AusBonsai

Has anyone worked out the best time to trim Lilly Pilly. I tend to just do it whenever it suits me!

I collected a heap last spring and cut them back hard and root pruned them then
Seemed to go fine

Ken

I find i just need to keep on top of mine.
Do the answer for me is every few months.
Probably a little less when cooler.

I've found they but out flushes of growth at almost anytime of the year. I have a few different species and cultivars and they respond differently to pruning. Some will produce masses of new shoots from all along the branches when cut back pretty hard and some will only produce shoots towards the end of the branches. All the ones that tend to do that are early in development so I let the shoots grow quite long to thicken branches and cut back about once or twice a year just whenever I feel like it and want to shape it a bit more. I'm thinking though that when they are ready for refinement of branches I would need to pinch out the new growth as it extends to keep internodes short and encourage ramification. This would need to be done whenever they have a growth spurt. In my climate the only time they seem to stop is the middle of summer.

Frosts here, probably more severe than Parkes but similar - they get a bit burnt around the edges, and don't grow, lose inner leaves and generally sulk. Plenty of growth 8 months of the year, but I wouldn't do anything to discourage them around now. Spring's a different matter - merciless mayhem, and they're off like a mad thing.

Gavin

Thanks for the answers.
I've just updated my profile I'm in Jervis bay now so much more mild. Think I'll leave it till spring though and then just keep hacking away as usual.