On 28/08/2014 19:18, Ophelia wrote:
Tops of the trees as promised.

Plum - bit of a mess eh?
http://tinypic.com/m/i6m5nd/3

Tops of hydrangea in front of cotoneaster
http://tinypic.com/m/i6m5nc/3

Holly. There are new leaves there too (the pale ones) so not just the
base
http://tinypic.com/m/i6m5n6/3

Apple - I can really see how much I need 'the book'
http://tinypic.com/m/i6m5mx/3

At least I will be around for a while to try and sort these out.

Thank you if you have the time to look tomorrow

Ophelia


Hello again, Ophelia. Good idea to start a new thread.
As you probably know, I've been replying to Jake D's original post. It
seems only good manners since we rather hijacked his thread! (Thanks,
JD, for not complaining).
Thank you for taking the extra photographs. Alas, I'm having a spot of
trouble with Tinypic just now :~((. I got a glimpse, then they
disappeared. I'll look again later.

I'll try and work from memory for now, so I might mentally 'hop' about a
bit.

*Cotoneaster: not certain which one it is, but it looks vigorous enough.
However, I'm not terribly happy about the taped up wound where your
dog showed his appreciation. If there are wounds (probably), they
really need to get some air to them while the wood really hardens off.
After that, instead of using tape, could you protect the area with, say,
a modified wire hanging basket instead or even a strong wire mesh which
would allow the shrub to breathe, otherwise you may be inviting fungal
problems. You'd need to keep an eye on it as the Cotoneaster grows so
that the wire doesn't cut into the bark. The same is true of the tape,
of course; if it doesn't 'give' when the trunk expands, then the tape
will tighten and cut in. This can be very damaging/even fatal.

Although Cotoneasters don't need lots of pruning, you may choose to tidy
it into a preferred shape which best accommodates its space/looks
aesthetically pleasing to you. Pruning should be done in winter or
mid-spring, except for Cotoneaster horizontalis which should be pruned
in late winter. I tend to prune out the extension growths on my
Cotoneasters so that the berries are shown off. I usually do this in
autumn, however, and never had any problems. Cotoneasters do not always
respond well to very hard pruning, so only take out larger branches that
you really don't want.

*Plum Tree: these must be pruned in good, dry sunny weather so that the
cut heals quickly, otherwise the tree can succumb to 'Silver Leaf',
which is very harmful, so you need to act on a sunny day. Hope you can
find one:~).

Recalling the earlier pics, your plum seemed to have a number of poorly
healed stubs where previous pruning took place. Woody pruning cuts (not
just for plum trees) should always be at the 'collar': somewhat
sub-conical, wrinkled area of the branch between the trunk (or major
branch) you're cutting back to and the branch you're cutting out. This
area contains the healing cells and hormones which will start to heal
the cut. So: do not leave a stub, do not cut flush with the trunk.
Hope I've explained that well enough. Anyway, you need to cleanly cut
away the stubs and half branches. Also take out any dead, dying or
damaged wood. Having done this, clean your secateurs/loppers so that
you do not introduce disease to new cuts. Just as with an apple tree,
the plum should not have any inward-growing branches which will stifle
air movement, or branches that cross each other and cause - or may cause
- chafing, so you will need to cut these out.

At the moment, that is heaps for you to do and you don't want to stress
the tree by taking out too much wood at once. What you can do, however,
is look for any fruit (healthy, damaged, suffering Brown Rot [fungus in
rings] or 'mummified') and remove them. In fact, because of the fungus
risk, it would be better to do this job before you start pruning!

Well, Ophelia, it's nearly dinner time again, so I'm going to have a
rest from the screen now. Sorry I couldn't see your new pics, but hope
I've given you enough information for now.

Oooh, just had a thought! Do you know the varietal name of your apple?
It may tell us whether it's tip or spur bearing ... which has a
bearing on the pruning;~).

I must do a bit of gardening tomorrow, but will look in again later on
and discuss the Holly et al *and* will try and find those pics. Have a
lovely evening.
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay