I have three healthy trees in the garden planted by previous owner(s)
some 20-30yrs ago. Two of them have branched at about 2 Meters above
ground and are of an acceptable height. The third has not branched at
all, is approx 7 Metres high and is located approx 7 Metres SW of my
Conservatory. It was swaying alarmingly in the strong winds we've had in
the last couple of days. They are all very decorative so I don't want to
cut the tall one down if I can avoid it. I wondered if anyone has had
any experience with inducing branching lower down the trunk by making a
cut above a dormant bud (assuming I can find one) or some other method
of reducing the height, bearing in mind that the leaves are all at the
top of the tree.
It's a bit early this morning to take a photo, I'll try and do it later on.
Regards
Don

In article ,
lid says...
I have three healthy trees in the garden planted by previous owner(s)
some 20-30yrs ago. Two of them have branched at about 2 Meters above
ground and are of an acceptable height. The third has not branched at
all, is approx 7 Metres high and is located approx 7 Metres SW of my
Conservatory. It was swaying alarmingly in the strong winds we've had in
the last couple of days. They are all very decorative so I don't want to
cut the tall one down if I can avoid it. I wondered if anyone has had
any experience with inducing branching lower down the trunk by making a
cut above a dormant bud (assuming I can find one) or some other method
of reducing the height, bearing in mind that the leaves are all at the
top of the tree.
It's a bit early this morning to take a photo, I'll try and do it later on.
Regards
Don


Cordylines will branch after they flower or following damage, so next
spring just cut the top off!, it will look silly for a season but
eventually recover, you may of course find it only produces one shoot so
you are back to square one.

Mine lost all its stems on one side last winter due to cold and has
reluctantly produced a couple of small shoots from the bare remaining
stems so its not a fast process but then my plants stems may have also
suffered damage
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Hi Donwill,
Further to the other replies, you might find the following interesting!! Down here in Cornwall, there have been several winters when the tops of the cordylines were killed by bad weather, they all eventually produced basal shoots and they can produce loads of them. I would suggest that if you cut the stems down to reduce the height, eventually yours will do the same and then I would also suggest that once these shoots are about 1 metre tall, like down here, you reduce the number to 3 strong evenly placed shoots. This is why if you drive around down here, most of the Cordylines have three trunks, from when this was last done in the 1990's. As has been suggested, these shoots can take a while to emerge so, having cut it down, dont panic, they will appear eventually.
Lannerman

Thank you all for the advice, I think I can risk cutting it but I'll
leave it until winter perhaps.
Cheers
Don