Pruning Magnolia Trees
 

My father has a large magnolia tree in his garden which is too big. It's
about 20ft tall with a generous spread and is probably magnolia
soulangiana (it was already in the garden when he moved in). He would
like to drastically reduce it in size - preferably halve it - it's too
near the house and creates lots of shade. Does anyone know whether this
is advisable or will this kill the tree or completely ruin it's looks?
It currently flowers very profusely. Thanks for any advice.

Liz

On Sat, 04 Sep 2004 12:45:09 +0100, Peter Boulton
wrote:

My father has a large magnolia tree in his garden which is too big. It's
about 20ft tall with a generous spread and is probably magnolia
soulangiana (it was already in the garden when he moved in). He would
like to drastically reduce it in size - preferably halve it - it's too
near the house and creates lots of shade. Does anyone know whether this
is advisable or will this kill the tree or completely ruin it's looks?
It currently flowers very profusely. Thanks for any advice.

Liz


In Treseder's book on Magnolias he implies that even quite large
specimens can be pruned drastically. The best time to do it for
deciduous types is after flowering.

We had a M. soulangeana at our last house. Not excessively big, but
occasional pruning for shape was necessary. The wood was very brittle
IME, and I found that it was best to make a _significant_ cut upwards
on the underside of the branch before starting the cut on the top
side, otherwise the branch tends to split right down its length before
it was cut right through. Cutting upwards is never easy, as the saw
cut tends to close and jam the saw blade. It helps if someone can lift
the branch slightly from the outer end to take some of the load.
Rubbing the saw blade with candle wax can also help. Use heavy loppers
on the smaller stuff.

The tree always re-sprouted generously, and the shoots needed thinning
out, which confirms that pruning is a perfectly viable option. Rub out
unwanted new growths when they're still small, say an inch or so, or
wait until they've grown long enough to be able to select the best to
allow to grow on.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Chris Hogg wrote on 04/09/2004 19:17:
On Sat, 04 Sep 2004 12:45:09 +0100, Peter Boulton
wrote:


My father has a large magnolia tree in his garden which is too big. It's
about 20ft tall with a generous spread and is probably magnolia
soulangiana (it was already in the garden when he moved in). He would
like to drastically reduce it in size - preferably halve it - it's too
near the house and creates lots of shade. Does anyone know whether this
is advisable or will this kill the tree or completely ruin it's looks?
It currently flowers very profusely. Thanks for any advice.

Liz



In Treseder's book on Magnolias he implies that even quite large
specimens can be pruned drastically. The best time to do it for
deciduous types is after flowering.

We had a M. soulangeana at our last house. Not excessively big, but
occasional pruning for shape was necessary. The wood was very brittle
IME, and I found that it was best to make a _significant_ cut upwards
on the underside of the branch before starting the cut on the top
side, otherwise the branch tends to split right down its length before
it was cut right through. Cutting upwards is never easy, as the saw
cut tends to close and jam the saw blade. It helps if someone can lift
the branch slightly from the outer end to take some of the load.
Rubbing the saw blade with candle wax can also help. Use heavy loppers
on the smaller stuff.

The tree always re-sprouted generously, and the shoots needed thinning
out, which confirms that pruning is a perfectly viable option. Rub out
unwanted new growths when they're still small, say an inch or so, or
wait until they've grown long enough to be able to select the best to
allow to grow on.


Thanks for the very helpful information - I'll be passing it on to my dad.
Liz.