Should I dig up my boxwood?

[readc]

I have a rather large boxwood in my front yard next to my house. The trunk is probably 3-4" in diameter and has some interesting characteristics, I will try and post a picture when I get home. It is doing me nothing just sitting there, so I figured I would dig it up.

Anyway, should I dig it now, or should I cut it back and leave it in the ground? Any other suggestions on this plan? Or, should I just not dig it at all haha.

Thanks

 

[just.wing.it]

I have a rather large boxwood in my front yard next to my house. The trunk is probably 3-4" in diameter and has some interesting characteristics, I will try and post a picture when I get home. It is doing me nothing just sitting there, so I figured I would dig it up.

Anyway, should I dig it now, or should I cut it back and leave it in the ground? Any other suggestions on this plan? Or, should I just not dig it at all haha.

Thanks

Need pics!
I'd cut back slowly over a couple years and do some "in ground root pruning" too.

 

[StoneCloud]

agree with @just.wing.it Definitely start the work with it in the ground.

I would chop that baby down first, take the chopped part have a bonfire and beer and think about what I did.

A few weeks later I would dig around, do some root pruning, fill in with better soil and then when the time is right relocate it to a pot.

 

[sorce]

Pics!

Of the trunk low!

Sorce

 

[readc]

Pics people!

 

[readc]

Pics!

Of the trunk low!

Sorce

Up!

 

[sorce]

Balls!

I'd be careful.

And only take advice from someone who has successfully collected a few that old.

I been looking at little $9 1gl boxes all day!

Yours is wicked!

Sorce

 

[readc]

Balls!

I'd be careful.

And only take advice from someone who has successfully collected a few that old.

I been looking at little $9 1gl boxes all day!

Yours is wicked!

Sorce

Ha! Wish I could get Walter P to come advise me on this beast!

 

[Lobaeux]

I'd cut it back and let it recover before I dug it up.

 

[readc]

I'd cut it back and let it recover before I dug it up.

Cut it back, let it recover until next year or until the summer? What kind of timeline are we talkin about?

 

[Lobaeux]

Cut it back, let it recover until next year or until the summer? What kind of timeline are we talkin about?

I'm no expert, but the one boxwood I had died when I cut it back. Because of that, I think it has a better chance of survival if left in the ground.

 

[sorce]

That's where I get confused.

Cuz they say take the top and bottom off at the same time.......

But yard shrubs get pruned regularly.

Sorce

 

[Vin]

That's where I get confused.

Cuz they say take the top and bottom off at the same time.......

But yard shrubs get pruned regularly.

Sorce

Life in a pot <> life in the ground

Balance

Transpiration

 

[StoneCloud]

I've got a small boxwood I'm working on right now. trunk is 1.5 inches about so way smaller than this one.

When I took it out of the ground, I pruned half the roots and half the leaves. The tree wilted hard! for days.....I kept it in total shade for a week or so before it got back to normal but it made....barely. I defoliated it.

Now that it is in the pot its been a month and it still can't take full sun yet. It is sprouting a lot of new leaves though and they are just too delicate after the torture I put it through.....

Now if you chop this down it would look like a stump with a few branches for a long long time.

If you do the chop, leave it in the ground! best shot at success.

 

[Saddler]

I would leave it in the ground and cut it back to the last branches with leaves. I would leave more leaves then less too. Fertilize over summer and hope for a lot of back budding. If it doesn't back bud, at least I would have some branches to work with. Then leave it in the ground until I have something worth digging up, if I have the time.

 

[Vin]

Boxwood do much better with some afternoon shade. I find that mine (potted ones) are much happier during the summer months when kept in dappled shade.

 

[Vin]

You guys are overthinking this. When you dig it out of the ground you essentially are repotting it and have just removed a lot of roots. You will need to create balance by removing foliage. How much? It's a guessing game. However, in my case, based on how much of the root ball I kept I removed about half the foliage. I collected four like this one and they are all doing fine 4 years later. All these images are from when I collected it. My son has the tree now and it's doing fine.

 

[M. Frary]

You guys are overthinking this

Yep. Cut it back and dig it up.

 

[Vin]

If I may add, do not, I repeat do not remove any of the foliage down low. Save it for when you get it to the height you want once it's in a pot. Boxwood never seem to back bud where you want them to. One of the four I have is going to require grafting to get any foliage down low. I'm just waiting for some of the surrounding new branches to get a little longer before I do some approach grafting.

 

[ColinFraser]