P.K.
thanks for responding almost immediately. I never doubted the advice given;
my question was that "will cutting back just a couple of branches will cause
those branches to generate new shoots" - or will the tree put its growth
into the 90% unpruned branches - letting the couple of pruned branches
remain mostly bare?

Anybody any experience?

Davy

"p.k." wrote in message
news
Davy wrote:
I have a holly tree that was distorted by a large conifer that grew up
beside it and took the light. The conifer is now gone but the holly
has several ugly long bare branches on one side. It found the
following advice on the web:

To rejuvenate a holly, "hat rack" it in late winter by cutting back
the branches by half to three-quarters of their length. The remaining
plant will have few leaves and look like a hat rack, but in spring it
will flush out with new foliage from all the pruning cuts. In two to
three years, it will be fully covered in leaves. Hat racking will
result in a plant much reduced in size, but still full of foliage.


But I am not sure if cutting back just a couple of branches will
cause them to generate new shoots. Anybody any experience?

thanks

Davy

My experience of cutting back holly hedges hard (effectively defoliating
one
side to remove a 1m plus pavement overhang) is that they will leaf up as
the
above advice describes.

pk