On 13/07/2012 13:30, Justinthyme77 wrote:

I'm having the house re-pointed and have a couple of firethorns, pruned
to about 3' wide, which I have nurtured so far to about 12' against the
wall and I don't want to lose them. They have fairly straight central
stems and I intend to prune them back as close to the stem as is
reasonable so that I can then release the ties and carefully lay them
back so as to provide access for the brickies. Anyone know how close I
could reasonably go at this time of year without causing irrepairable
damage?

If you mean pyracantha then the brickies are going to love you. I have
had prunings with inch long spines from that penetrate my thick boot
soles. I doubt you could kill it even if chopped off at ground level.

Mine has survived some serious abuse by unsympathetic industrial
gardeners. It grew back again but took a few years to do so.

It is a bit of a nuisance for being extremely sharp spined. Pruning hard
probably means you will lose this winters fruit but that is all. This
years bad weather may affect next years flowering anyway.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown