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Mon, Apr 16, 12 at 10:33
| I have a young witch hazel that i planted 4 years ago. It had a hard first winter and struggled on to it's second winter and had a harder time yet. Half of the shrub completely died. I pruned out the dead portion of the shrub which was literally one side or half of the forked plant. I had hoped that new shoots would show up at the base over time and if I was patient I would have a balanced or more symmetrical shrub once again. The plant has thrived over the past two years, yet, it still looks like it has been pruned by a bonsai gardener the way it grows only to one side. Does anyone have any advice? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by cearbhaill Zone 6b Eastern KY (My Page) on Mon, Apr 16, 12 at 10:38
| It is a grafted plant? Putting your USDA zone or rough location in your profile is immensely helpful. |
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| Here is where I, again, show my ignorance....how can I tell if it's grafted? |
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| Unless you bought a seedling of a species such as Virginia witchhazel it is liable to be grafted. Here we see Chinese and hybrid witchhazels grafted onto Virginia witchhazel, which can be quite diligent about sending up its own shoots, which have to be cut out every year in order to maintain control. Its leaves are thinner and less hairy than those of the garden forms grafted upon it, its shoots more slender. And if you mistakenly leave these in place, eventually they start to produce the species' smaller flowers - in October - a definite hint that you are harboring rootstock branches. |
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- Posted by cearbhaill Zone 6b Eastern KY (My Page) on Tue, Apr 17, 12 at 19:32
| Don't be afraid to go in and prune it back- they will grow back and hopefully be more pleasing aesthetically. Look closely at the base of the plant about four inches or so above the flare- you would be able to see an area that looks healed and that would be the graft. Anything growing from below that is not what you want- as long as you are working with plant material well above that it will branch wherever you cut it and grow into the variety you bought. Where did you buy it and what was its name? |
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