Which wood Yew choose?

Woocash

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Hi all, upon checking the stock in the reduced section at my local garden centre I came across these two Taxus Baccata. £5 each so worth giving one a go (would buy both but the girlfriend won’t get away too much frivolity just yet). So the question is, assuming they are still there tomorrow, which would you choose from the two? Right is 2ft tall ish, left is lower by about that much. Left looks to be healthier with more fresh growth. Both are around 1 1/2 to 2 inches where they enter the soil and have a dense mass of straight growth. Left nebari is 3 or 4 inches below soil level so no real idea of any root flare yet. Right nebari is on or near the surface with some shape to it and two fairly prominent surface roots

I know neither are knockouts, but as one of only three native coniferous species, I’d like to learn on one before I go raiding local churchyards for their prized bow stock. Thanks guys.66320464-E1A4-482F-B144-1D070B3A93BE.jpeg
Left base
BB720FDA-671E-4A13-8273-D991CF8F77C3.jpeg
Right base
19A85C4B-315F-416A-923D-11CAEBB3BB5F.jpeg
 

BobbyLane

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its good practice material and the base under the soil could be decent with all those stems. i would maybe go with the healthier one.
the thing with these is, once you cut back all the leggy growth and long stems back, what you're left with is lots of bare branches or weak branches that were previously shaded out and as soon as the sun hits it, it browns.
i used to dive right in on these but ive learnt my lesson now. ive killed quite a few nursery yews. the only nursery yew that survived was the one where i did the root work around sept time and left lots of green on. i didnt cut much root off though, but i washed off a lot of the soil and put the tree in a training pot which was a similar size to the nursery tub it was in.
 

BobbyLane

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speaking of yew, i just came across this on facebook
71083764_2699716986719302_495560280164532224_o.jpg
:p
 

Woocash

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Wowsers! That’s pretty darn cool. Looks kinda deciduous in structure, must’ve taken a good few years to get there though, mind you.

Thanks very much for that Bobby. I was leaning towards the healthy one, for obvious reasons, but as the base of the other one looks marginally better I thought I’d just ask for advice first. Funny you say that about potting now, because I was just reading that heavier pruning is done this time of year or a little later and potting in spring, so I was likely going to go and have a field day on the top and pot it up next year. Would you recommend any thinning out on top if some work is done below? I just don’t want to leave more greenery than the roots can handle is my thinking.
 

BobbyLane

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Wowsers! That’s pretty darn cool. Looks kinda deciduous in structure, must’ve taken a good few years to get there though, mind you.

Thanks very much for that Bobby. I was leaning towards the healthy one, for obvious reasons, but as the base of the other one looks marginally better I thought I’d just ask for advice first. Funny you say that about potting now, because I was just reading that heavier pruning is done this time of year or a little later and potting in spring, so I was likely going to go and have a field day on the top and pot it up next year. Would you recommend any thinning out on top if some work is done below? I just don’t want to leave more greenery than the roots can handle is my thinking.


sure mate go for it, what have you got to lose a fiver?!
there's different ways of doing things. i know how it is when you get a piece of nursery material, there's a need to get in there and thin it out. go for it, see what happens, as i say its good practice material. maybe @TomB can chime in he's probably a little more 'cautious' than i am:D
 

Woocash

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Yea who knows? Might get lucky. If I do accidentally happen to buy both I may try and repot one and prune the the other. See how they both have fared come spring time. As you said, for that price there ain’t much to lose. Thanks.
 

TomB

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probably a little more 'cautious' than i am:D

Most people probably are mate ;) however I've killed my share of garden centre yews as well.

For a fiver you have nothing to lose. I'd choose the healthier one IF it has a trunk you can imagine making a bonsai out of. At that height, probably a small one.
The soil will be crawling with vine weevil larvae, 100% guaranteed, so use whatever root drench you can get from the garden centre on them.
Don't go near the roots until around April, when you start to see the new buds opening.

Read this https://www.kaizenbonsai.com/blog/articles/the-journey-of-my-plucking-yew/
And this https://www.lvbonsai.co.uk/species-guides/yews/
Note what Lee says about making sure you prune back to a shoot if you are doing autumn/winter pruning

The ones I've successfully done big reductions on were done over the winter. It's still sending sugars down to the roots at the moment, so I wouldn't want to cut the active foliage off now. I'd clean out any dead needles and twigs though.
 

Eckhoffw

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Very exciting! I wish my local nurseries had close out material like this at that price!

In IMHO, I think I would go for the second one.
I know u stated they were comparable at the trunk, but the second one seems to have a more interesting base.
I agree that u should probably buy both though. Even if u have to do it later on the DL. 😁
 

Woocash

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Well yes, I made an executive decision and have come to the conclusion that both are needed for self betterment and educational purposes (think I read that in a leaflet somewhere).

Thank you @TomB . The tip on the vine weevil is great so i’ll see what I can find and maybe the repotting experiment is unnecessary too. If they’ve been relatively fine in nursery pots til now under a beating summer sun then a dank British winter shouldn’t do any harm. I’ll protect them in my mini poly tunnel thingy though I think. Will it be ok to prune in winter and then repot in spring next year though or should I wait a year?

I read and got inspired by that Kaizen thread previous to finding these two, it’s just a shame neither are big enough to really attack with a nibbler! But the Lee Verhorevoort guide is brilliant. It’s always nice when you get a bit more detail on actual pruning and care regime than just an overview.

@Eckhoffw I was surprised too, almost as surprised that I didn’t just buy them on the spot. Very unlike my usual thrifty ways. It’s not a cheap place either at 35 sqiuddlydudes (or pounds to normal folk) each normally. That’s the good thing about September though. Fresh stock comes in and some unfortunate souls have to make way...

I’ve not been on here long at all but the wealth of information for free is invaluable. Thank you very much people.
 

Woocash

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Done. It has been ordained. The hammer is down. The foot has spoken. I shall post progress (or lack thereof).
 
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