Noticed that no one has replied to this question. I'm not an expert but I
do have a ginkgo (note the spelling) which I obtained about this time last
year. It had been a poorly planted (roots not spread) and severely
vandalized landscaping tree. The University here was replacing it and I
salvaged it. It too was "just a stick" but of considerable girth, no
branches or leaves as the vandals had broken off the top and with it all the
branches.

I cut off the bottom half of the root "wad", treated with rooting hormone
and planted it in a mix of perlite and old, recycled soil as I did not have
enough fresh organic material to fill the barrel bottom I used as a growing
pot.

I put in a quick help-yelp to the list and received a nice answer with
essentially the advice I followed (thanks Dale!). The success was beyond
expectation. Break-back occurred from the root surface all the way up to
the break at the top, with several sprouts at that point. The tree was left
to its own devices all last summer and the limbs, especially at the top grew
almost two feet! This spring, I repotted in the same barrel bottom with
perlite and pine bark, about 3 to 1 and chopped back to above one of the new
branches to create proper taper and establish a reasonable height of a
projected future of 30" (75cm for those not into imperial measure). The
part chopped was treated with root hormone again and put into a cut-down
nursery pot (3 gal.?) as a big cutting. I shortened all limbs on the
"cutting" to 3 buds or so. All the buds on both pieces are coming out. I
am not worried about the main plant and have high hopes for the "cutting".

With that all said, I would not worry about branching until you've reached
near the girth you want on your ginkgo, say about 2/3 of the "final"
diameter. Like most deciduous trees, you will then remove the branches and
work up a new set in scale with your new creation. Until that time, just
grow the things out for trunk. Chop as needed to develop taper and reduce
the height. Do remember that the ginkgo does not callus over the same as
most other plants, so be careful where the chops are and keep the
"temporary" branches small. Since they do not heal well, the chops will
need to be hidden or used as design features. And keep lots of small
sacrifice branches down low to help with the taper.

The darn things seem to be very vigorous growers, at least in my area.
Since I don't know where you are, you will have to make whatever adjustments
you see fit for the change in conditions. I will say this, I'm in
north-central Florida and Dale is in middle Ohio and his advise was spot-on
so you should not have any trouble. Good luck and I hope you got boys
because I understand the fruit stinks as it spoils - jay


Jay Beckenbach - Melrose, FL - Zone 8b/9a


-----Original Message-----
From: akrummel ]
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 8:45 AM
Subject: ghinko branching


I have 6 or 7 ghinko saplings in the ground. They are about two years
old and are basically just sticks with leaves. Not much in
branches (at
least none survived the winter). Can they be chopped or
something to get
a little branching? I realize they need to continue to grow for trunk
size but when will branches develope?

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