On 5/5/13 9:19 AM, ploppygb wrote:
'David E. Ross[_2_ Wrote:
;982100']On 4/29/13 12:34 PM, ploppygb wrote:-

'David E. Ross[_2_ Wrote: -
;981999']On 4/28/13 1:00 PM, ploppygb wrote:-

After the snow this winter, some of the branches on our conifers have
splayed out. They look very unsightly so I want to tie them back in.
Can anyone what I should to use and any other advice. I presume string
is no good. Thanks.-

What kind of conifer?

-

Well, it's green and about 12ft at the moment! I can't imagine that
it
will fix itself.-

I meant: Is it an Italian cypress, red cedar, deodar cedar, fir,
Aleppo
pine, podocarpus, arborvitae, blue spruce, juniper, etc, etc?



Sorry it's taken a while, but here's a photo of said conifer. I have
tied up the splayed branches with some twine I happened to have. Before
that, about 4ft above ground on the right, some branches were splayed
out about 90 degrees.


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That looks like an Italian cypress (Cupressus semperviruens). It is
quite normal for this to have "splayed" branches.

The usual fix for this is to remove the branches. If you do that,
either leave some live foliage below the cut or else remove the entire
branch to the trunk. A stubbed branch with no remaining live foliage
will die. If you remove an entire branch, the hole in the appearance
will quickly be filled with new growth from the remaining branches.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary