah, but none have anything I would be interested in and they would be a pain to dig up. I wouldn't really want to remove them from the landscape anyways.
 

fore

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If it were mine, it would get planted out in the sun somewhere, fertilized heavily every week or so and allowed to grow for about 5 years. In a pot, this will never get any bigger trunk.

jkl, is this specific to boxwoods, or hedges...like yews also? Mike has graciously offered to give me one of these boxwoods so it's good to know this...and the light and soil recommendations. I'll eventually find a yew hedge to try...but boy, even small nursery yews are expensive. Strange too as they are Everywhere here in Chicago. You'd think they'd be inexpensive.

Mike, I agree with micaus, cut back to the 3rd pic and get it in the ground.
 
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MattB

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"Yeah, but none have anything I would be interested in and they would be a pain to dig up. I wouldn't really want to remove them from the landscape anyways"


Boxwood are surprisingly easy to remove from the ground. We recently dug up a 40 year old boxwood at my parents house and the entire root mass was fine feeder roots about 8 inches deep and to the drip line of the bush. I don't believe I can ever think of a time when a boxwood was different than this. If it is the difficulty of moving a boxwood that is stopping you from using larger material, maybe reconsider. Of course, if your landscaping will look like it has a big whole once you remove an old Box I would probably leave it alone too!
 
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