Winter Hazel

ABCarve

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I planted my winter hazel in an oversized pot to let it grow out for a couple of years and pretty much ignored it this summer. It has exploded with new growth. A lot of the new branches are crossing and rubbing together. In zone 7 would it be ok to prune it back in mid August or should I just leave it until spring? I don’t care about the flowers.
I have pruned mine this time of year and still have flowers. Your growing season is much longer. You should be okay. I probably wouldn’t prune much later.
If you’re letting it grow out, why are you pruning it?
 

coh

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I have pruned mine this time of year and still have flowers. Your growing season is much longer. You should be okay. I probably wouldn’t prune much later.
If you’re letting it grow out, why are you pruning it?
You probably don't get new growth if you prune now, do you? Mine pretty much puts out one spring growth flush and then stops. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or that's just the way they behave.
 

ABCarve

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You probably don't get new growth if you prune now, do you? Mine pretty much puts out one spring growth flush and then stops. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or that's just the way they behave.
I still have new growth pushing though not as much. image.jpgimage.jpg
 

JoeR

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I still have new growth pushing though not as much. View attachment 322185View attachment 322186
I have a corylopsis, the winter buttercup hazel, not sure if its the same species. But mine is pushing a strong round of growth now too, as of a couple weeks ago. Seems early to be done growing @coh . I still don't know the training techniques for these though. When to prune, mainly. My fear is after pruning it will stall, but im growing it out anyway.

This one is fantastic, great improvement.
 

coh

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I have a corylopsis, the winter buttercup hazel, not sure if its the same species. But mine is pushing a strong round of growth now too, as of a couple weeks ago. Seems early to be done growing @coh . I still don't know the training techniques for these though. When to prune, mainly. My fear is after pruning it will stall, but im growing it out anyway.
Yeah, I haven't quite figured mine out. I'm getting some new shoots from the base of the plant but otherwise, it doesn't do much after the initial spring flush. Now, I'm in upstate NY and you're in NC, so that's a pretty significant difference in climate/weather. We've already had a few of those "uh-oh, fall is coming" nights with temps down in the low/mid 50s, so plants "know" what time it is.

I generally don't prune much in the summer, maybe next year I'll have to hack away at it a bit more and see what happens.
 

0soyoung

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I have a corylopsis, the winter buttercup hazel, not sure if its the same species. But mine is pushing a strong round of growth now too, as of a couple weeks ago.
My neglected corylopsis pauciflora ('buttercup') popped new growth slowly through the spring and hasn't stopped. I've even got new shoots coming from the plant's oldest nodes, but most are coming from little spurs along the smaller branches. I too am not pruning, but it is just because it appeared to be so far gone when I bought it from a garden center's 'buy-it-before-we-toss-it' sale area last fall. I want to get its little engine running before trying to bend it to my will!

On the other hand, my wife's golden leafed corylopsis spicata aurea hasn't done much since it leafed out this spring (not counting the few leaves that have burned from a touch too much sun).

There seems to be more than a leaf size difference between pauciflora and spicata. It appears that not all corylopsis are created equal.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I like the tree a lot, especially in winter. The pot is exquisite, love the purple highlights. The stand is outstanding too.

Unfortunately, the leaves are a bit large, the summer view is not as elegant as the winter view. The first branch on the right looks long and straight.

I would do no pruning with out at least a partial defoliation, so you can keep the winter "in bloom" appearance in mind.
 

ABCarve

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I would not normally post this for fall color but I think the purple pot brings a new meaning to it compared to its old training pot. I'll be attending to that straight branch in the spring @Leo in N E Illinois. It has bothered me for a while but I thought it would eventually be pruned out of the picture. I don't see that happening now, so prepare for some heavy bending.

IMG_4077.jpeg
 

JoeR

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I'm very happy with the winter silhouette .....never really considered it before this year. They're fast little growers....4 growing season.

View attachment 340362View attachment 340363
Thats fantastic progress in four seasons. Have you ever had yours bloom in fall? Mine flowered heavily and is still flowering now, right as other trees are going dormant. Mine is showing leaf discoloration, so hard to say if thats normal.
 

ABCarve

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Thats fantastic progress in four seasons. Have you ever had yours bloom in fall? Mine flowered heavily and is still flowering now, right as other trees are going dormant. Mine is showing leaf discoloration, so hard to say if thats normal.
Are you sure it’s corylopsis and not native witch hazel (hamamelis)? Their leaves are similar but are fall blooming. Do you have a photo of the flower?
 

JoeR

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Are you sure it’s corylopsis and not native witch hazel (hamamelis)? Their leaves are similar but are fall blooming. Do you have a photo of the flower?
It is a buttercup winter hazel from international bonsai. It bloomed in the spring before/during leafing out
 

JoeR

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Are you sure it’s corylopsis and not native witch hazel (hamamelis)? Their leaves are similar but are fall blooming. Do you have a photo of the flower?
October 11th this pic was taken, and it still has some flowers today
 

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ABCarve

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October 11th this pic was taken, and it still has some flowers today
Yep that sure is blooming...... not sure what to tell you. I guess it will be interesting to see if there is a spring bloom. Are there any flower buds unopened or more that are just now forming? Maybe just a fluke of the weather.
 

ABCarve

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There was a very informative article in the international bonsai on hazels. @William N. Valavanis mentioned he only lets his flower every other year for the health of the tree. Are the flower buds removed now or in the fall? Since leaves emerge from the base of the flowers .......what happens when they’re gone?

A8217B22-DC50-42D5-8D1B-0056441A0EAA.jpeg
 

ABCarve

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Now that spring is almost here and the flower buds are starting to swell, I thought I should address the straight trunk on the right side. I don't want to be working this with flowers in my way.
To move this heavy trunk I am going to use two saw cuts placed at two different branch junctures. Having them at a juncture will aid in the healing and make the kink less noticeable. One important aspect of this technique is to make the kerf 90 degrees to the trunk line. This keeps the cadmium layer lined up when the two side come back together. I'm using a triangle to aid my eyeballs and my pen to mark where the saw kerf will go. Once the first cut is put in I check to see if its deep enough for the trunk to be bent and bring the top and bottom together. If not it will have to go deeper. Corylopsis is fairly flexible and the first try was deep enough to bend it, but it didn't move the trunk very far. With the top and bottom of the cut pulled together with a guy wire, I use the saw again in the same place to put another kerf in, removing more wood and allowing the trunk to be pulled over further.IMG_0202.jpegIMG_0204.jpegIMG_0208.jpegIMG_0211.jpegIMG_0212.jpegIMG_0213.jpeg
 
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ABCarve

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The upper juncture was treated the same way. So now there must be a way of bring the cadmium together and holding the cuts in place so the healing can begin. To do this I'm going to use a doubled up guy wire and a chopstick to act as a turnbuckle. I've found that simply inserting the end of the wire into a hole in the bottom of the pot about 1 inch will hold quite well. In this case it's two ends for the doubled guy. A piece of surgical tubing is used to protect the bark where the wire contacts the branch. The chopstick is turned until all the joints look good and then it can be removed. The change in the straightness of the trunk is slight, but the negative space between the two trunk is much better in that they are not running parallel to each other.

IMG_0215.jpegIMG_0216.jpegIMG_0218.jpegIMG_0202.jpeg
 
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