Callitris - hard pruning

[prw67x]

Hi all,

I have a Callitris [not sure which brand ) . . . . will post a pic soon ] which I dug up from the side of the road about 130km west of West Wyalong about 10 years ago.

It has a great trunk shape, but in a storm a few years ago while I was living in Canberra, it was damaged and lost all the lower branches, so it now only has top growth.

My question is . . . . can I remove the top growth and expect it to start sprouting down lower so as to introduce lower branches again ? . . . or is it doomed ?

Any thoughts appreciated

Cheers

Pw

[Jamie]

PW.


from what i think i know callitris is similar to pines, i think you will have to work around this, think about literati stylings maybe, otherwise it could be a time thing where you might be lucky enough to get some back budding.
i know with shimpaku if they are leggy, you can cut the foliage back by half and feed well and it should back bud well. this might be the same with callitris, i think they are part of the same genus!


jamie

[Pup]

As Jamie said it belongs to the same genus, it is Australia's true conifer.
That being said If it has not shot back on old wood by now it is very unlikely it will . I would love to proven wrong on this as I have one, that I would like some back budding on.

There are some similarities, with junipers Grant Bowie cuts his back I pinch mine. I am not sure of Peter Hanrahan's methods. Maybe both will come in on this.

Cheers Pup

[Grant Bowie]

Callitris can bud back on old wood but it tends not to elongate while there is still active growth above it; therefore hard but not total pruning may cause it to grow lower down. I am not sure.

You could try a gradual reduction like I do with Blaauws Juniper, Shimpaku, procumbens etc. Cut back new growth hard and wait for new growth then over the years keep pushing it back lower and lower.

Grant

[Grant Bowie]

The callitris out around West Wyalong will be green or blue. This is the blue one.

Here is a pic of it budding back on 3 year old wood and now I have cut off the rest of the branch to force the new buds to grow.

It can bud back on older wood but I haven't seen it do it on trunk wood yet.

Callitris glaucophylla budding back.JPG

Grant